The real deal: Jordan Schnitzer’s strategy


0113 TheRealDealThe president of Harsch Investment Properties in Portland assesses an industry beset by arrogance.

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BY LINDA BAKER

0113 TheRealDeal
Jordan D. Schnitzer, president of Harsch Investment Properties
// Photo by Leah Nash

“For those of us in the real-estate business, this recession is like drinking humility from a fire hose.” Jordan D. Schnitzer, president of Harsch Investment Properties, a Portland-based real-estate investment firm, is sitting in his cluttered office under the watchful eyes of the Frank Stella print The Great Heidelburgh Tun and an untitled Michele Russo. The topic at hand is prerecession arrogance — “Or was it greed?” asks Schnitzer — in the real-estate industry and how the mighty have fallen since.

A family-owned firm, Harsch oversees 20 million square feet of office, industrial, multifamily and retail space in six West Coast markets. Prior to 2008, the company was doing about $100 million in acquisitions a year. When the market collapsed, that activity stopped cold. Instead, says Schnitzer, the last few years have been all about “surviving, blocking and tackling.”

As the economy shows signs of life, Harsch is starting to go on the offensive, raising rents by pennies per square foot, boosting occupancy in a few markets and even scouting a few acquisitions. Although he’s optimistic about the future — and proud of the company’s performance and reputation — this scion of Oregon’s prominent family of philanthropists and art collectors is not averse to a little self-flagellation. “We kept our business reputation intact, and we’ll get through this downturn a better, smarter, tougher company,” he says, “but looking back, there were a number of decisions I made that I wish I hadn’t. I’ve been very critical of myself.”

Founded by Harold Schnitzer in 1950, Harsch employs 220 people, manages 3,500 tenants and has offices in Sacramento, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland and San Diego. Schnitzer’s own history with the company dates back to 1965, when he worked as a 14-year-old janitor in the King Tower apartments. Between 1990 and 2008, the company had “a great ride,” going from $230 million in real estate assets to more than $2 billion, says Schnitzer, who became president in 2002. Then came the crash.

“We knew this recession was coming,” muses Schnitzer, whose detailed, sometimes arcane digressions on the evolution of commercial real estate in the U.S. can make him sound more professor than investor.

“We had three corporate retreats where we laid out all these plans, how the recession was going to hit, how we would respond. And you can take all those sessions of paperwork and have a fabulous bonfire. Because it hit totally differently, and that’s the humility.”

Mea culpas notwithstanding, Schnitzer, 61, is quick to delineate company strengths as well as strategies that helped Harsch weather the downturn. In 60 years, Harsch hasn’t had a single default or late payment, he says with pride. To spread the risk, the company has made a point of signing a lot of tenants and pursuing diversity in property type and geographic location. Harsch also has a decentralized management structure comprised of regional managers who can respond quickly to individual market conditions.

 


 

Harsch Investment Properties
President: Jordan D. Schnitzer
Founded: 1950
Headquarters: Portland
Employees: 220
Fact: 20 million square feet under management

Strong relationships with banks have been another stabilizing force. “The banks know I’m there,” says Schnitzer, who refinances about $500 million worth of property annually. “We’re very honest, transparent and open.”

About that blocking and tackling: When the housing collapse hit, regional managers were empowered to give “more specials, free rent, more tenant-improvement dollars — anything to get the space full,” Schnitzer says. In 2011 he sold a signature property, the Alameda Towne Centre in the Bay Area, for $181 million. Harsch had purchased the shopping center in 1979 for $13 million, then invested another $75 million in upgrades in 2002. The sale helped Harsch maintain cash flow and pay off short-term debt, says Schnitzer, who also has written down tens of millions of dollars in internal asset values.

The past few years have been tough personally as well as professionally, says Schnitzer, who divorced a few years ago and recently lost his father. Along with the economic downturn, these family trials may help explain why such a powerful and admired member of Oregon’s business community seems a bit equivocal about the future. On the one hand, occupancy rates are up in a couple of cities, and this past October, Harsch made its first postrecession acquisition: an 18,000-square-foot warehouse in Sacramento purchased for $875,000. “We’re doing our best to lead the market up,” says Schnitzer, who recently instituted a program to raise rents by a penny per square foot, an increase that would generate an additional $200,000.

On the other hand, despite the positive indicators, Schnitzer says one big issue still haunts him: the idea that “this was not just another recession” and that the real-estate market may not return to “normal.” In the civic arena, meeting a fundraising goal is cause for celebration, says Schnitzer, who has served on more than 30 boards and, this year, received the 2012 Simon Benson Award for philanthropy. But the business world — you guessed it — requires a little more humility.

“The best deal you’ve done,” Schnitzer says, “is always the next one.”