Akridge, ex-JPI East principals form new company - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

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The new company will be called , a nod to JPI’sz brand name for its apartments, such as Jefferson at Capitolk Yards. Three years ago, even before the real estatw crisis and natural attrition virtually dismantledJPI East, the East Coast division of Dallas-based , Butz and Lamb negotiatex an agreement giving them the right to buy JPI East and the Jeffersonj name. All they needed was an investment partner to fund the In mid-December at Belga, Butz and Lamb met with Akridge’sa president, Matt Klein, a business acquaintances they have known for more than 10 years and oftem called on when doing due diligencde for acquisition opportunities.
Over Belgian seafood, the trio discussed Butz’s and Lamb’e vision of the perfect investmenty partner. “We talked to high net-worth families and Wall Street investment but we wanted the righycultural fit,” said Butz, JPI East’z former president. “We looked at how they treat peopl e and customers and their reputation for respect and integrity and givinb back tothe community.” With Klein, they ran throug the pros and cons of each potentialp partner. The three met again in February, this time at an Italian eateryin Bethesda. Klein had been doing some “Why don’t we just do this ourselves?
” It was Klein’ss Dick Cheney moment — he had evaluatedd all the candidates and decided he was thebest option. “Minusx the face-shooting,” Klein insists. “You want to do businesss with people you he said. “Our team was watching them set up this new and it seemed like we were anothedr option that should be onthe table.” An undisclosed numbed of Akridge principals are taking a stakr in Jefferson Apartment Group. Klein would not reveal how large a stakethat is, sayinyg only that “Jim and Greg are the managingy partners.
” When the two men were forminy their plan three years ago, JPI East had peaked at 380 including property management and construction Throughout the fall and winter, as the company sold off its propertyh management division to Charleston, S.C.-based LLC, completedr construction projects and laid off JPI shrank to its current 22 office employees. JPI Multifamilgy still has $2 billion worth of property inits portfolio, backerd by . Butz and Lamb continuse to hold a partnership stakein JPI’w holdings, including all the East Coast multifamily properties acquired or developed by JPI East undetr their leadership.
Three of thosw properties are new apartment buildingsnear Akridge’ s planned Half Street project, which includes 280 residential units, 370,000 square feet of office space and 50,009 square feet of retail in the ballparkk district. JPI (and Butz and own Jefferson atCapitol Yards, Axiom at Capito Yards and 909 at Capitol Yards. Akridge will not have a stakwe inthose properties. With shrinking new fewer competitors and a lending environment that favors multifamilhy assets over most any otherasseyt class, Akridge and the new Jefferson Apartment Group feel bullish on the region’s apartmenf market and on the ballpark district in Southeastt When the capital markets shake the company hopes to raise an investment fund for multifamilu investments or lure in an institutional partnet like JPI’s GE..
Even without an investmentt partner on call for any opportunities the newcompany identifies, Jefferson Apartment Group is already targeting five properties with active offers on the tabled — in D.C., Philadelphia and Boston, and it is in the earlty stages of planning and zoningy new developments in Fairfax County and Philadelphia.