When it comes to real estate, Louis DeJoy isn’t mailing it in.
Since he took over as postmaster general in June, DeJoy has mostly made headlines for the controversial changes he’s brought to the Postal Service.
Under DeJoy, the USPS has removed mail-sorting machines and cut workers’ overtime, sparking fears that the measures could jeopardize mail-in voting. DeJoy is also under scrutiny for his financial connections to XPO Logistics, a company that does business with the postal service. These concerns about the state of the postal service have caught the attention of lawmakers, with DeJoy testifying before the Senate Friday.
But what is less known about the businessman — a longtime GOP donor who has contributed more than $1 million to President Trump’s campaign since 2016 and once hosted a fundraiser for Trump at his Greensboro home — is that he heads LDJ Global Strategies, a real estate investment firm active in the industrial and logistics space.
DeJoy founded Greensboro, North Carolina-based LDJ in 2016, after selling his logistics company to XPO for $615 million.
LDJ made local headlines this year when it bought a building in downtown Greensboro for roughly $2 million, beating out two other bidders on the County-owned property.
The company also has a stake in the Davie Industrial Center, a property in Mocksville, North Carolina, with over 920,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space.
Last year, it embarked on two new South Carolina projects, the development of a logistics center in Florence and the acquisition of a 65,000-square-foot office building in Columbia.
In recent weeks, DeJoy has also been quizzed about his ties to XPO, which does business with the USPS. DeJoy retains a multimillion-dollar stake in the company, and reportedly received between $1.2 million and $7 million from the firm last year.
According to SEC filings, three entities owned and controlled by DeJoy were also paid about $2 million in rent from XPO for office leases in 2018. DeJoy could not be reached for comment.
On Friday, DeJoy testified in a virtual hearing before a Senate Committee, fielding a series of questions about mail-in voting.
“As we head into the election season, I want to assure this committee and the American public that the Postal Service is fully capable and committed to delivering the nation’s election mail securely and on time,” he said. “This sacred duty is my number one priority between now and election day.”
Write to Sylvia Varnham O’Regan at so@therealdeal.com
The post The postmaster general is a real estate player appeared first on The Real Deal Los Angeles.
Powered by WPeMatico