History of Hamilton Partners

The Origins

Hamilton Partners was formed by Allan J. Hamilton, who was born in Columbia Falls, Montana. He attended Northwestern University on a Navy ROTC scholarship in 1955.  By 1964 he was in Dallas working for the legendary Trammell Crow.  In 1967, Allan left Dallas to head up Crow’s regional office in Chicago. In the process, Allan purchased 108 acres of land west of O’Hare International Airport, which was eventually incorporated as the Elk Grove Industrial Park.

After splitting from Dallas-based Trammell Crow Company in 1987, Allan Hamilton, along with John Wauterlek, Ron Lunt and Jim Sheridan, set out to build a company founded on trust, cooperation, and partnerships, hence the name Hamilton Partners.  The enterprising spirit of Allan Hamilton lives on in the firm’s dedication to building successful business relationships.

In 1987, four experienced partners in the Midwest regional office of the Dallas based Trammell Crow Company were not able to agree with Trammell Crow Company Headquarters in Dallas on certain issues. The four partners decided to try development on their own. Based at Crow’s flagship property in the Chicago area, Hamilton Lakes, they resigned to create their own company. Soon after, their ranks were bolstered when four more partners, Tim Beechick, Bruce Bingham, Pat McKillen and Gary Mori, joined them. Over the preceding 15 years, they had worked as a very competent development and operating team, developing properties totaling more than 30 million square feet around the cities of Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee and Minneapolis. 

The company’s current portfolio has 53 Office, 50 Industrial, 10 Retail and 6 Residential properties totaling more than 20 million square feet of space in and around the Windy City. In addition to its assets in Chicago, Hamilton Partners operates several mixed-use office, multi-family, and retail projects and an industrial property in Salt Lake City.