John Combs, founder of RiverRock, says that stabilizing troubledassets is "the most crucial step" for owners in today's economy. Hepoints out that RiverRock is already experienced in turningtroubled assets around. For example, the firm is managingresidential and commercial assets for receivers working in thehard-hit Inland Empire market, and its team has years of previousexperience working with distressed properties when the governmentformed the Resolution Trust Corp (RTC) to liquidate insolventassets of the savings and loan associations in the previouseconomic downturn.

Combs and Gazzolo say that RiverRock is positioned to createstrategies for coping with the fallout from the current economiccrisis through the combination of the new Value Maximization unitand a services platform that already includes property management,construction management, project management, leasing andaccounting. Gazzolo points out that the combination of RiverRock'sexperience with distressed assets and its services offeringsenables the firm to tailor a strategy that best suits the specificasset.

Gazzolo cites two examples of some properties for whichRiverRock is working on proposals right now. In one case, the ownerof a small office building valued at between $2 million and $3million is "facing foreclosure on the building and doesn't knowwhere to turn," Gazzolo says. The asset "has a lot of integrity,"but it needs some construction management in order to stabilize it,and it may need either an infusion of cash by someone who wouldpick up the note—or possibly a new buyer.