Maxwell Drever Taps Dallas for Deep-Pocket Buying Base

Joe Gillespie Jr. has been named the Dallas-based acquisitions director for Drever's Tiburon, CA-based Concierge Asset Management. The focus will be on distressed properties in Dallas, Austin, Tampa Bay, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, Seattle, Charlotte, NC and Atlanta. "We're taking a serious run at Austin," Gillespie says, confiding that a closing will be held for a property within a week.

Dallas has been tapped as the homeport because that's where Gillespie is based although the portfolio as yet is absent properties in the Dallas-Forth Worth market. That is sure to change, says Gillespie.

Drever's capital pool is aimed at acquisitions from $10 million to as much as $100 million. Even a $200-million portfolio would be nice, says Gillespie...as long as it meets the guidelines of A, B or C class holdings capable of repositioning.

Drever's specialty always has been and will continue to be buying "orphaned" properties in key markets. "We're confident Joe will make us the 'buyer of choice' for owners and sellers in this specialized niche," says Drever.

The capital pool means closings can be done in four to 30 business days. "There are not really any capital constraints," explains Gillespie. The 2002 strategy alone is expected to run "a couple hundred million dollars or more," he says.

Until a year ago, Drever was saddled with a non-compete clause in markets where he accumulated about 20,000 units under Drever Partners, later merging with Walden Residential and now under the ownership of Olympus Real Estate. With the shackles removed, Drever last year acquired complexes in the Houston area and Sarasota, FL. Now, he's ready to go in many of the same markets that reaped prosperity in his former buying days.

Gillespie says fire sales are few and far between right now. He predicts that will change in the next year or 18 months. The key is to zero in on Sunbelt markets that are now down, but sure to rebound.

While looking for buys, Concierge plans to set up management and construction teams. Houston and Dallas are on the radar screen as home bases. The location decision ultimately will be based on the market penetration that will come with the growing portfolio. For now, the primary focus is "the gearing up and buying of a lot of real estate," says the focused Gillespie, who has left FowlerShore & Flanagan as acquisitions director to steer Concierge's buying push.