Up Close With Dougal Cameron
Cameron Management president Dougal Cameron was born into a family of entrepreneurs. His 84-year-old mother still runs a business that he swears is one of the state's most profitable resale shops. It’s fitting then that Dougal is refurbishing a historic building into a premier modern office space. You can see the beautiful redevelopment firsthand and speak with Dougal and Hines CEO Jeff Hines at Bisnow’s 5th Annual Networking Party.
Dougal got his start at Hines after working as a CPA then getting his master's from Harvard Business School. At Hines he learned a great deal from Gerald Hines about business and integrity. When Dougal saw opportunity, he struck out on his own, purchasing a Hines building that had many issues for less than he paid for his house. Dougal was upfront about the risk with his wife, who also had a mind for business. If things went south, they were both prepared to move into the top floor. Luckily, things didn’t. Dougal turned the 100k SF five-story building around. Despite his success, you still may find Dougal riding his bike to work, seen here between tenant Clean Line Energy's Michael Skelly and Central Houston president Bob Eury.
Cameron Management now has 27 employees who own 100% of the company. For Dougal, it’s crucial that every member of his team have an ownership mentality. When a picture needs to be taken, you take it yourself (above).
Cameron’s problem-solving mindset has guided them towards projects with the biggest challenges. Courting the intersection of challenge and opportunity has led Dougal to be involved in the Prison Entrepreneur Program, an incubator/job placement program for ex-cons who’ve spent a minimum of five years behind bars. The program has 1,300 graduates with an average recidivism rate of just 7%, 50% better than the national average. Graduates operate 129 companies, 11 of which have over $1M in revenue per year.
Dougal hasn’t always been the best at timing. He says behind every success story is at least three or four failures. One of his biggest mistakes was investing in a backpack company. He doesn’t have anything left to show for it except for a few thousand backpacks no one wants. He gives them to friends on special occasions, quick to let them know just how much that backpack cost him (you don’t want to know).
But with Esperson he's been right on time. In 2004, he had the chance to buy Esperson at a heavily discounted rate. The old building had many issues but Cameron quickly reversed the building's fate. In 2007, Dougal sold Esperson for a fantastic price thanks to the advice of a financial partner in Denver. Douglas estimates he got twice the building’s value.
The sale turned out to be a stroke of genius before the ‘08 crash. In 2012, the owners Dougal sold to were looking to offload the troublesome asset. Dougal purchased the note back, paralleling Mellie Esperson's own sale and repurchase of her prized asset.
With the help of Contrarian Capital, Dougal orchestrated a $20M redevelopment connecting the two buildings, constructing a new modern lobby and updating the building's connection to Houston underground. It's a value proposition, he says. Most premium office space Downtown runs over $60/SF. At Esperson, tenants get the same luxury, steeped in history, for nearly half the cost. The value attracts entrepreneurs, which Dougal say is the best type of tenant for the building. In 2005, EDP Renewables started with just 7k SF. Now, it's the building's largest tenants with over 63k SF. Dougal would love for WeWork to call Esperson home.
If co-working and renewables weren't hip enough, Cameron has partnered with Uber to provide free rides (up to $20) to Bisnow’s 5th Annual Networking Party, where you’ll arrive at Esperson’s swanky new Uber drop-off/valet zone.
