Ian Clagstone leads the teams of two local, related businesses.
He co-founded Standard Commercial, a Honolulu-based commercial real estate advisory group offering sales, leasing and management services, and has served as its president since 2018.
In this role, Clagstone told Pacific Business News he oversees the brokerage and property management divisions of the company and works with clients “to develop specific plans for their assets.” He also serves his own brokerage clients with their investments.
Simultaneously, he is CEO of its sister company, SC Capital, which was founded in September 2021 and aims to pursue investment opportunities as a principal, along with investment partners. In this role, Clagstone said he leads the company’s efforts to acquire multifamily, office, retail and industrial properties in Hawaii.
“We focus on underperforming properties that have deferred maintenance or operating inefficiencies in need of stabilization through an infusion of capital, as well as operational and financial expertise,” he said.
Clagstone said the two roles are “very aligned,” with Standard Commercial serving property owners with sales, leasing and management, whereas SC Capital assumes the role of owner, and works with the same team to implement their services.
“The only difference is that instead of one of our clients making the ultimate decision as the property owner, it’s SC Capital,” he said, adding that many of the relationships with property owners and tenants that Standard Commercial has developed now also work with SC Capital.
Standard Commercial has 10 employees and is actively hiring, and SC Capital shares resources and will look to add team members as it grows.
Clagstone is a graduate of Punahou School and the University of Hawaii at Manoa Shidler College of Business. He serves on the board of directors for the GIFT Foundation of Hawaii and the Executive Committee of the ULI Young Leaders Group.
You launched SC Capital almost a year ago. How has that effort fared so far? This first year with SC Capital has gone even better than we had hoped. We have expanded our working relationships with several commercial brokers who are working with us to acquire properties and solidified new and existing capital partnerships for future investment with us. We are in an excellent position going forward to execute on some exciting investment projects. … One of our company’s core values is building trust and long-term relationships with all of our clients and professionals who we work with in the community.
What has been the biggest challenge in getting SC Capital off the ground? By far, the biggest challenge has been the current market being extremely tight for value-add properties. Our target investment is underperforming properties in Hawaii valued at $10 million or more, and we haven’t seen many of those over the past 12 months. Furthermore, we are selective in what we invest our – and our partners’ – money in, and don’t have a deadline to invest our funds, which is great because it allows us to be patient. We are also in a market flux, driven by rapidly rising interest rates in combination with inflation, so buyers and sellers aren’t always seeing eye-to-eye on price.
How would you describe your leadership style? I believe in empowering our team to take the lead on specific projects and delegating opportunities. I stay involved to ensure a successful outcome, but I never micromanage. This allows our team members to develop their own capabilities and grow professionally. It’s important to me that our team develops as business professionals, and I want to provide an environment where we all are continuously growing our skill sets.
What is the biggest lesson you’ve taken away from the last few years? You had to consider each stakeholder’s position. Often in real estate you represent one side or the other, and you are trying to get the best possible outcome for your client. In this situation, you had to empathize with the small businesses (tenants), property owners and the lenders – all of whom had their own unprecedented difficulties in a constantly changing environment. This was a time to work together, and Hawaii does that better than anyone else. We saw lenders, landlords and small businesses come together to try to figure out solutions that benefitted them all.
How has the pandemic changed Hawaii’s commercial real estate market? It really expedited trends we were already experiencing. Industrial properties with distribution functionality saw even greater demand than before, and retail properties with restaurant spaces are dedicating less square-footage to dining-in because of increased take-out.
[The] office [market] has been impacted the most, primarily in Downtown Honolulu. It’s a combination of a few factors, which include work-from-home for some employees, organizations’ desires to accommodate a better work-life balance by locating their headquarters in an area with easier access or nearby amenities, and virtual meetings.Ian Clagstone, president, Standard Commercial and CEO, SC Capital
Address: 201 Merchant St., Suite 2228, Honolulu, HI 96813
Phone: 808-208-8100
Email: ian@standardcommercial.com
Websites: standardcommercial.com and sccapitalhawaii.com
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