Marquette Plans $1B of Activity in Five Years

NAPERVILLE, IL-The locally based Marquette Cos. has high hopes for the future, targeting about $1 billion of business in the next five years. The company, which owns and manages about 9,000 apartments in five states, has set a goal of adding another 11,000 units by 2017.

 The firm has made a few changes to accomplish this goal, including the hire of Jim Cunningham from Columbus-based Casto. Cunningham will be an EVP and will focus on boosting the company’s property management division.

 Managing director Nick Ryan said in a statement that the firm wants to boost its management activities. “We feel this is an area where we can excel and can provide our time-tested property management systems along with our boutique approach,” he said.

 One of the first management contracts the company has taken on is the oversight of the Apartments at Windbrooke Crossing in Buffalo Grove, IL for Mesirow Financial. Marquette will oversee interior renovations and amenity enhancements, and aims to stabilize occupancy at 94% and increase rents by 12%.

 However, Darren Sloniger, managing director of acquisitions for the company tells GlobeSt.com that the company will also continue its core servings of development and joint venture purchases. Currently, the company operates out of Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan and some cities in Texas. “We’re going to get into new markets such as Houston, San Antonia, Phoenix and Vegas,” he says. “With the management we’re going to concentrate on institution partnerships, companies that have joint venture potential.”

He says in the past 18 months the company has acquired about 2,000 units for about $200 million, including the high-rise Denver Place in Denver, Trio Towers in Chicago, the foreclosure Copper Springs in Houston, and some garden-style apartment properties in the Chicago area. As for developments, the company is scheduled to start a new high-rise apartment complex in Chicago’s West Loop in the second quarter, as well as a midrise infill project in a Chicago suburb, though Sloniger says he can’t comment further on these sites yet. “We should be doing about $200 million per year the next five years,” he says.