Brentwood-based trust hires new president to succeed the retiring William Walters Jr.

Brentwood-based trust hires new president to succeed the retiring William Walters Jr.

Property management side is being brought in-house 

Brentwood-based Real Estate Investment Trust of California, a New York Stock Exchange-listed company with more than $170 million in Southland real estate, announced last week that it has hired John F. Carpenter as president to succeed William Walters Jr., who plans to retire this week.

Carpenter, 43, was formerly a senior vice president at Grubb & Ellis Co., and headed that firm's West Los Angeles office. On Oct. 1 Carpenter is slated to assume leadership of the trust.

Also on that day, the trust will, for the first time since its 1968 formation, become self-managed. It has previously been managed by Walters' outside, private advisory firm, the William Walters Co.

Seven members of that advisory firm's 12-member professional staff will stay on as in-house executives of the trust.

Carpenter's selection as president was based primarily on his past experience, explained LeRoy Carlson, a vice president and chief financial officer of Walters' advisory firm.

"Carpenter has 11 years of experience with putting deals together and an equal amount of management experience," said Carlson, one of the five advisors who will become in-house trust employees next week. "He just fit the needs of the trust."

Meanwhile, the William Walters Co. will remain in business, despite its name-sake's retirement. Its activities will be limited, however, to managing the personal investment portfolio of Walters and a few of his firm's long-time customers.

Separately, the trust last week declared a third-quarter dividend of 35.5 cents a share to shareholders of record Oct. 1. The dividend, payable Oct. 25, will be the 89th consecutive quarterly cash distribution shelled out by the trust since its formation in 1968.

Carlson projected the per-share dividend for fiscal 1990 will total $1.42, which would be a slight improvement over last year's dividend of $1.38.

The slight improvement is somewhat impressive in light of the recent slide in real estate prices.

"Our properties are well-located, well-leased and operating extremely well," Carlson explained. "We bought a big chunk of the portfolio in 1984 and '85, before the price explosion. And we don't see any major problems on the horizon."

He went on to say the trust is currently assessing an acquisition strategy, which it plans to undertake some time next year.

"We believe plenty of properties will have to be sold because owners won't be able to continue financing them. And that might create some opportunities," he said.

The stock dropped 12.5 cents a share on light volume on the day of the announcement, closing at $13.25 a share.