SJS News

As a sixth-generation Washingtonian who has spent nearly four decades at the top of the commercial real estate world, Paul Dougherty ‘84 credits Saint James for providing an environment that taught him important life lessons and helped shape his character.

“I probably learned more at Saint James about life and everything else than I did at university beyond that,” he said.

Paul is the President of PRP, the private real estate alternative investment firm he founded in 2005. From PRP’s Washington, DC headquarters, he oversees a nationwide portfolio that has acquired or built more than 17 million square feet of office, medical office, industrial, retail, and data center properties, along with approximately 4,000 multifamily and condominium units in 60 investments across 23 U.S. markets. Today, the firm’s total aggregate investment size exceeds $6 billion.

In his role as President, Paul sets corporate strategy, manages daily operations, and maintains relationships with PRP’s key stakeholders—lenders, investors, and advisors. 

Paul grew up in Washington, DC, one of eight children in a very busy household. With a father in the media business at Metromedia, television and older siblings played a big role in daily life. 

“We were raised by TV,” he jokes. “Two parents are not going to do it all, so the parents raised the first set of kids, and they raised the second set of kids, and we were the last set.” 

His parents, however, felt he would thrive in a different environment for high school. Through word of mouth, they heard about Saint James. He arrived as a third former, and played football in the fall, did winter conditioning, and suited up for lacrosse in the spring. There were plenty of high-spirited antics, but beneath that, something deeper was taking shape.

“You’re put into a situation where you’re there 24/7, and you’re young kids running around creating havoc,” he said. “You had all these teachers trying to control you and shape you. You kind of come to Saint James as a boy, and they teach you how to be a man when you leave.” 

Looking back now, he has a new appreciation of the dedication of Father Owens as well as teachers like Chick Meehan, Dave Barr, and Albert Watson.

“I don’t think I ever really appreciated what these people were doing,” he said. “They’re living in this small community, tasked with raising a bunch of animals, and they were doing it because they cared. They wanted to help young boys, and girls, grow up.” 

His father had a blunt way of capturing that impact. “My father would say to me, ‘That school saved your life.’ He may be a little dramatic when he says that,” Paul adds, “but it really had a lasting impact on me as a person and what I have become.” 

After graduating in 1984, Paul was ready for a dramatic change of scenery. He headed west to the University of Southern California. After two years, he returned to Washington and transferred to American University, where he discovered his calling in real estate. He began interning at a firm at age 21 and joined full-time after graduation. 

“It was a departure from anything my family had done. My father was in media, and we had a family full of attorneys, but I wanted to be in real estate,” Paul said. 

He started in real estate brokerage and investment banking and quickly moved into leadership roles. Before founding PRP, he served as Managing Director of the Eastern Region for CBRE Capital Markets. He founded CBRE Realty Finance, a commercial real estate mortgage REIT that eventually traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and earlier had built the Finance & Capital Markets Group at Insignia/ESG into a national team structuring complex project financings across asset types.

By the time Paul launched PRP in 2005, he already had nearly two decades of experience. Today, with almost 40 years in the industry, he describes real estate investment as “a really competitive business” and “a business that no school can ever prepare you for, given the various personalities you encounter.” 

What keeps him energized is the variety and the challenge. 

“No day is the same as the day before,” Paul said. “You’re always dealing with different investments and opportunities and issues you need to tackle.” He thrives on the problem-solving: “When you acquire these deals, they’re very big deals. It takes a problem-solving mindset to figure out the strategy to capitalize the investment, the business plan, how you’re going to make money, and how you’re going to exit.” 

Among many standout projects, he points to the Pioneer Natural Resources headquarters in Dallas, TX, and the short-sale acquisition of Market Square on Pennsylvania Avenue, where PRP purchased two buildings at roughly 40 percent of the previous basis and has since stabilized and repositioned the asset. PRP now owns three of the eight privately-owned buildings between the White House and the Capitol on Pennsylvania Avenue—a remarkable footprint in the nation’s capital. 

Paul sums up his career in real estate with two words: “tenacity and perseverance.” At its core, he says, his work is about “the desire to really succeed and not fail” and maintaining “a mindset that life is a marathon, not a sprint.”

Paul’s professional success has opened doors to significant civic and philanthropic leadership. Over the years, he has served on the Board and Executive Committee of the Children’s National Hospital Foundation, the Board of Children’s National Hospital, the Starlight-Starbright Children’s Foundation Mid-Atlantic, and as a founding Board member of the First Tee of Washington, DC. He has also been active with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington and is a member of the Economic Club of Washington, the Federal City Council, and multiple real estate trade organizations.

Much of his focus has been on organizations that serve young people.

“A lot of stuff is around kids because I think kids are the most vulnerable,” Paul said. “It’s easy for me to make a reason in my mind to donate time and energy and resources to these types of causes.” 

That same instinct guides his commitment to his own family. Paul and his wife, Liz, an accomplished attorney who has held senior roles in government and now serves as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Business Roundtable, have two children: Luke, a senior at the University of Chicago heading to Goldman Sachs after graduation, and Kate, a freshman at SMU studying sports management and sports journalism.

“The ability to do all this, to first and foremost provide for my family, to create a legacy hopefully for one of my kids if they ever step up and take over my business, but then to be in a position to give back and give money is, to me, what it’s all about,” he said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s really important to me personally.” 

For many years, Paul stayed loosely in touch with Saint James, reconnecting with classmates in Washington but not deeply engaged with the School itself. That has changed in recent years.

“I’d given money from time to time,” he said. “But I just felt like it was foolish for me not to be giving back to the School because Saint James was very influential on who I became in my formative years.” 

Paul has continued to step forward as a major donor and ambassador, including hosting a gathering for alumni at his home this fall. 
Beneath it all is gratitude—for a community that challenged him, believed in him, and helped shape the leader he is today.