Archstone history

The lineage of Archstone-Smith can be traced back to the 1963 formation of a Texas REIT named El Paso Real Estate Investment Trust.

In 1968, at the age of 28, he founded LaSalle Partners, today one of the largest asset managers in the country, building it into a prominent real estate advisory and asset-management firm that catered to institutional investors.

1970: The name is changed to Property Trust of America.

Not until the Tax Reform Act of 1986 changed the nature of real estate investment did REITs begin to gain widespread usage.

Beginning in July 1989 the REIT became the target of a solicited takeover by Sizeler Property Investors Inc., a Kenner, Louisiana, REIT that owned nearly 10 percent of Property Trust.

1990: William D. Sanders buys into the REIT.

Property Trust began making public offerings to fund expansion, in June 1991 raising $22 million.

The focus on apartments proved lucrative for its investors, as reflected by the REIT's 20 percent annual growth in funds from operations over the period 1992-94.

Only a few months later, in December 1994, Property Trust agreed to acquire another Sanders-controlled REIT, Security Capital Pacific Inc., for $139 million in stock and the assumption of $128 million in debt.

In 1995, the Foundation assessed its mission, governance, and the results of its first 10 years of grantmaking.

Unlike the thriving Security Capital Pacific Trust, Security Capital Atlantic had failed to perform up to expectations since its initial public offering in 1996, yet both were equally valued in the merger.

Sanders, in the meantime, took the parent corporation, Security Capital, public in September 1997, but his dreams of a multifaceted real estate empire were already beginning to dissipate.

In 1998, Security Capital Pacific Trust and Security Capital Atlantic Inc. merged to form Archstone Communities.

Security Capital dropped below $12 by September 1999, which forced Sanders to make significant changes to his real estate interests, perceived by many investors as too complicated.

He unloaded the last of his $787 million stake in Archstone in February 2001, which he then used to pay off a $530 million loan.

In May 2002 Archstone-Smith announced that it was entering the highly competitive New York City market by acquiring a 506-unit upscale, twin-tower, high-rise apartment property located in Manhattan's Upper West Side near Lincoln Center at a cost of $210 million.

Decron bought the property in 2005 and spent $20 million on renovations, said real estate broker Greg Harris of Marcus & Millichap/Institutional Property Advisors.

In 2007, the company was acquired by Tishman Speyer and Lehman Brothers in a $22.2 billion transaction.

But it meant taking on huge amounts of debt as the housing boom was showing signs of deflating, leaving Lehman significantly weakened as the market turmoil was escalating in 2008.

Both companies began talking to the Lehman estate as far back as the summer of 2011, though the talks were in fits and starts, according to people with direct knowledge of the process.

A version of this article appears in print on 11/27/2012, on page B1 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Lehman Sells Property Firm In a Deal Worth $6.5 Billion.

On February 27, 2013, Equity Residential and AvalonBay Communities closed a $9 billion deal to acquire the company from Lehman Brothers.

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