American Greetings, A Fortune 1000 Publishing/Printing Company, intended to dispose of its 1.6 million sq. ft. headquarters facility and 150 acre campus, located in Ohio. Given the uniqueness of the property, the client called upon Allegro to identify and understand re-use and disposition strategies.
In order to properly frame the context and position of American Greetings’ building, Allegro applied its “Highest and Most Appropriate Use” methodology to collect comprehensive data and information and to conduct thorough due diligence addressing the physical, financial, legal and social factors affecting the property and alternative disposition strategies.
Upon completion of the Phase I – Strategy scope of work, Allegro developed a report summarizing the property and market information, a long list of disposition alternatives, a decision tree structure, recommended short list alternatives, and a refined Phase II work plan based on these findings. Additionally, the property was assessed in the context of the real estate market, specifically to evaluate price and competition.
The Phase II – Analysis scope of work included the following activities: more detailed due diligence on title, survey, environmental condition, physical conditions, market dynamics and government relations. Additionally, Allegro’s work identified quantitative impacts of short-listed strategies to ownership on a net present value basis (after tax), developed a decision tree and assessed qualitative variables of short-listed strategies. Through this process, Allegro tested its assumptions by presenting the building to a select list of pre-qualified real estate investors and developers. Based on this market testing, Allegro built a business case to further vet the short-listed alternatives and recommended of preferred strategy.
This exercise naturally progressed into Phase III – Implementation, in which Allegro provided transactional support including project leadership and working through the final stages of disposing the highly complex project.