SCI Expands, StarPoint Launches TIC

SCI says it will open its new offices in cities throughout the US over the next three to six months to increase awareness of TIC investment options and 1031 exchange trades. It has hired Scott Lunine, a former managing director with Sperry Van Ness in Southern California, to lead the office expansion. The new regional offices are planned for Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Washington DC, Boston, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Miami, Orlando and Ft. Myers, FL. New California offices will include San Diego, San Francisco, Orange County and the Inland Empire. More than 15 regional sales directors will be hired soon to staff the offices.

Lunine's appointment follows closely behind that of Douglas E. Johnston Jr., who joined SCI earlier this year to shepherd an expansion that the company said could include securities to be offered alongside SCI's real estate TICs and the possibility of attracting foreign investors into its deals. The 15 new US offices are part of a campaign that SCI calls "Own Big, Own Better." Johnston says the campaign "captures the essence" of SCI's focus on acquiring institutional grade commercial real estate. According to Marc Paul, president and co-chairman of the company, a primary role of the new offices will be to "educate people on how to invest, especially the baby boomers with retirement funds." An important part of SCI's message, Paul says, is that "Even if you're not a wealthy person, you can invest in high-quality property."

StarPoint says its new ExchangePoint program will focus on 1031 exchanges and TIC investments, which fits the company's network and deal flow, according to Paul Daneshrad, CEO of StarPoint. Forman has more than 25 years of real estate and finance experience, most recently with GF, which provided acquisition, disposition, and debt/equity capitalization services to private, corporate and institutional investors. Before GF Realty, he was a financial advisor to Secured California Investments Inc., which specializes in placing 1031 exchange investor equity into TIC deals.

StarPoint, which has been involved in the multifamily and commercial markets since 1994, operates a portfolio of more than 3 million sf. Among its most recent deals was its $43 million purchase earlier this year of a 103,000-sf, 10-story office building 450 N. Roxbury Drive in the Golden Triangle of Beverly Hills.