LOS ANGELES-The Tribune Co. has named Murray McQueen to the new position of president/real estate. He will be charged with assessing the company's real estate holdings.
As previously reported by GlobeSt.com, some analysts believe that any potential sale of the L.A. Times and other Tribune Co. newspaper publishing assets may hinge on their real estate value rather than intellectual property worthiness. McQueen's appointment and other recent Tribune Co. executive statements seem to indicate the company is at least considering that possibility.
McQueen will be responsible for the strategic development of the company's real estate portfolio, including the historic Tribune Tower in Chicago and Times Mirror Square in downtown Los Angeles. He also will oversee the management of all property leasing activities. McQueen assumes his new duties immediately.
The overall Tribune Co. owns more than 7 million square feet of real estate, including its buildings, printing plants and other facilities. It is estimated that Tribune's Times Mirror Square properties in downtown Los Angeles encompass 750,000 square feet spread among five buildings on one city block.
"Tribune's real estate holdings are significant assets for the company and Murray will make sure that we are maximizing their value for our shareholders," said Peter Liguori, Tribune's president and CEO, in a prepared statement. "Murray's real estate savvy will help us manage our properties and maximize their utility, and his extensive experience managing billions of dollars in real estate financings, joint ventures and asset sales will serve to create a vision for our diverse real estate portfolio."
Last week, Tribune announced that it will spin-off its newspaper publishing businesses into a separate company from its other media holdings. In total, Tribune owns six daily newspapers, including the L.A. Times and Chicago Tribune.
While the company has stated that all real estate assets would remain with the Tribune Co. and would not shift to the new publishing company, there is little doubt by analysts that any potential deal of the troubled newspaper assets would be sweetened by inclusion of the real estate.
McQueen was a co-founder and managing partner of Channel West Group, established in 2011. McQueen acted as operating partner in principal transactions and performed advisory and asset management work involving complex real estate structures and asset repositioning.
Prior to Channel West, McQueen was a managing director at Cerberus Capital, where, from 2005 to 2011, he was responsible for the management and oversight of key portions of the firm's overall real estate practice. Before Cerberus, McQueen held positions at Credit Suisse First Boston/DJL Real Estate and Citicorp Real Estate.
McQueen was traveling and was not available for comment, said corporate spokesman Gary Weitman. In a prepared statement announcing his appointment, McQueen said "Tribune has significant scale in real estate and owns truly marquee property in some of the country's best markets. The strategic development of the entire portfolio, the opportunity to grow and maximize the value of these assets is exciting and something I am very much looking forward to doing."
McQueen earned his undergraduate degree in economics from Santa Clara University in 1983 and his MBA in real estate finance from UCLA in 1989.
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