KANSAS CITY, MO-Block Real Estate ServicesGroup has taken over the management of more than 1,500apartment units through the purchase of Overland Park, KS-basedBristol Properties. The price paid for Bristol,which manages properties in the Midwest and Southwest, was notdisclosed.

Bill Larson, a 35-year veteran of the industryand former chairman of Bristol, was named president of the newBlock Multifamily Group, which will stay based inOverland Park. Other Bristol employees will remain as Blockemployees, Ken Block, principal and chairman ofthe family-owned firm, tells GlobeSt.com.

Block has already been selling and buying apartments, as well asthe sale and management of more than 22 million square feet ofretail, office and industrial property. Ken Block says the time wasright to get into running apartment communities. “We’ve been sortof looking how do we want to get into the business for the pasttwo-to-three years,” he says. “We’ve had clients ask us why we’renot doing it, and when we sell or buy assets for clients, we haveto direct them to other management firms. We were lucky to findBristol, and they thought it wise to join with us to take theircontacts to the next level.”