Shortly after my Six Million Dollar Green event, the same investor had been considering a newer large development. Having been profitable for them before I was invited to help on this project with them.
It was for a nine-building development near a large online retailer’s new distribution center. The thought was to add more rental space in the area as it was currently developing. While the original plans called for offices and amenities on the first floor, we started to look at mixed use buildings. This means the first floor would contain businesses, and the subsequent floors would be housing for tenants. We began moving forward with the project. It was estimated that after completion of the buildings which would have cost around eighteen million dollars to build, about two million per building, and would take the better part of a year to complete, we would have a stable cash-flowing property. Lower level with adequate parking for the businesses, and the upper levels rented out to workers to the distribution center.
While I was finishing an event in Cancun I got a call from the online retailer asking what it would cost me to exit the project. I was at a mastermind and got some amazing advice which I used when I told them 10 million dollars would be my buyout price, not thinking it would be seriously entertained. Not only was it considered, but while I was flying back to the United States, a team of negotiators was flown out, and the entire project was bought out for thirty-eight million dollars, twice what we were expecting once the buildings we completed. Had I not gotten the advice to aim high in my initial asking price, I don’t think it would have turned out as it did.
