Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 147
stock in the revamped company. Charles Ducote is now a good friend. He recently sold
his company and is well set for the rest of his life.
As I mentioned earlier, by late 1992 I had finished paying off all my debt from the real
estate and banking debacles of the late 1980s. In the Vision Horizons conference of
August 1991 referred to above, I began to outline in my mind new opportunities in the
multihousing field that had been paralyzed in most of Texas since 1986. In mid-1993, an
Austin broker who was selling land repossessed by the FDIC approached me to query
my interest in buying back some of the land in Brazos County that I had given up to pay
part of my obligations to creditor banks. Since my record was impeccable, the selling
authorities in charge of disposing of those assets zeroed in on me as the perfect
candidate to buy them back. Eager to accept the opportunity, I knocked on many doors
to raise all the funds I could to buy some of these assets that were so familiar to me. I
was able to purchase some tracts to develop single-family residential areas contiguous
to Aerofit and other commercial tracts in the same neighborhood. I also bought a
number of foreclosed fourplexes in the University Park subdivision in College Station,
giving a re-birth to my earlier project known as Spring Heights Fourplexes. I was back in
business.
Another tract was an ideal location for the multifamily project I had envisioned. I
contacted John Krog, a polyfaceted, very successful engineer with whom I had had
next-door offices in the early 1980’s and who, with the help of his two young sons, had
done some framing subcontracting for me. In that experience I learned to appreciate
their superb work ethic and dedication to excellence. In 1983 they bought a fourplex
from me in the University Park subdivision. Now John and Karl, one of his sons, agreed
to participate in the new project. Kay Dobelman also agreed to come on board.
Together we raised the necessary equity to secure a bank loan and construct West
University Gardens (WUG), a 104-unit apartment community. On December 15, 1993,
we formed a single asset limited partnership to build and own the complex. Though
small, this was the first apartment project built in the Bryan-College Station area since
the mid 1980s. Due to pent-up demand and its enviable location, it opened with 100 %
occupancy and it practically has stayed there since it went on full stream in September
1994. The timing proved very well chosen.
Wishing to spread my activities to areas that could offer alternative opportunities, I
began looking at other regions of Texas. In late 1995, JW Wood showed me a 28.97acre
tract of land in the City of Cedar Park, a suburb I northwest Austin. Again I called
on Kay Dobelman and she agreed to participate, but I needed more investors to raise
the down payment, which was about 30 % of the total price; the seller would finance the
rest. Finally Hank DeShazer, a Houston industrialist, decided to enter the venture. With
the down payment we released enough land (11.45 Ac.) to build an apartment complex
and pledge it as collateral for a construction loan that I secured. However, the bank
required more equity from the owners. Fortunately, John and Karl Krog agreed to join
forces with me once more. John Krog, Jr., Karl’s brother, became the construction
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