In 1995, Thomas McCarthy and Edward Cook founded McCarthy Cook & Co. (MCC) as a real estate investment and development company. MCC is dedicated to the investment in, and management of, commercial and mixed-use properties in the western United States, with particular emphasis on the major markets of California.

During its 11-year history, MCC has acquired approximately $1.4 billion of properties with its partners. Its executives have over 75 years of combined experience having been involved in numerous large office, residential and mixed-use acquisitions and developments throughout the United States. MCC attributes its success to its senior management’s focus on transactions, its skilled management teams and its collaborative approach to community friendly development. MCC professionals dedicate a significant amount of time and energy to procuring strategic relationships with investment principals, investment and leasing brokers, mortgage banks and lenders, city officials and political leaders and leverages these relationships in order to pursue investment initiatives and create value in existing projects.

In 1995, MCC formed a joint venture with Blackstone Real Estate Advisors (BREA) to acquire office and mixed-use projects principally in California. The MCC/BREA joint venture acquired 7 projects totaling approximately 3 million square feet in Los Angeles, Orange County, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco.

In November 2000, MCC, in partnership with PaineWebber Real Estate Fund I, LP (now Stockbridge Capital Partners, “SB”), acquired from MCC/BREA a 3 asset portfolio of properties including Wilshire Courtyard, South Coast Metro Center and China Basin Landing, totaling 2.7 million square feet of office, retail and entitled expansion space. Additionally, in May 2005, MCC/SB acquired 555 Anton Blvd, a 235,000 square foot, high-rise office project in Costa Mesa, CA.

In November 2003, MCC and Charlesbank Capital Partners (now BayNorth Capital Partners) acquired Hamilton Place, a 250,000 square foot, low-rise office project in Torrance, California.

In July 2005, MCC, in partnership with JP Morgan Investment Management, acquired Trident Center, a 383,000 square foot, high-rise office campus in West Los Angeles.

In September 2005, MCC recapitalized China Basin Landing in a new joint venture with RREEF to own the existing 732,000 sq. ft. and develop the 160,000 sq. ft. Berry Street Addition. This transaction was completed in conjunction with the closing of the sale of Wilshire Courtyard and South Coast Metro Center to RREEF.

In June 2006, MCC, in partnership with JP Morgan Investment Management, acquired Viad Corporate Center, a 479,000 square foot, high-rise office building in Phoenix, Arizona.

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MCC has successfully acquired, leased, developed, managed and sold numerous assets in its role as lead manager and operating partner with institutional investors. The principals of MCC are personally involved in every aspect of value creation as follows:

• Acquisitions: MCC has screened, sourced and underwritten over $2 billion of assets per year since its founding. MCC has built its track record and reputation by closing every deal that has gone under contract. MCC has considerable underwriting and operating experience in nearly every major market in California including Los Angeles, Orange County, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco. In addition, MCC has spent considerable time in other key neighboring markets in Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
   

• Asset/Property Management: MCC’s philosophy is to set clear objectives for each team and empower those teams to execute the plan to the highest level of tenant satisfaction consistent with the financial goals. MCC’s principals remain personally involved and accessible to the managers, staff and tenants.
   

• Leasing: MCC has a seasoned team of entrepreneurial leasing directors that report directly to the principals. MCC is highly responsive to tenants and brokers and utilizes proprietary market information to achieve the highest net economics on lease transactions under all types of market conditions. To date, MCC has completed 4.3 million square feet of leases valued at $831 million.
   

• Financing: Typically, MCC is responsible for arranging financing for its joint venture partnerships. MCC has structured and closed a variety of debt financings including acquisition loans, term loans and construction financing with a variety of lenders including Bank of America, Helaba Bank, HypoBank, Lehman Brothers, Manufacturers Bank, MetLife, Principal Life Insurance Co., SunAmerica and Wells Fargo. To date, MCC has completed $1.3 billion of financings.
   

• Entitlements: MCC’s executive team leads entitlement efforts and manages the important governmental and consultant relationships that determine success or failure. MCC has successfully obtained 2.4 million square feet of entitlements in San Diego, Orange County and San Francisco.

Additionally, MCC recently completed a lot line adjustment in Orange County prior to the disposition of Metro Center at South Coast in order to retain the portion of the campus entitled for future development.

• Development: MCC has successfully developed land infrastructure, office, retail, health club and parking facilities and continues to evaluate development opportunities on an “as-needed” basis. To date, MCC has completed 600,000 square feet of development in its core markets. Currently, MCC has two development projects underway:
   

  • Orange County: MCC, as a joint venture partner, is currently developing a 448-unit, twin tower high-rise residential project in Orange County.
     

  • San Francisco: MCC, in joint venture with RREEF, is currently developing a 2-story, 160,000 square foot life science/R&D addition to the existing 3-story Berry Street Building at China Basin Landing. This one-of-a-kind development combines a revolutionary structural system with significant added infrastructure and design elements to accommodate leading-edge life science users. With the new addition, China Basin Landing will total nearly 900,000 sq. ft.
     

• Debt Restructuring: MCC and its partners have acquired debt positions in properties totaling approximately $300 million. Certain of these positions were subsequently converted to fee title in the real estate assets, as in the case of Wilshire Courtyard, the largest single asset bankruptcy case in Los Angeles County history. The debt positions included office buildings in Los Angeles and Sacramento and a major destination hotel in Hawaii.
   

• Dispositions: MCC maintains a “ready-to-execute” disposition strategy. The firm maintains up-to-date and accurate Argus cash flow forecasts and historical information so that offering books can be assembled quickly without extensive audits.

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MCC pursues acquisitions, developments and recapitalizations where complicated ownership structures, substantial leasing challenges, land development or other real estate opportunities are present, and where the MCC’s development, leasing and management skills can be best utilized to create value.   Target assets include single properties, land, portfolios, notes and debt participations.  In general, MCC targets transactions in excess of $50 million.   The MCC principals have strong long-term relationships with premier real estate and financial institutions.  These key relationships, coupled with extensive experience, have helped MCC successfully execute its business plan.

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McCarthy Cook & Co. has acquired approximately 4.4 million sq. ft. of office and mixed-use properties with an additional 1 million sq. ft. of value added development opportunity. Following is a summary of the properties acquired to date:

Transaction Volume
(Thousands)

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