Zaya Younan
Encyclopedia
Career
Born in Tehran, Iran of ethnic AssyrianAssyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
heritage. Zaya Younan is an American citizen. Younan worked in senior executive positions with Fortune 500
Fortune 500
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
companies, including General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
, Johnson Controls
Johnson Controls
Johnson Controls, Inc. is a company, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. It was founded in 1885 by professor Warren S. Johnson, inventor of the first electric room thermostat....
and TRW
TRW
TRW Inc. was an American corporation involved in a variety of businesses, mainly aerospace, automotive, and credit reporting. It was a pioneer in multiple fields including electronic components, integrated circuits, computers, software and systems engineering. TRW built many spacecraft,...
before he became the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Younan Properties
Younan Properties
Younan Properties, Inc. is a North American commercial real estate investment company founded in 2002 by the Assyrian American entrepreneur Zaya Younan. As of 2010, Younan Properties, Inc. owned and managed nearly of Class A office buildings....
, Inc., a company founded in 2001 and based in Woodland Hills, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
with offices in Dallas, Houston, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
.
The company makes investments on behalf of private, corporate and institutional investors and is involved in all aspects of operation and asset management. It also specializes in acquiring Class A office properties in high-growth markets throughout the United States.
Younan recently announced the funding of the establishment of a Dallas-based war museum to be housed in the re-named Patriot Tower with exhibits that pay tribute to American troops who have served and sacrificed, from the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
to the 2003 Iraq War. The museum never came to be.
Younan Properties announced that it filed a registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 9, 2010 to form a REIT. Registration No. 333-165980. On October 28, 2011, the company postponed the public offering citing market conditions and a reduced interest for new REIT IPOs by Wall Street institutional investors. The Registration with the SEC remains open and may be activated in early 2011. On November 4, 2010, the company released that it had leased 1.2 millions square feet of office space throughout its portfolio through the third quarter. In addition it disclosed that it had increased it total portfolio occupancy from 72% to 73.5% and achieved an 80% retention ratio of existing tenants.