Case Studies

All photos and tract maps shown are of properties currently or formerly owned by The Shopoff Group Limited Partnerships.

Hollywood News
Hollywood, California
The Hollywood News office building in Hollywood, California illustrates how The Shopoff Group spotted an undervalued asset and executed a business plan that provided outstanding results for our investors.

In 1997, The Shopoff Group acquired a 48,000-square-foot office building known during its early years as the Hollywood News Building. At the time we acquired the building it had an 80% occupancy rate. The property provided a positive cash flow at acquisition and provided the partnership with an opportunity to obtain even greater cash flow and capital appreciation once the balance of the property was leased.

Over the course of our ownership, we successfully completed the planned improvements including installation of a new electrical system, leasing of all vacant spaces and renewal of leases with the primary tenants. Additionally, The Shopoff Group worked with the historic commission and obtained a grant to refurbish and install the original building signage, restoring the property to its original luster.

After several years generating annual cash-on-cash returns of over 25%, the partnership decided to sell the property to capitalize on the active office market in the area. We succeeded in selling the property for more than 70% over our purchase price and at the time of sale it was 100% leased.  The result was an internal rate of return to our investors of 27.5%.

Investing in The Shopoff Group limited partnerships involves a high degree of risk, including the possible complete loss of your investment. In addition to being an illiquid investment with an uncertain liquidity date, these investments may have other risks. The past performance of any of The Shopoff Group's Limited Partnerships is no guarantee of future results. View Risk Factors.

1994 Dallas S, Ltd (aka Dallas Alley and Lamar 2000)
Dallas, Texas

In late 1994, The Shopoff Group acquired a pool of 125 defaulted commercial mortgages from The Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC). This portfolio consisted of loans backed by properties in Texas and Louisiana. The acquisition was structured with The Shopoff Group acting as the managing partner of a joint venture between our investment partners, Credit Suisse First Boston and the RTC. This unique investment structure allowed us to create an excellent investment opportunity.

This property is one example of how we deal with the assets in this type of portfolio. Among the loans in this portfolio was a loan secured by a retail property located in the most popular entertainment district of downtown Dallas. The Shopoff Group team of specialists was unable to work out the loan with the debtor, so they foreclosed the loan on the property and obtained ownership. The primary tenant was one of the most popular nightclubs in the district. The asset management team was able to resolve several conflicts with this tenant. This not only created a better working relationship with the tenant, but also ensured they would stay in the building. This approach helped to significantly enhance the value of the property.

Following these efforts, our team successfully marketed Lamar 2000 (Dallas Alley) and sold the property.

The balance of the portfolio was also a major success story, with The Shopoff Group’s team of specialists having to employ varied plans for different assets that included resolving several loans, pursuing deficiencies where applicable and foreclosing the assets where necessary. We like to say that this portfolio, in addition to the usual assets such as land, apartments, office building and industrial buildings, also includes everything from churches to bowling alleys. The emphasis was always on meeting the goal for the particular asset in the time frames originally created, but also having flexibility and creativity to get the job done. This was one of our most challenging portfolios and we took a certain amount of pride and satisfaction in the job that was done.

This portfolio took persistence, perseverance and a skill set that demonstrated how well we could work as a team. It also put this group on the national map of being one of the few small firms chosen to do this level of work for large institutional partners.

Investing in The Shopoff Group limited partnerships involves a high degree of risk, including the possible complete loss of your investment. In addition to being an illiquid investment with an uncertain liquidity date, these investments may have other risks. The past performance of any of The Shopoff Group's Limited Partnerships is no guarantee of future results. View Risk Factors.

Tanglewood
Austin, Texas

The Shopoff Group acquired a 75,000-square-foot self-storage facility located in Austin, Texas. We were able to successfully improve both occupancy and rental rates during the initial years of ownership. In addition, less than two years after purchase, we completed a re-finance in order to return the investors’ initial capital and simultaneously acquired the adjacent site for expansion.

In order to accomplish the development of the second phase we had to create a separate partnership to satisfy lender concerns on Phase 1. Once this was accomplished utilizing tax planning to avoid any gain recognition for the partners, The Shopoff Group designed and processed a 50,000-square-foot expansion of the facility. We then negotiated a construction loan. Following the approval and funding of the loan, The Shopoff Group managed the construction of this second phase.

Due to our low basis and excellent loan structure we were able to effectively compete for new tenants despite the fact that the overall storage market had suffered from over-building. The property achieved stabilized occupancy in 2007
at which time The Shopoff Group team successfully executed a refinance and a profitable sale of the asset.

Investing in The Shopoff Group limited partnerships involves a high degree of risk, including the possible complete loss of your investment. In addition to being an illiquid investment with an uncertain liquidity date, these investments may have other risks. The past performance of any of The Shopoff Group's Limited Partnerships is no guarantee of future results. View Risk Factors.

Mortgage Recovery Fund-Alameda, L.P.Slotkin Property, Los Angeles, CA

The Shopoff Group acquired the Slotkin buildings, part of a $9.4 million defaulted commercial loan portfolio, for 37.4 % of the outstanding balance. These three industrial buildings located in Los Angeles collateralized the mortgages, with a single borrower as the maker.

