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On July 28, Gale & Wentworth, a real estate firm in Florham Park, began work on a massive study. Dyson-Kissner-Moran, the Manhattan-based $3.3 billion private investment group, invited the firm to look into the commercial property portfolio of DKM Properties, its real estate subsidiary in Lawrence. DKM Properties, formed in 1984, owns some 6 million sq. ft. of office, industrial and retail space, as well as 1,500 acres of raw land. Gale & Wentworth was to study all the properties in the portfolio and suggest ways to improve cash flow. Though DKM Properties' president, Robert Powell, opposed the idea of Gale & Wentworth doing the study, Dyson-Kissner-Moran insisted, so he had little choice but to agree (BUSINESS, Sept. 7).
Soon, rumors began to swirl around that Powell's days at DKM Properties were numbered. By the end of September, when Gale & Wentworth completed its report, which contained an asset-by-asset analysis of various DKM projects, speculation spread that the parent company would soon ask Powell to step down. His job, some people close to the company believed, would go to Paul MacArthur, the senior vice president of operations, and John Biggins, the CFO, would be asked to help him. Others, though, expected even bigger changes were on the way. As one insider said, "You don't bring in another company like Gale & Wentworth to look at your assets unless you have lost faith in your own people."
Dyson-Kissner-Moran demonstrated on Oct. 27 that loss of faith can move mountains--at least at DKM Properties. Top executives from Manhattan descended at the company's headquarters at Lenox Drive and addressed a staff meeting at 11:00 a.m. Employees were informed that Powell, MacArthur...