For over 25 years, Denis Mehigan has worked in the corporate real estate industry. He has had the opportunity to work as an employee, contract employee or vendor for such great companies as Cisco Systems, Apple, Pacific Telesis, AT&T, JP Morgan Chase, The Clorox Company and McDonald’s. He has also owned and developed his own corporate real estate advisory firm, serving large international companies and local firms throughout the West Coast.
Born in San Francisco, Denis was raised and attended schools in San Francisco, graduating from the University of San Francisco in 1977. He was recruited into marketing with IBM. After his successful sales career at IBM, Denis crossed over to the commercial real estate field in 1981. He has focused his entire real estate career in the corporate and investment area.
Experience
Denis’ corporate real estate background has been both a generalist and a specialist. He has managed transactions and completed tenant representation assignments around the world. A core principal accomplishment of his transaction management has been in the area of cost reduction. His development of database systems, lease administration processes, benchmark toolkits, and comprehensive strategic real estate plans is renowned in the industry. He has completed project management and other facilities jobs for many leading edge firms in the Silicon Valley. Combined with his transaction management experience, Denis has served employers and clients on many fronts. Additionally, he has developed strategies for successful acquisitions and dispositions of investment properties.
Achievements
The Clorox Company
As Assistant Corporate Real Estate Director, Denis was responsible for making broad based reductions in occupancy costs, while managing the company’s lease portfolio. His work resulted in a decrease in annual occupancy costs of 18% for Clorox’s lease portfolio. Additionally, he automated a lease administration tracking system into a database program and had all of the company’s leases audited. Denis served as the Leasing Manager for the 550,000 square foot Clorox headquarters building, developing a retail leasing plan and completing a 100% occupancy program. He also executed on property acquisition and disposition assignments for Clorox.
AT&T
Denis managed a portfolio calling for 70 new leases each year, and reduced the company’s annual occupancy costs by 43%. He represented the company in completing nine different 50,000+ square foot office leases and worked as a member of the Project Management team in building out all of the company’s spaces. He completed a 300-page Facilities Strategic Plan and implemented a lease auditing program recovering large overpayments for the company.
Cisco Systems
Denis successfully completed sixteen corporate leases for Cisco Systems over several years. And he exclusively completed all of Cisco’s Oregon leases since 1997. His responsibilities have included site selection, negotiating and brokering the transactions, and working as a member of the Project Team. The leases were negotiated in cities across the United States including Minneapolis, Portland, St. Louis, and Des Moines.
Apple
When Apple needs a real estate advisor on their Pacific Northwest properties they call on Denis. Whether it’s finding unique locations for Apple’s creative workforce, recovering incentive opportunities or strategizing on renegotiating existing leases with landlord’s, Denis provides experienced corporate real estate efforts.
Fiserv Corillian
One year’s largest office lease transaction in the Portland metro area was negotiated by Denis. It was Fiserv Corillian’s development of a 122,000 square foot Class A office complex in Hillsboro. Fiserv Corillian hired Denis because of his significant experience in handling large transactions. As part of his service, he worked as a Project Manager for Fiserv Corillian during the year-long project.
PMC-Sierra
When the Canadian semiconductor company PMC-Sierra needed a base for their United States operations, Denis managed their 42,000 square foot transaction in Beaverton, Oregon.
JP Morgan Chase
In the past few years JP Morgan Chase has used Denis to represent them in acquiring new office space or renegotiate existing office leases in Portland.
PacTel Properties
As their Corporate Real Estate Director, Denis was in charge of corporate real estate services at PacTel Properties. In his role he served as a Corporate Real Estate Director for all of PacTel Corp’s subsidiaries. Included in this work was the successful acquisition and disposition of numerous institutional grade properties.
Imperial Credit
Instead of forming a corporate real estate department, this leading Southern California banking entity hired Denis to lead a rollout of 60 offices for their lending subsidiary throughout the United States. Denis designed a major management database for the company and developed facilities standards and processes for the acquisition and utilization of space. This three-year assignment reduced the company’s costs significantly.
McDonald’s Corp
McDonald’s is another major corporation that hired Denis to dispose of excess real estate. Denis subleased all of McDonald’s regional office space in Lake Oswego, Oregon during a very weak market cycle.
Timeline
1986 – present Principal of The Mehigan Company Corporate Real Estate Advisory Services, California, Oregon and Washington.
1984 – 1986 Pacific Telesis Corporate Real Estate Director, San Francisco, CA
1981 – 1984 Mancini Mills Real Estate Development, San Francisco, CA
1977 – 1980 IBM Marketing Management, San Francisco, CA
Education
USF Business and English degree 1977; USF MBA ongoing
Association member or past member of CoreNet, IFMA, Nacore and the IDRC.