![]() ![]() ![]() It had been built in 1979 for Mobil Corp., which abandoned it six years later when oil prices collapsed. A six-story office building, just north of downtown Dallas on the well-traveled Stemmons Freeway, caught his attention. He decided to focus on the slumping Texas market research told him it was ripe for a rebound. "Andrew would be standing next to an office building in New Zealand." "Other kids would come back with pictures of themselves by the Eiffel Tower," says Segal's brother Justin. He'd spent his summers visiting office properties around the world. Segal jumped into real estate in 1992 when he was fresh out of law school, consummating a long-held passion. At under 5% of revenues, his construction costs are half or less than what landlords with larger tenants pay. Within minutes, the system can spit out a blueprint for contractors and local authorities that issue building permits. Examples: Tearing out a wall costs $5 a foot installing an electrical socket, $35 carpet is $6 a yard installed. Segal provides his leasing agents with off-the-shelf space-planning software - and a construction price list worked out in advance with contractors. A tenant may, for example, ask for a detailed accounting of who pays for what during a relocation within the building.ĭesigning an office typically involves weeks of negotiations with an architect, contractors and the landlord. His agents keep a list of changes to the standard lease. You won't find long paragraphs about the landlord's obligations under the Americans With Disabilities Act. His standard lease is 3 pages, instead of the usual 20 or more. "I want people to come in, sign a lease and then go have lunch," Segal says. But Boxer's occupancy rate at properties owned for more than one year averages 93%, versus 84% for the Houston market as a whole. Thanks to Texas' landlord-friendly laws, Segal can evict bum tenants in a matter of weeks - something he's had to do more than once. Segal targets small businesses - lawyers, consulting firms, temporary help agencies and the like - and is willing to lease them as little space as they want, for short periods of time. Most property owners, whether they're individuals or insurance companies, look for stable clients: large tenants with strong credit histories, willing to sign up for three- or five-year leases. "It's sort of like wearing your phone number to a singles bar," he jokes. Not exactly standard practice in commercial real estate, where most landlords are terrified of cheapening the image of their property - but definitely hallmark Segal. Segal isn't embarrassed about putting the actual rent per square foot on these signs. On Segal's properties throughout Houston, big yellow-and-black signs advertise his company's phone number, 777-RENT. should top $2 million, after debt service and operating expenses, on $30 million in rent. This year cash flow at his Houston-īased Boxer Property Management Inc. In just six years he has acquired a portfolio of 53 office buildings in Houston, Dallas and Tulsa worth more than $120 million at current market values. Today the 31-year-old Segal isn't yet a candidate for the rich list, but he's on the path. ![]()
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