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Celebrating 60 years of building solutions: Part 2

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And now, covering the years 1990 to 2000, Part 2 of:

The Complete History of Holladay Properties

The ”˜90’s brought the “Savings and Loan Crisis” and, in efforts to “Survive to ”˜95”, Holladay went into a pay and hiring freeze. To help offset the slacking of development activity and generate revenue, South Bend consulted with a number of old line industrial companies that were abandoning plants in the Midwest, including Clark Equipment and Bendix Corporation in the Michiana Area. In Nashville, to cover the office overhead, they began actively soliciting third party management work of troubled assets from banks and life insurance companies.

In 1990, South Bend moved the office, which included Corporate, Brokerage, Accounting, and Property Management departments, to Colfax Place where it would remain until 1998. The Property Management department, which had been comprised of a small janitorial staff and two maintenance employees, added a landscaping function in 1991. That first year, landscaping maintained 9 properties and planted approximately 1,500 tulips compared to 25 properties maintained and 23,000 tulips planted today.

Also in 1991, Holladay developed the Inn at Saint Mary’s, a joint venture with the Sisters of the Holy Cross, and two build-to-suits for healthcare clients; one in Hendersonville, TN for Health Trust, Inc. led by our Nashville team, and the Dugdale Medical Center in South Bend for Memorial Home Healthcare. Around this time, tenant appreciation received a revamp when the South Bend Property Management team decided to throw one big party at the Seitz Park East Race instead of going to each building individually.

Then, in 1992 as the Nashville team expanded by adding Third Party Development Services to their repertoire, the South Bend office led by Doug Hunt became involved in master planning a 1,500 acre business park in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was the company’s first development of that nature and required the largest rezoning effort in Indianapolis history to date. From 1992 to 1996, efforts were focused on planning the “AmeriPlex” brand, including its name, logo, design concepts and an overall theme; this “theme” idea has been carried on to our other large-scale development efforts, although each one is different from the previous.

In 1996, the “Survive to ”˜95” period was finally over, the Indianapolis office opened and Holladay broke ground on the infrastructure of AmeriPlex. Meanwhile, Nashville Memorial Hospital hired the Nashville office as a property manager. Then in 1998, Nashville expanded their relationship with Health Trust and gained their first large-scale MOB management contract, a total of 1.2 million square feet.

In 1998, Indianapolis was breaking ground on the first building at AmeriPlex, a 40,000 SF build-to-suit for the Hirata Corporation and the South Bend office moved its operations back to 227 South Main, this time to the third floor where it is currently located. Soon thereafter, work started on the first spec building at AmeriPlex-Indianapolis, The Logan, a 120,000 SF flex industrial building.

The biggest change in Holladay history came in 1999, when John Phair proposed a separation of the Midwest and DC operations. John became President and lead partner while Hap Holladay, Wally’s son retained partial ownership of the newly formed Holladay Property Services Midwest Inc. This was a turning point of the company and Holladay Properties evolved to what it is today.

In 2000, Holladay completed negotiations with Bethlehem Steel on a 400-acre parcel in Portage, IN. The AmeriPlex at the Port project came with challenges, including negotiating with the city to finance the infrastructure, working with NIPSCO to add an onsite substation and installing high tech data infrastructure, which made it Holladay’s first “Smart Park.” The Portage office opened its first location in a job trailer, where, led by Tim Healy, they sold two parcels of land and developed AmeriPlex at the Port’s first spec building, the McCormick.

In Nashville, the medical property management business had very dynamic growth around this time. In 2000, MedCap Properties, LLC hired Holladay to manage their MOB’s, which turned into a relationship with Healthcare Property Investors, the second largest REIT in the United States, leading to another expansion.

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