RESTON, VA-Calkain Cos. reached a milestone for both the company and the net lease industry in general: with little fanfare or formality, it has grown its asset management unit to $100 million. The company started offering this service about a year-and-a-half ago and over that time built up a sizeable--for the net lease space--portfolio. "People thought we couldn't do this because, after all, why would anyone need to pay to manage a net lease property," Rich Murphy, head of the division, tells GlobeSt.com.

Certainly it seems counterintuitive—what management services are needed for a, say, 20-year leased Walgreens beyond the bare minimum, which the owner presumably can handle. "The perception is that buying a net lease property is like owning a bond--it just magically throws off money," Murphy says. "But what we have found is that if there is no one minding the shop things fall through the cracks. There are missed opportunities to add value."

These missed opportunities range from failing to get a tenant to exercise an option because a deadline has been forgotten or increasing property insurance to cover the asset's increasing value. There are property management companies that can provide similar services of course, Jonathan Hipp, Calkain's founder, tells GlobeSt.com. "But no one, as far as we can tell, specializes in the net lease space."

Now that the company's asset management division has crossed the $100 million mark, Calkain is hoping to leverage its size to go after clients, especially more portfolio deals. "We didn't really try to market the service before this," Hipp says. "We just grew organically. Now we feel we are ready to take it to the next step."