Trizec Properties, Inc., previously known as TrizecHahn Corporation, was a

real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT, pronounced "reet") is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of real estate, including office and apartment buildings, studios, warehouses, hos ...

headquartered in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. It was originally a Canadian company. The name is derived from the initials of the three groups (Tri) that formed Trizec Properties Ltd: Zeckendorf, Eagle Star, and Covent Gardens. In 1994, it was acquired by

Peter Munk Peter Munk (November 8, 1927 – March 28, 2018) was a Hungarian-Canadian businessman, investor, founder and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of a number of high-profile business ventures, including the hi-fi electr ...

and in October 2006, it was acquired by

Brookfield Properties Brookfield Properties is a North American subsidiary of Commercial property, commercial real estate firm Brookfield Property Partners, which itself is a subsidiary of Alternative investment, alternative asset management company Brookfield Corpor ...

and

The Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. It was founded in 1985 as a mergers and acquisitions firm by Peter G. Peterson, Peter Peterson and Stephen A. Schwarzman, Stephen Schwarzman, who h ...

History

Trizec was founded in 1960 by

William Zeckendorf William Zeckendorf Sr. (June 30, 1905 – September 30, 1976) was a prominent American real estate developer. Through his development company Webb and Knapp — for which he began working in 1938 and which he purchased in 1949 — he developed ...

with British associates recapitalize the

Place Ville Marie Place Ville Marie (, abbr. PVM) is a large office and shopping complex skyscraper in Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada, comprising four office buildings and an underground shopping plaza. The main building, 1 Place Ville Marie (formerly Royal Ba ...

development in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. In the 1970s, the Toronto branch of the

Bronfman family The Bronfman family is a Canadian family, known for its extensive business holdings. It owes its initial fame to Samuel Bronfman (1889–1971), the most influential Canadian Jew of the mid-20th century, who made a fortune in the alcoholic distill ...

acquired a 50.1% controlling interest in Trizec through its holding company,

Edper Investments Edper Investments Ltd. was the primary holding company and investment vehicle for brothers Edward Bronfman and Peter Bronfman between 1959 and 1995. At its peak in the 1980s, and early 1990s, Edper was one of the largest corporate conglomerates ...

. The Bronfmans were also owners of Carena Properties, successor to the Canadian Arena Company. In the 1980s, Trizec acquired

The Hahn Company The Hahn Company, also known as Ernest W. Hahn, Inc., was a major American shopping center owner and developer from the 1950s to the 1980s, based in San Diego, California. Purchased by the Trizec Corp. in 1980 (which then took the name TrizecHahn) ...

. In 1984, Trizec acquired a controlling interest in Toronto-based property developer Bramalea Ltd. After adding $5 billion in debt to finance rapid expansion during the 1980s property boom, Bramalea collapsed in the early 1990s, and in 1995, its U.S. subsidiary went bankrupt in the largest bankruptcy of a U.S. house developer. With restructuring of Trizec, Edper's equity was reduced to a nominal amount. In 1994, Trizec Corporation was acquired by

's Horsham Corporation. It moved its headquarters from Calgary to Toronto. Horsham Corporation and Trizec Corporation were amalgamated in 1996 to form TrizecHahn Corporation. In 1997, it acquired a controlling interest in the Sears Tower (now the

Willis Tower The Willis Tower, formerly and still commonly referred to as the Sears Tower, is a 110-storey, story, skyscraper in the Chicago Loop, Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer F ...

) in Chicago for $70 million with payment of an additional $40 million for a garage next door. It also acquired a portfolio of assets from

The JBG Companies JBG SMITH Properties is a publicly traded real estate investment trust based in Bethesda, Maryland. As of December 31, 2024, the company owned 38 operating properties including 16 apartment complexes with 6,781 units, 20 commercial properties com ...

for $560 million. In November 1998, the company sold a portfolio of

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

s, including

Westfield Santa Anita The Shops at Santa Anita (formerly Westfield Santa Anita and Santa Anita Fashion Park) is a super-regional shopping mall located in Arcadia, California, adjacent to the Santa Anita Race Track. History The mall opened as Santa Anita Fashion Park ...

Westfield Group Westfield Group was an Australian shopping centre company that existed from 1960 to 2014, when it split into two independent companies: Scentre Group, which owns and operates the Australian and New Zealand Westfield shopping centre portfolio; ...

for $1.4 billion. In 1999, the company acquired

1 New York Plaza 1 New York Plaza is an office building in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of South Street (Manhattan), South and Whitehall Streets near South Ferry (Manhattan), South Ferry ...

for $390 million from

Chase Manhattan Bank JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and financial services holding ...

. By early 2000, 80% of TrizecHahn's revenues was from the United States and the company moved its headquarters to Chicago and sold all holdings it held in Canada, changing its name to Trizec. In 2001, it sold noncore assets for $417 million. In April 2002, the company received permission to convert to a public

. In November 2002, after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, the company wrote down two-thirds of the $70 million investment it made in 1997 to gain control of the Sears Tower. In February 2004, the company sold its interest in

Hollywood & Highland Ovation Hollywood (formerly Hollywood & Highland) is a shopping center and entertainment complex at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. The shopp ...

CIM Group CIM Group invests in commercial property on behalf of large institutions such as pensions. As of December 31, 2020, the company owned $29.2 billion worth of commercial property. History The company was founded in 1994 by Shaul Kuba, Richard Ressl ...

for $200 million. In May 2006, the company acquired 13 office properties in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

from Arden Realty for $1.63 billion. In October 2006,

and

acquired the company for $8.9 billion.

Headquarters locations

When it was Canada-based, the headquarters in the early 1970s were in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. After a first move to

Calgary, Alberta Calgary () is a major city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a Metropolitan area, metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the List of ...

in 1976 by then company President Harold Milavsky, the headquarters were moved again to

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in 1995, where the headquarters were in the

BCE Place Brookfield Place (formerly BCE Place) is an office complex in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, comprising the block bounded by Yonge Street, Wellington Street West, Bay Street, and Front Street West. The complex contains of office space and ...

. In 2004, the company was headquartered at Suite 4600 of the

in the

Chicago Loop The Loop is Chicago's central business district and one of the city's 77 municipally recognized Community areas in Chicago, community areas. Located at the center of downtown Chicago on the shores of Lake Michigan, it is the second-largest busi ...

. It later moved to the Near West Side.

References

{{Authority control 1923 establishments in Quebec 2006 disestablishments in Illinois Canadian companies established in 1923 Companies disestablished in 2006 Defunct companies based in Chicago Defunct real estate companies of the United States Real estate companies established in 1923 Blackstone Inc. companies