In 1963, the High Welding Company began to expand into other businesses lines and formed the High Realty Company (now High Real Estate Group). With a new foray into real estate, High Realty’s maiden project was the purchase and development of an acre tract of land that was landlocked as a result of the Route 30 highway construction. In 1964, a 15,000 square-foot industrial building was built and leased to Anderson Box Company, which marked the beginning of Greenfield Corporate Center (GCC). The Corporate Center expanded in 1972 with the purchase of approximately 150 acres from the Landis Family. High Realty’s office was located in the circa 1848 brick farmhouse at 1837 William Penn Way, and the Landis family occupied the adjacent pre-Revolutionary War stone farmhouse. The surrounding area was, for the most part, a working farm, with a barn and other outbuildings. Shortly thereafter, Sanford and Donald High withdrew from the real estate partnership, at which time Calvin High and Dale High formed High Properties as a real estate holding company. By 1978, there were five buildings in the Corporate Center.
High Associates Ltd. was established in 1980 for the purpose of selling, leasing, and managing commercial, industrial, and residential real estate, for the burgeoning real estate portfolio. Beginning in 1997, High Associates Ltd. began expanding its customer base to include third party clients outside of the High Real Estate Group portfolio. Today, High Associates is recognized as one of the leading privately held industrial/commercial and multi-family residential real estate firms in south central Pennsylvania.
High Hotels, Ltd. was formed in June of 1988 to develop, acquire and manage limited service hotels in the Mid-Atlantic Region. The first hotel, the 130-room Hampton Inn-Lancaster, was completed in 1989 and remains in the portfolio today. High Hotels currently operates multiple hotels as independent franchises under Hilton, Inc. and Marriott International Inc. flags.
Since entering the real estate business over 50 years ago, High Real Estate Group’s transactions have included commercial, industrial, multi-family, retail and hotel assets. High Real Estate Group currently owns, directly or through syndication and joint venture, 5.9 million square feet of commercial/industrial space, 2,000 apartment units, 13 hotels, and over 376,000 square feet of retail space.
Today, as the High Family transitions from second- to third-generation, Sanford High's founding principles permeate the High companies and The High Way continues to be the guiding force behind the companies' growth as they serve their customers and continue to be innovative leaders. For more information about history of the High Company, please click here.