James Doran Company Media Kit
History

In 1844, William Doran set sail from Dublin , Ireland , to escape the poverty and despair brought on by the country's potato blight. He landed in Charleston , S.C. , one of the most vibrant and prosperous cities in the New World , and made a new home for himself there. Because Charleston was then one of the most preeminent ports in the world, there was plenty of work for strong and ambitious men, and young William quickly found employment as a stevedore loading and unloading precious cargo.

As the Civil War came to a close at the end of the 1800s, the southern states started to boom during their reconstruction. In 1882, William and his son, James, saw an opportunity for success and founded the James Doran Company, which quickly became one of the largest shipping companies in Charleston .

Over the years, the company changed to keep pace with the economic climate. In the early 1900s, the Dorans diversified the company to capitalize on the growing industry of real estate and investment banking, yet maintained the stevedoring arm of the business through the 1960s. By the early 1970s, after William's great-grandson, Robert Doran, had taken the reigns, the company changed its focus to office real estate, investing in several well-located office properties. There were challenges through the real estate crash of the 1980s, but the Dorans worked hard to increase the value of the portfolio they owned through improvements and by controlling expenses and were thus able to sell them at a substantial profit.

Today, run by Robert and his son, Shane, the company focuses primarily on retail real estate throughout the Southeast. Specifically, the James Doran Company specializes in high-end, mixed-use town center developments that combine retail, office, residential and leisure uses in a neo-traditional neighborhood environment. The company currently has 250,000 square feet of retail, office and residential space in its portfolio and another 1.3 million square feet of space and approximately 1000 residential units, including town homes, condos, apartments and homes, in development.

Appropriately, the company uses a rosette as its logo. The shape suggests transition, rebirth and renewal, a key theme in the company's 120-year existence and a testament to its past, present and future success.