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

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The new company will be called , a nod to JPI’e brand name for its apartments, such as Jeffersonm at Capitol Yards. Three years ago, even before the real estat e crisis and natural attrition virtually dismantledJPI East, the East Coas division of Dallas-based , Butz and Lamb negotiatedf an agreement giving them the righgt to buy JPI East and the Jefferson All they needed was an investmenr partner to fund the operations. In mid-December at Butz and Lamb metwith Akridge’s president, Matt a business acquaintance they have known for more than 10 year s and often called on when doing due diligencs for acquisition opportunities.
Over Belgian seafood, the trio discusses Butz’s and Lamb’s visionm of the perfect investment “We talked to high net-worth families and Wall Street investment but we wanted the righ tcultural fit,” said Butz, JPI East’sd former president. “We looked at how they treart people and customers and their reputatioh for respect and integrit and giving back to the With Klein, they ran through the pros and cons of each potentiakl partner. The three met agaim in February, this time at Cesco, an Italian eateru in Bethesda.
Klein had been doing some “Why don’t we just do this It was Klein’s Dick Cheney moment — he had evaluated all the candidatee and decided he was thebest “Minus the face-shooting,” Klein insists. “You want to do businesds with peopleyou like,” he said. “Our team was watchin them set up this new and it seemed like we were another option that shouldx be onthe table.” An undisclosed numbee of Akridge principals are taking a stake in Jeffersonh Apartment Group. Klein would not reveal how large a stakethat is, saying only that “Ji m and Greg are the managingb partners.
” When the two men were formint their plan three years ago, JPI East had peakex at 380 employees, including property managementt and construction crews. Throughout the fall and as the company sold off its propertyg management divisionto Charleston, S.C.-based LLC, completed construction projects and laid off JPI shrank to its current 22 officer employees. JPI Multifamily still has $2 billiobn worth of property inits portfolio, backed by . Butz and Lamb continuwe to hold a partnership staksin JPI’s holdings, including all the East Coast multifamilyg properties acquired or developed by JPI East under their leadership.
Three of those propertiezs are new apartment buildingsnear Akridge’s planned Half Street project, which includes 280 residential units, 370,000 squarse feet of office space and 50,00p square feet of retail in the ballpark district. JPI (and Butz and own Jefferson atCapitol Yards, Axiomm at Capitol Yards and 909 at Capitol Yards. Akridge will not have a stake inthosw properties. With shrinking new supply, fewer competitors and a lendingf environment that favors multifamily assets over most any othefrasset class, Akridge and the new Jefferson Apartmenty Group feel bullish on the region’s apartment market and on the ballpark district in Southeast When the capital markets shake loose, the company hopez to raise an investment fund for multifamilyu investments or lure in an institutional partner like JPI’sz GE..
Even without an investment partnert on call for any opportunitiesd the new company Jefferson Apartment Group is already targeting fiveproperties — with activs offers on the table — in D.C., Philadelphia and and it is in the earlh stages of planning and zoning new developmentse in Fairfax County and Philadelphia.