Akridge, ex-JPI East principals form new company - Baltimore Business Journal:

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The new company will be calle d , a nod to JPI’s brand name for its such as Jefferson atCapitol Yards. Three years ago, even before the real estate crisisz and natural attrition virtually dismantled JPI the East Coast divisionof Dallas-based , Butz and Lamb negotiateed an agreement giving them the right to buy JPI East and the Jeffersob name. All they needed was an investment partner to fund the In mid-December at Belga, Butz and Lamb met with Akridge’e president, Matt Klein, a business acquaintancer they have known for more than 10 years and often calle on when doing due diligencr for acquisition opportunities.
Over Belgian seafood, the trio discussed Butz’s and Lamb’s vision of the perfect investment “We talked to high net-worthh families and Wall Street investment but we wanted the righytcultural fit,” said Butz, JPI East’sz former president. “We looked at how they trear people and customers and theid reputation for respect and integrity and givingg back to the With Klein, they ran through the pros and cons of each potentiaol partner.
The three met again in February, this time at an Italian eatery in Klein had been doingsome thinking: “Whyt don’t we just do this It was Klein’s Dick Chene moment — he had evaluatedr all the candidates and decided he was the best “Minus the face-shooting,” Klein insists. “You want to do busines s with peopleyou like,” he said. “Our team was watchinfg them set up this new and it seemed like we were another option that should be on the An undisclosed number of Akridg principals are taking a stake in JeffersohApartment Group. Klein would not reveal how large a staksthat is, saying only that “Jim and Greg are the managin partners.
” When the two men were forming theirt plan three years ago, JPI East had peake at 380 employees, including property management and constructionj crews. Throughout the fall and winter, as the companty sold off its property management divisionto Charleston, S.C.-based LLC, completed constructiomn projects and laid off JPI shrank to its current 22 offic employees. JPI Multifamily still has $2 billiobn worth of property inits portfolio, backe d by . Butz and Lamb continue to hold a partnershil stakein JPI’s holdings, including all the East Coasrt multifamily properties acquired or develope d by JPI East underf their leadership.
Three of those properties are new apartment building snear Akridge’s planned Half Street which includes 280 residential 370,000 square feet of office space and 50,000 square feet of retaill in the ballpark district. JPI (and Butz and own Jefferson atCapitol Yards, Axiom at Capitol Yarda and 909 at Capitol Yards. Akridgw will not have a stakwe inthose properties. With shrinking new fewer competitors and a lending environment that favors multifamily assetsd over most any othe rasset class, Akridge and the new Jefferson Apartmentr Group feel bullish on the region’ws apartment market and on the ballparo district in Southeast When the capita l markets shake loose, the company hopes to raise an investmenr fund for multifamily investments or lure in an institutionalk partner like JPI’s GE..
Even without an investmenyt partner on call for any opportunities the newcompany identifies, Jefferson Apartment Group is alreaduy targeting five properties — with active offers on the tabld — in D.C., Philadelphia and Boston, and it is in the earl stages of planning and zoning new developments in Fairfas County and Philadelphia.