(1) Highly Experienced
(2) Strong Negotiating Skills
(3) Creativity
(4) Ability To Make Decisions and React to Market Changes Quickly
(5) Puts The Client’s Needs First
(6) Market Knowledge
(7) Sophisticated Financial Analysis and Legal Background
(8) Ability to Understand The Client’s Business
(9) Maintains Long Term Relationships With Clients
(10) Respected By Peers

To review Tejas Power Corporation’s recommendation, see letter from Tejas on our References page.

Building Owner/Landlord Marketing and Leasing Services

The most fundamental value of commercial real estate comes from the income stream. Leasing space to tenants to produce the income represents the greatest area of risk for a property owner. Orkin has a successful track record of negotiating all types of new, renewal, modified and expansion leases. This success comes from 10 years of work experience at Century Development Corporation and 12 years at Robert Orkin Interests I, Ltd. Orkin, in various capacities, has negotiated and closed over 1,250,000 square feet of office, industrial, and retail leases. He is very “hands-on” and understands all aspects of the leasing transaction – legal, financial, building management, space planning, construction, timing – and how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Orkin takes pride in creating order out of what may start out as chaos.
Orkin provides the property owner with a fully integrated marketing and leasing program. This program includes developing effective marketing materials, advertising, public relations events, negotiating leases and brokerage agreements, closing transactions, and coordinating tenant move-in. However, one of the most fundamental parts is the market assessment. Orkin scours the area to determine what type industries and companies are located in the market area. Is it more white collar or blue collar? Why are the companies located there? In other words, Orkin does extensive homework before he turns in his report. Additionally, Orkin evaluates on a “1-10 Points” basis the approximately 10 important building characteristics of the other competitive buildings in the market and does a comparative ranking. For a good case study, see the “8441 Gulf Freeway Success Story,” in section 5 on our Case Studies page.

Philosophy

In all areas of life and problem solving, Orkin has always believed that in order to correctly conceive a solution one must first properly perceive the problem. In other words, one must first understand what the client hopes to achieve, what are his hopes, needs, and his top and bottom parameters. Orkin tries to be a good listener and asks lots of questions. Once he understands his client’s goals and objectives, he vigorously pursues a game plan to satisfy their needs. For a sample of some of his client’s comments see References page.

Acquisition/ Disposition Services

Prior to starting Robert Orkin Interests I, Ltd., Orkin was Vice President of Acquisition and Development at Century Development Corporation. Century Development developed Greenway Plaza and Allen Center, two 5 million square feet mixed-use developments in Houston, Texas. In addition to other accomplishments at Century, Orkin redeveloped the Jefferson Chemical and 3334 Richmond buildings near Greenway Plaza, managed the lease-up process, unwound two previous sale/ leaseback transactions (including a previous sale/leaseback of a sale/leaseback) to get the owner back to a fee simple position, and sold the buildings on a unleveraged 4.5 % capitalization rate to an Asian company, Cheung Kong Holdings, Ltd., primarily owned by Li Ka-shing. Since forming his own company, Orkin represented principals of William Bailey Law Firm in the acquisition of 8441 Gulf Freeway. After acquisition the building was substantially renovated, repositioned in the market, leased from 50% to 95% and refinanced with John Hancock Life Insurance Co. at 7.45 %. Needless to say, much value has been added to the building.

Twenty two years of experience help Orkin to evaluate different markets and structure the right type of acquisition. From an acquisition viewpoint, the Orkin team assesses the following building characteristics:

After digesting all of this information, Orkin recommends a purchase price and prepares a ten-year cash flow analysis showing investor returns and identifies capital expenditures and leasing risks. Depending on the clients’ appetite for risk and willingness to go forward, the Orkin team can close the deal.

Development/ Project Management/Construction Management Services

Over two decades, Orkin helped develop more than 2 million square feet of space, primarily office and related garages. For example, while at Century Development, Orkin was the Senior Project Manager for the 30 story, $85 million NBC Bank Plaza (now 112 E. Pecan), the tallest office building in downtown San Antonio. The building construction was financed by Citicorp with a permanent loan take-out commitment from the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. The building was finished on–time and in–budget. Since the building was outside Houston, local architects Lloyd, Jones, Fillpot were paired with nationally known Cambridge Seven Associates (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and Houston contractors W.S. Bellows was paired with San Antonio contractor H.B. Zachry to put together the best design/build team for a high rise office building in San Antonio. Orkin has been fortunate to work with many pioneers in the real estate development and construction industry including Helmut Jahn of Murphy-Jahn Architects, Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill Architects and Structural Engineers, I.A. Naman & Assoc., Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing Engineers, Walter P. Moore & Assoc., Structural and Civil Engineers, and Miner-Dederick and Turner Construction, General Contractors.

Development and project/construction management services include: