"When I opened the envelope, I was in total disbelief"

St. John Properties President Lawrence Maykrantz told CNN the company had reached a major goal of developing 20 million square feet in real estate, doubling the amount in 14 years.

“We wanted to do something to thank all our employees for helping us achieve our goal, and we wanted to do something big,” Maykrantz told CNN.

Each employee received money based on the amount of years they have been working at the company. The smallest amount, $100, was for an employee who was just hired and hadn’t even started at the company yet. The largest bonus was $270,000.