YEARS
1989 - 2024 : CELEBRATING 35 YEARS WITH DOUGLAS WILSON COMPANIES
YEARS
When I came to DWC ten years ago, the economy was thriving and the company was in development mode. During my tenure, I’ve seen several different economic cycles, and with them, a variety of services offered by our company — from real estate development and advisory services to receivership and workout expertise.
That counter-cyclical approach is the model developed by our Founder, CEO and Chairman Douglas Wilson, and is one of the main elements that attracted me to DWC 10 years ago. When the economy thrives and access to capital is plentiful, DWC supports economic growth; when the economy contracts, we apply our expertise in restructuring, workout, operations management and real estate to assist entities experiencing distress. Over the course of DWC’s history, we’ve assisted in more than 1,200 of these matters.
This year, DWC celebrates 35 years in business. With this milestone anniversary, we’ve done a lot of reflecting on the many, many assignments and projects we’ve completed. In this issue of our newsletter, we share a timeline featuring some of our noteworthy projects and assignments, from complex receiverships like our recent work on the famed “Hadid House,” in Los Angeles to developing several San Diego mixed-use projects over the years.
Over this horizon of three and a half decades, we’ve been fortunate to build a brand under Doug’s leadership that has allowed DWC to attract some of the best and brightest talent in the business. As we look to the next 35 years, we are excited to build upon this expertise and apply our experience to the many opportunities and resolutions that are still yet to come.
Cheers to the next 35 years!
Michele Vives President, Douglas Wilson Companies
THE MANY SERVICES OFFERED BY DOUGLAS WILSON COMPANIES
Douglas Wilson Companies
Many of DWC’s longtime clients and colleagues know the business as a real estate developer and others recognize the Douglas Wilson Companies name in the specific role of court-appointed receiver and fiduciary.
Through the years, DWC has done many projects and assignments across these areas, depending in large part on the economic factors of the time.
Yet over DWC’s 35 years in business, the company also has launched several other business channels and has served in many roles across the workout industry.
Real Estate
For those seeking real estate expertise, DWC offers Real Estate Advisory services, during which the firm’s advisors provide highest-and-best use analysis, entitlement services, strategic planning, lease negotiations, development planning, financing, and project management.
Several years ago, DWC launched the Legacy Real Estate channel specifically geared toward families in need of real estate asset planning. As families transfer nearly $60 trillion in assets from baby boomers to their successors, this can be a critical planning process.
“DWC is known as a leader in real estate development,” says DWC President Michele Vives. “Time and again we apply our decades of real estate experience to support our clients who are trying to determine the best long-term approach to their assets.”
Workouts
For nearly as many years as DWC has been developing real estate, the company has been providing workout services for troubled assets. In this newsletter, DWC highlights many of these projects in a timeline of the company’s history.
In addition to distressed real estate assets, DWC has completed hundreds of assignments relating to troubled operating companies, with one current example being Zulily LLC. Through an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (ABC), DWC is tasked with an orderly wind down of the insolvent company. Through the ABC structure, DWC established a special purpose entity that allows the transfer of assets from a debtor to a trust, which enables the trustee to liquidate and distribute the company’s assets to its creditors.
As the need for workout solutions rises, DWC sees more ABC workout potential as an alternative to bankruptcy.
“ABCs can provide significant advantages to operations in distress,” says DWC Chairman and CEO Douglas Wilson. “In bypassing the bankruptcy court process, troubled companies can often more efficiently wind down their operations, liquidate and return remaining value to their creditors.”
Fiduciary Services
DWC has served as a fiduciary in hundreds of cases, from managing complex real estate portfolios to managing operating companies from cannabis to retail and hospitality.
In many instances, DWC’s leaders have served as receivers and as agents for receivers in a court-appointed process. In many other cases, DWC has offered other critical fiduciary services.
As a partition referee, DWC may be appointed by a court to assist when a property’s or portfolio’s co-owners are terminating common interests and are partitioning or segregating their property. In this role, DWC aids in this process, and any property sale, including any need to collect rents or improve the property to support sale proceeds.
As a Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO), DWC’s associates provide interim support to a company facing bankruptcy. Prior to or following bankruptcy proceedings, the CRO serves as an executive of the company during the restructuring or wind-down process.
A provisional director may be appointed by a court or may be hired independently to help settle disputes or serve as a tiebreaker for a company’s board that is unable to reach consensus. As an unbiased third party, DWC analyzes the company’s position to help it reach a decision.
With two Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) on staff, DWC often provides forensic accounting analysis in support of fiduciary assignments. With its team of in-house experts, including a Certified Financial Forensic (CFF), the firm currently is working on a $700 million Ponzi scheme case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, with DWC President Michele Vives as the courtappointed Receiver.
DWC also may serve in a number of other fiduciary roles: Bankruptcy Trustee, Bankruptcy Examiner, Special Master, Liquidating Agent/ Liquidating Trustee, Mediation, Expert Witness and litigation support, among other services.
“Having served in numerous roles over the last three and a half decades, DWC is ready to offer a wide array of services to those in need of creative approaches to real estate and operations, as well as problem resolution expertise,” says DWC Vice President Ryan Baker. “Whether we are assisting a small business, a federal agency or a national operator, we have a variety of ‘tools in the toolbox’ when it comes to providing the best course forward for our clients.”
DWC was tasked with preserving, protecting and completing the construction of this partially constructed, 268,762-square foot office and research facility that was
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