Industrial REIT Executive Walks Narrow Finance Line
Gayle Starr used to stride through warehouses bustling with workers and forklifts and find that she was the only woman in the building. Now she is senior vice president of capital markets at San Francisco-based AMB Property Corp., the giant developer and operator of industrial warehouses that owns 156.9 million sq. ft. in 14 countries.
Article Tools
Latest News
Most Popular Articles
advertisement
One of a handful of top women executives in the industrial sector, she is responsible for AMB's secured and unsecured debt. She averages a dozen corporate and portfolio financings annually and tends more than 40 lender relationships.
Starr has fought the recession on the front lines, closing loans despite the credit crisis. As with other REITs, the company's stock has come under fire, freefalling from a 52-week high of $57.13 to a low of $8.73. The stock closed at $22.99 on Aug. 26.
In the second quarter, AMB acted decisively to retire some of its debt by issuing equity and selling properties, improving its financial position from the first and fourth quarters.
“They've done a fairly good job of deleveraging their balance sheet,” says Chicago analyst David Rodziewicz of Morningstar. But he is concerned by AMB's development pipeline of 9 million sq. ft. set for delivery by 2010, when $1.6 billion of its debt matures.
Through June, AMB sold $461 million worth of properties with an average stabilized cap rate of 6.9%. In a second-quarter earnings call, chairman and CEO Hamid Moghadam said the REIT's debt shrank by more than $750 million while available cash rose by $300 million.
As she sought loans, Starr followed a conservative path, avoiding commercial mortgage-backed securities. “We didn't do any fancy derivatives. We did basic financing with life insurance companies.”
An attorney, Starr joined AMB 17 years ago, learning property and asset management, construction and development. She travels the globe to secure loans, closing $2 billion in financing in 2008.
Her low tolerance for high-leverage loans still guides AMB's financing. “That has worked out for us immeasurably.”
Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2010 Penton Media Inc.
Acceptable Use Policy blog comments powered by Disqus
Quick Poll
advertisement
NREI Interactive Products
-
Podcast
Commercial Real Estate: Hey, Save a Piece of Stimulus Pie for Me!
Following a year that saw the near meltdown of the banking system, 2010 could shape up to be a better year for investors, though perhaps not as robust as some would wish.
-
Podcast
Is the Recession Over?
Rick Mattoon, senior economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, shares the latest numbers from the Fed's National Activity Index that show the economy is experiencing a fairly sharp rebound from the bottom of the Great Recession.
Webinars
2010: The Year of the Sale - Leaseback
This webinar provides brokers, bankers, developers, CFOs and real estate executives with a blueprint for accessing the many facets of the sale-leaseback model.
Blogs
-
Green Shoots
-
BlackSwan
-
Traffic Court
Current Issue
Marketplace Ads
advertisement
advertisement
advertisement
advertisement
