Jeremy B. Fletcher
Beacon Properties West
Age: 48
Specialty: Office property acquisition and development
Recent Deal: Investing $40 million on behalf of Insignia Commercial Investment Group to acquire an office building in Phoenix.
After toughing out the decade’s real estate development dry spell, Jeremy Fletcher now gets to go on a shopping spree.
That’s because Beacon Properties West’s parent company, Beacon Properties Corp. (an office-focused national real estate investment trust), is expanding rapidly these days. Fletcher has been chosen to lead that growth by bulking up on Los Angeles-area office buildings.
Beacon has already acquired some 1 million square feet of L.A.-area commercial properties, and Fletcher’s marching orders are to increase the size of that local portfolio to 3 million square feet by the end of 1998.
“It was a pretty well-desired position, and it was flattering to be considered for it and then chosen for it,” he said of his new job as chief executive. “It’s nice to be in a growth company after the slowdown in the early 1990s.”
Fletcher’s overall responsibilities include development, asset management and leasing for Beacon’s Western region, which encompasses the entire west coast. While Beacon is looking to grow its portfolio throughout the entire region, its major focus is Los Angeles.
Fletcher explained that his eye for what is and isn’t a good office building deal has been honed over a quarter century in and around real estate, which started with 11 years working for a general contractor.
He then spent 13 years in management and development of office properties with the Paragon Group Property Services and its predecessor company, the Paragon Group. When demand for office development withered after the turn of the decade, Fletcher focused the company on one of the few profitable niches in the industry third-party management of office buildings.
Only last December, Fletcher was recruited by the Insignia Commercial Investment group to oversee its 6 million-square-foot, third-party commercial management portfolio, as well as to head the firm’s reviving development efforts.
It wasn’t long before he received the call from Beacon, leading to his current mandate to buy, buy, buy.
Wade Daniels