The team was able to rapidly determine value of the underlying properties and prepare a business plan to maximize return for the investment. In addition, as part of our acquisition, we obtained a loan to finance 78% of our purchase price of the underlying defaulted loans to improve our investment yields.

After a complex negotiation with the debtor, we successfully arranged a discounted payoff, which we completed in less than 136 days for a profit of over $1 million. The Shopoff Group investors received an internal rate of return (IRR) of 86% on their investment – a result which far exceeded the original pro forma of a 27% IRR. Our team was able to arrange acquisition of defaulted loans and acquisition debt, initiate foreclosure and negotiate an expedited payoff to secure superior investment results.

Investing in The Shopoff Group limited partnerships involves a high degree of risk, including the possible complete loss of your investment. In addition to being an illiquid investment with an uncertain liquidity date, these investments may have other risks. The past performance of any of The Shopoff Group's Limited Partnerships is no guarantee of future results. View Risk Factors.

Mortgage Recovery Fund-Village Glen, Ltd. aka University Heights Apartments
Austin, Texas

The Shopoff Group acquired a defaulted second mortgage at a substantial discount. This loan was collateralized by a 360-unit apartment complex located in Austin, Texas. Upon acquisition of the loan we began to execute our business plan, which for this asset involved collecting the loan from the current property owner or pursuing a foreclosure action. In addition, our team had to assess the value of the underlying collateral and negotiate with the first lien holder.

The borrower had previously placed the property in bankruptcy, but had not fulfilled the terms and conditions of his Chapter 11 Reorganization Plan. Once our team took control of the loan, we made demand on the borrower who was not able to make payments. We therefore initiated a foreclosure action which resulted in a settlement with the borrower. As a result, The Shopoff Group was able to assume ownership of the property within 90 days of acquisition of the defaulted second lien.

Immediately after acquiring ownership of the property, our team began to stabilize the operations of the property. Village Glen had a tough reputation, was experiencing very poor occupancy, and had several building code violations. We began to remedy the code violations and were diligent in our collection efforts with all delinquent residents. Initially the occupancy fell, but we were able to quickly stabilize the property making it attractive to long-term investors.

The foreclosure and subsequent management activities created substantial value for our investors, so we began our marketing effort. After one failed sale, we located a suitable purchaser who wanted to do a large-scale renovation on the Village Glen Apartments. We completed a sale of the property 10 months after we acquired the defaulted second loan. Through a precise and rapid execution of our business plan, we successfully completed this project and provided returns above our initial pro forma, with our investors achieving an internal rate of return of 22.8%.

Investing in The Shopoff Group limited partnerships involves a high degree of risk, including the possible complete loss of your investment. In addition to being an illiquid investment with an uncertain liquidity date, these investments may have other risks. The past performance of any of The Shopoff Group's Limited Partnerships is no guarantee of future results. View Risk Factors.

Falls Creek Apartments

The Shopoff Group, through a partnership with Credit Suisse First Boston, planned to acquire 308 separate condominium units. The original sale of this project as condominiums had failed, with only a portion of the project being owned by investors and the balance owned by several lenders who had foreclosed their mortgages.

The Shopoff Group acquired the mortgages on the majority of the project and completed a foreclosure to acquire fee title to these units. While completing the foreclosure action, The Shopoff Group put all of the remaining units under contract in less than a month. This assemblage proved to be quite successful, as the property was worth significantly more as an apartment building than it was as condominiums.

Once we acquired title to the entire complex, we set about to improve operations while disbanding the Homeowners’ Association. This also allowed for the dismissal of a lawsuit regarding construction defects. We improved occupancy to over 90% within a few months.

With the property stabilized, The Shopoff Group marketed it for sale as an apartment complex. We successfully negotiated an agreement with a suitable buyer and sold the property within nine months of acquisition for a profit of more than $3 million.

Investing in The Shopoff Group limited partnerships involves a high degree of risk, including the possible complete loss of your investment. In addition to being an illiquid investment with an uncertain liquidity date, these investments may have other risks. The past performance of any of The Shopoff Group's Limited Partnerships is no guarantee of future results. View Risk Factors.

Lakehills Plaza

The Shopoff Group, through its partnership with Texas Land Company Bedford Center, Ltd., acquired the Lakehills Plaza Shopping Center in Austin, Texas in August 1998. This property, which the sellers had acquired through a foreclosure action, consisted of a 76,001-square-foot retail center. It was part of a larger center that contained a Target store.

We acquired the property for $5.35 million. Our business plan included necessary repairs and a general clean-up to improve the overall appearance of the center, in addition, we planned to lease out the 25% of the property that was vacant upon acquisition while renewing several other leases. We successfully executed this plan and, over the first year and a half of ownership, raised the net operating income (NOI) by 20% and achieved stabilized occupancy of over 90%.

Once stabilized, the property generated a cash-on-cash return to our investors in excess of 20% on equity. In accordance with our business plan we sold the property after three years of ownership, generating an internal rate of return to our investors of 16.23%, which was within the range originally projected.

Investing in The Shopoff Group limited partnerships involves a high degree of risk, including the possible complete loss of your investment. In addition to being an illiquid investment with an uncertain liquidity date, these investments may have other risks. The past performance of any of The Shopoff Group's Limited Partnerships is no guarantee of future results. View Risk Factors.