The beginnings of Pacific Office Properties lies in the history of its founders, The Shidler Group. Jay Shidler founded The Shidler Group in 1972 in Honolulu to invest in commercial real estate. Shidler knew that in order to diversify and prosper, The Group would require expertise and presence in markets across the country with the best investment potential. He rapidly expanded, forming investment partnerships with premiere entrepreneurial investors and operators in San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and other major cities across the United States, all operating under The Shidler Group.

Some of these original partnerships would be the basis for The Shidler Group’s first three real estate investment trusts – TriNet Corporate Realty Trust, Inc. (formerly NYSE: TRI), First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc (NYSE: FR), and Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE: OFC). But the first of these investment partnerships was formed in 1977 in Honolulu between Jay Shidler and James Reynolds.

Mr. Jay H. Shidler, the Chairman of Pacific Office Properties Trust, Inc. and the founder of The Shidler Group, has had a successful history of financial innovation within the REIT and real estate industries over the past 30 years. Public and private companies founded by Mr. Shidler have issued over $11 billion of securities in the cash market and have created over $30 billion in synthetic transactions in the non-cash market. Many of these entities, structures, and securities were unique when created. For a complete list of related innovations, see A History of Innovation.

In 1987 Reynolds, looking to the growing Southern California market, expanded the partnership, opening an office in San Diego. Filling the need for more capacity, Reynolds and Shidler augmented their operation with young talented partners – James Ingebritsen, having joined the San Diego office as an associate in 1987, Lawrence Taff joining the Honolulu office in 1995 and Matthew Root coming on board in San Diego in 1997.

In 2003, Honolulu had just begun to emerge from a long period of a soft real estate market. Reynolds + Shidler had stayed the course in Hawaii, and in 2003, just as the market began its rebound, the partners made the bold dual acquisition of the Davies Pacific Center and the Pan Am Building, both landmark Class "A" office properties. This was quickly followed up with the acquisition in Honolulu of the Waterfront Plaza office complex. These properties, along with the Group’s highly successful joint venture initiatives, would form the basis of Pacific Office Properties Trust, Inc.

In 1992, Mr. Jay H. Shidler, the Chairman of Pacific Office Properties Trust, Inc. and the founder of The Shidler Group, began a unique 16-year private-to-public corporate migration process. This process involved the conversion of The Shidler Group’s nationwide commercial real estate investment organization from 10 stand-alone, highly entrepreneurial private entities into four separate publicly-traded, NYSE-listed REITs. In March 2008, this process was completed when The Shidler Group’s final two private entities, its Honolulu and San Diego office building operations and portfolios, were used to form Pacific Office Properties Trust, Inc. For a complete history of The Shidler Group’s public company formations, see A Private-to-Public Migration.

Pacific Office Properties’ formation strategy would be very similar to that of The Shidler Group’s third REIT, Corporate Office Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE: OFC), which was formed through a contribution of The Shidler Group’s Mid-Atlantic suburban office operations to, and merger with, a small NASDAQ-listed REIT. Concurrent with the merger, the REIT formed a new operating partnership, reincorporated in Maryland and changed its name to Corporate Office Properties Trust. Formed in 1997, Corporate Office has consistently been ranked one of the nation’s top performing office REITs.

On March 19, 2008, the partners contributed their Western U.S. office portfolio and institutional joint-venture operations to, and merged with, an existing AMEX-listed REIT. Concurrent with the merger, the REIT formed a new operating partnership, reincorporated in Maryland and changed its name to Pacific Office Properties Trust, Inc. The partners simultaneously formed and capitalized Pacific Office Management, Inc. to serve as the Company’s external advisor.

The experience, skill and reputation of The Shidler Group’s partners and their ability to deliver superior returns has resulted in long-term, stable and highly profitable operations throughout the history of The Shidler Group’s Western U.S. office portfolio, which has been transformed into Pacific Office Properties Trust, Inc. We endeavor to continue this strong track record as we move into the future.