Trizec Properties, Inc., previously known as TrizecHahn Corporation, was a real estate investment trust company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It was historically a Canadian company. The name is derived from the three groups that formed a one-time related company Trizec Properties Ltd to develop Place Ville Marie in Montreal. Developer William Zeckendorf initially financed the project with capital provided by two UK insurance companies, Eagle Star and Covent Gardens, which formed the word Trizec. Prior to the 2006 acquisition by Brookfield Properties, the owner was Peter Munk, who acquired the company through a highly publicized reorganization in 1994.
History
The original Trizec company was founded in 1960 by William Zeckendorf with British associates in order to recapitalize the Place Ville Marie development in Montreal. In the 1970s the Toronto branch of the Bronfman family acquired a 50.1% controlling interest in Trizec through their holding company, Edper Investments. The Bronfmans were also owners of Carena Properties, successor to the Canadian Arena Company initiated in 1923, allowing the combined company to backdate its founding year. In the 1980s Trizec acquired The Hahn Company. In 1984 Trizec acquired a controlling interest in Toronto-based property developer Bramalea Ltd. After acquiring some $5 billion worth of debt to finance rapid expansion during the 1980s property boom, Bramalea collapsed in the early 1990s, and in 1995 its US subsidiary went bankrupt in the largest bankruptcy of a US house developer. With restructuring of Trizec during this time, Edper's equity was reduced to a nominal amount. Trizec Corporation was purchased by Peter Munk's Horsham Corporation in 1994, and moved its headquarters from Calgary to Toronto. Horsham Corporation and Trizec Corporation were amalgamated in 1996 to form TrizecHahn Corporation, with the name change reflecting the previous acquisition of The Hahn Company. By early 2000, 80% of TrizecHahn's revenues originated from the United States. For that reason, the company moved its headquarters to Chicago and sold all holdings it held in Canada. At a later point its name changed back to Trizec. In 1997 it acquired the Sears Tower in Chicago for $70 million with payment of an additional $40 million for a garage next door. In 2001 it sold some noncore assets for $417 million, with $238 million remaining after it made payments on the debt. By 2002 the company was still selling Canadian assets, and it also was selling European assets. Its new focus was American high rise, urban office towers. In 2002 the company received permission to convert to an REIT. Trizec Properties Inc. was to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange and Trizec Canada was to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In 2006 Brookfield Properties and Blackstone Group acquired the company. The payment price was $4.8 billion and the new owners assumed debts of $4.1 billion.
Corporate affairs
When it was Canada-based, the headquarters in the early 1970s were in Place Ville Marie in Montreal, Quebec. After a first move to Calgary, Alberta in 1976 by then company President Harold Milavsky, the headquarters were moved again to Toronto, Ontario in 1995, where the headquarters were in the BCE Place. The company at one time had its headquarters at Suite 4600 of the Sears Tower in the Chicago Loop area of Chicago, Illinois, U.S. It later moved to the Near West Side.
