Our Legacy

Lee Chesnut

CEO

Lee M. Chesnut, a resident of Del Mar, CA, began his commercial real estate career with John Burnham and Company in 1986. Within a few years, he was presented with the opportunity to head the regional management and marketing efforts with Reynolds and Shidler (A Shidler Group entity). These early years of experience helped shape Lee’s perspective on creative approach to real estate challenges and opportunities. With the RTC Meltdown wreaking havoc in commercial real estate in 1990, Lee realized that the financial disaster was likely to create unique opportunities for those who are willing to take risk. It was in this climate that Lee formed Chesnut Properties. Two years later, Lee executed on his first distressed asset purchase, which began a feverish pace of acquiring underperforming/ vacant properties and quickly repositioning them into stabilized profitable investments.

Over the past twenty five years, Mr. Chesnut has successfully acquired, repositioned and/or built numerous properties totaling over 1,250,000 square feet representing complex high performance life-science buildings, large-scale corporate buildings, landmark above Class “A” buildings and industry leading sustainable projects. Today, Chesnut Properties is strategically positioned to bring to various communities its passionate approach to delivering complex and impactful real estate projects - with projects under way that represent over 60 acres of land and entitlements that total over 3,000,000 square feet. The company utilizes multiple relationship and financial structures in order to execute this scale of development including: Private pursuits, Long-Term Ground Leases, Customized Structured Debt strategies, and P3 relationships (Public/Private/Partnerships).

Family-Owned

est. 1990

Our Team

  • Susan Guerra

    Chief Operations Officer

  • Mary Kay Jordan

    Chief Financial Officer

  • Tony Le

    Chief Engineer

Our Story


Over the past 30 years, Chesnut Properties has proven our ability to survive and thrive during some of the biggest economic challenges San Diego has faced.

As we look toward the next 50 years, we know the biggest challenges ahead of us are the climate crisis and the continued threat of a global pandemic. That knowledge drives us to lead in the development and delivery of healthy, sustainable, Net Zero Energy buildings. We’re not your typical real estate developer. We care about a lot more than profit and loss. Our values drive all of our decisions, and those values include making sure people are treated with care, concern, and support, and that we consider the environment and health in everything we do.

Recognitions

  • 2009 Leed Certification

    Papago Gateway Center

  • Private “Green” Project for McGraw Hills Best of Phoenix Award, Winner

    Papago Gateway Center

  • ASHRAE Technology Award - Indoor Air Quality and Energy Efficiency Winner

    Papago Gateway Center

  • Well Building Certification - Pre-Certified Gold

    Millenia Smart Park - Think Campus

  • The Best of The Golden Triangle 2003

    Chesnut Properties

  • 2008 Environmental Excellence Awards - The Crescordia Award, Winner

    Papago Gateway Center

  • Sustainable Design Award – 2018

    Millenia Smart Park - Think Campus

 Our Legacy, Our Passion