Walter Hahn, one of Orange County’s real estate gurus, has started a consulting business, leaving the Irvine office of New York-based Ernst & Young International.
He’s now at 2102 Business Center Drive in Irvine, only a stone’s toss from his old office.
Hahn hopes to help buyers figure out the value of a commercial property or masterplanned community, especially large complicated ones, based on a building’s income potential.
Occasionally, Hahn said he serves as an expert witness in real estate cases.
And he now is affiliated with New York-based consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal LLC.
Hahn’s departure is more a separation than a divorce. He said he still has a contract with Ernst & Young in case they need his input.
Hahn was an independent contractor at Ernst & Young. The accounting firm provided him with an office and other support, he said.
It was time to get his own digs because Ernst & Young’s real estate consulting practice has dwindled dramatically since it acquired Kenneth Leventhal & Co. in 1995, Hahn said.
One of Hahn’s former colleagues from his Kenneth days, Stephen Duffy, had much the same opinion. Both men said the big accounting firms are focused on helping public companies comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting reform act.
Ernst & Young raised its consulting fees after it acquired Kenneth Leventhal, which limited new business, Hahn said.
In any case, Duffy, who now is chief operating officer at Irvine-based apartment developer Western National Group, had high praise for his former coworker.
“Walter is a tireless professional,” Duffy said. “He is truly one of the finest real estate consultants in the nation.”
Duffy said Walter is an expert in how regional economics impact real estate development. He said Hahn has the added benefit of age,the man is 73.
“He has been through more cycles than any of us,” Duffy said.
Hahn received a doctorate in real estate economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1974. He got a master’s in business administration from UCLA in 1967. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Utah, graduating with a bachelor’s in electrical engineering in 1954.
Hahn has opined on the housing market in some of my articles. He remains bullish, saying continued job growth and limited housing development could keep prices rising as much as 10% annually in the next decade.
Hahn’s model includes a recession in 2010.
“I really think that even during a recession, when we lose jobs, home prices will go up a few percentage points,” he said.
Otherwise, Hahn said he is semi-retired. He shuns golf, he said, but not his grandchildren.
One of the nation’s largest pension fund managers earlier this month opened an office in OC, angling to be a real estate player here.
The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association College Retirement Equities Fund, known as TIAA-CREF, has an office at 4675 MacArthur Court in Newport Beach.
The New York-based nonprofit provides pensions, retirement accounts, financial advice, insurance and other services. It also has a $51 billion real estate portfolio, which includes stocks and bonds backed by real estate.
TIAA-CREF has other offices in the state. But this is the first real estate-related one. The folks at the office plan to invest in commercial real estate and apartments in California and elsewhere.
Tom Garbutt, who heads real estate out of New York with TIAA, said John Wayne Airport was a big reason why the group chose OC. He said it provides excellent access to a variety of markets from Seattle to San Diego and including Phoenix and Denver.
It’s not unusual to see companies outside California choose OC as a West Coast base, with an eye to hitting Los Angeles, San Diego and the Inland Empire.
Garbutt said he’s not put off by high prices of office buildings and other commercial real estate in OC and the region. Nationwide prices are high, he said.
“California clearly is in that same camp,” Garbutt said. But “the economic engine in California is pretty darn sound.”
Derek Landry and Chris McGibbon head the local operation. Landry oversees asset management. McGibbon is handling acquisitions.
There are more than 200,000 Californians in the nonprofit’s retirement plans. It manages more than $1 billion for more than 150,000 state residents who take part in the ScholarShare education savings program.
TIAA also has offices in Palo Alto, San Francisco and Pasadena. Those aren’t involved in real estate.
Broker Shuffle
Cushman & Wakefield Inc. recently lured a trio of brokers away from CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.: Rick Sherburne, Alex Hayden and Travis Boyd.
Taken together, the three have brokered some $3.3 billion in deals during the years, according to Cushman.
Joseph Vargas, senior managing director with Cushman in Irvine, said in a statement, “These are some of the top professionals in the state of California. They will have an enormous impact with our clients in the region.”
Sherburne spent 20 years at CB. Hayden spent the past six years at CB and has been a broker since 1995. Boyd joined CB in 1996.
