Monday Properties Hires Former Lehman Brothers Exec To Lead West Coast Expansion

Fresh off its big Nestlé win, Monday Properties is expanding to the West Coast, its first new regional office in more than a decade. 

The New York City-based developer, with its entire existing office portfolio concentrated in Rosslyn, Va., has hired a new managing partner, Phil Cyburt, to open an office in Los Angeles. Cyburt is leaving his position as CEO of Los Angeles-based Laurus Corp. to help Monday Properties acquire properties from Southern California to Seattle.

With Cyburt's addition, Monday also plans to broaden its portfolio, which is now exclusively office and multifamily, to include hotel assets. Westreich said its investors have been asking it to diversify and look at opportunities in new markets and in the hospitality sector. 

Before leading Laurus, Cyburt served as interim CEO of Lehman Brothers Holdings' real estate division. Following Lehman's bankruptcy filing, the firm retained Monday Properties to help manage its NoVa assets. 

"That what when we started thinking about a West Coast expansion," Monday Properties CEO Anthony Westreich said. "We knew we needed someone there, and we were always kind of looking out for that person. We had a dialogue and kicked the idea around for a while and then decided last year to go for it."

Since launching in New York in 2002, Monday's only regional expansion has been the opening of its DC office in 2005. Its DC-area portfolio currently includes 10 Rosslyn office towers. It developed the region's tallest tower at 1812 North Moore St., which sat vacant since its 2013 delivery before landing Nestlé to fill 206k SF earlier this month.  

Monday's West Coast office will be in Los Angeles' Century City neighborhood. The location was picked because of where Cyburt lives, but Westreich said Monday will use the office to acquire properties in all of the West Coast's major markets, including Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and L.A. 

Cyburt said he should have multiple acquisitions to announce shortly.

"We're going to hit the ground running," Cyburt said. "We want to be focused and strategic. We're working through where we should be and the strategy of what we want to chase. We have capital and we have the ability to chase large transactions."