Visionary with Passion Butcher’s real estate experience translates into his confidence about building a minimum number of units per year. Denver is the newest market in which Legacy is building, and the company has been building in that market for 23 years, says Henry.
Because of this wealth of experience, Butcher feels comfortable with Legacy’s latest expansion effort into Dallas. The company bought two apartment buildings there last year.
“Preston is one of the visionaries of the multifamily business,” says Frank McDowell, president and CEO of BRE Properties Inc., which has bought and sold properties from Legacy. “He has transcended the cycles in the business and maintained the passion it takes to be really effective in this business. He has a lot of knowledge.”
Legacy’s expertise not only enables the company to enter and build in high-density areas, but also to bring partnerships and equity to deals. “Preston has lived through three real estate downturns,” says Alan Connor, president and CEO of Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers Inc., which invests capital with Legacy. “After you go through that many [downturns] you have a little bit better perspective on the market and you don’t get so rattled by downturns in the economy. It’s good to do business with someone with a long-term view of real estate,” he says.
“We decided to do a deal with [Butcher] and [Henry] primarily because of their expertise on the West Coast,” says Douglas Crocker II, president and CEO of Equity Residential Properties Trust. “They know the availability of deals and land, and Preston has been at this for 30 years. He’s well known, and he has a lot of experience. When we were looking around for a joint venture partner, they were a natural choice.”
And that is what Butcher and Henry like to hear. Legacy prides itself on its relationships. “I think that we cultivate relationships,” says Butcher. “We are relationship-oriented, both inside and outside the company.”
Once Legacy develops a relationship with another company, it’s very rare for it to change that structure. For example, it has been working with American Global Real Estate Investment Corp. for more than five years and has never changed the investment strategy.
“Of course, we’ve had a couple deals that weren’t so good. But, we fessed up to them in a hurry, and they came back for the next deal,” says Butcher. “Clearly you’re going to make mistakes, but there’s very little that we do that we don’t have strong opinions about. So, I would have to say that just having made every mistake possible ? is probably my biggest strength.”