Investor's Influence Expands In Region

When real estate investor Victor B. MacFarlane comes to Washington, he arrives on a personal jet, sleeps at the Four Seasons in Georgetown and does business from an office on Connecticut Avenue that is still largely empty.

MacFarlane is not from the District, and he's still getting used to the place, but make no mistake: The 56-year-old magnate from San Francisco is quickly making a name for himself in the city's hot commercial real estate market.

In January, MacFarlane, who manages $15 billion in institutional assets, purchased the D.C. United soccer franchise with a partner for $33 million. Since then, MacFarlane has teamed with Monument Realty to finance a major mixed-use project near the new Washington Nationals baseball stadium; pledged $2.5 billion to jump-start JBG Co.'s plans to redevelop 42 sites across the region; and proposed building a massive development east of the Anacostia River in the District's poorest ward.

With so many projects in the region, MacFarlane cringes when people consider him an outsider.

"If I've not demonstrated that I'm committed to the area by now, I'll never demonstrate it," said MacFarlane, who is hunting for a D.C. residence to go with the $30 million penthouse he is building atop the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco.

MacFarlane is among a group of high-profile investors who arrived over the past several years to spread their wealth in the District's flourishing commercial property market. Those in the industry said their presence signals a strong vote of confidence in the city's future.

But MacFarlane has set himself apart from his rivals because he has built winning projects in challenging urban areas that others never thought to enter. As one of the few African Americans to control such a large amount of institutional capital, MacFarlane made his reputation and fortune by helping to revitalize poor, long-neglected black neighborhoods.

That track record does not mean that MacFarlane does not encounter challenges in the District. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) recently rebuffed MacFarlane's bid to acquire a 110-acre property known as Poplar Point along the Anacostia River for a mixed-use development anchored by a 27,000-seat soccer stadium. The mayor opened a search for other proposals in August.

But those who know MacFarlane say not to count him out. From humble beginnings, he has risen to become one of the wealthiest black investors in the country, with a portfolio that includes the Time Warner Center in New York.

"He's a guy who is savvy and shrewd and has a lot of cash behind him," said Sean Cahill, a senior development manager at Louis Dreyfus Property Group. "His track record is impressive, and his bank account is impressive."

MacFarlane has been defying the odds for years.

Raised in Middleton, Ohio, as one of four children of a single mother who worked for the federal government at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, MacFarlane started in real estate as an analyst for Aetna Life and Casualty's property division. He met the woman who would become his wife, Thaderine, during a trip to New Orleans in 1982 to inspect a hotel where she worked as manager of the concierge desk.