KANSAS CITY, MO - Block Multifamily Group has announced a joint venture that will allow it to pursue property management opportunities nationally in the HUD-insured, tax-credit-financed and rent-subsidized multifamily housing sector.
Block Multifamily, a sister company to Kansas City-based Block Real Estate Services LLC, has partnered with Philadephia-based Balfour Beatty Communities LLC, a leading provider of property management and development services for the multifamily, military and student-housing markets.
Balfour Beatty will provide the management boots on the ground for the contracts the joint venture secures. Block Multifamily will perform the complex administrative and compliance duties involved in the niche the partners are pursuing.
Bill Larson, president of Block Multifamily, said the joint venture will pursue management of conventional U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-insured, Section 42 (low-income housing tax credit) and Section 8 (rent-subsidized) properties.
“This is a huge deal,” said Ken Block, managing principal for Block Real Estate Services. “The first deal we’re working on involves thousands of units.”
If the joint venture wins that management contract, Block added, Block Multifamily probably will have to revise its recently announced goal of increasing property under management to 2,000 units a year.
That goal was based on Block company plans to acquire and develop multifamily projects and win third-party management contracts. Larson said the joint venture will boost the latter part of that equation by pursuing management contracts that come up for bid or have been lost because of compliance issues. It also will pursue management of newly constructed HUD, tax-credit and housing authority properties.
Block Multifamily Group is a new company, formed earlier this year. But it was created through a merger with Overland Park-based Bristol Properties, which was led by Larson. His nearly 40 years of experience in multifamily property management includes extensive experience in dealing with tax-credit properties, HUD and other government agencies, Ken Block said.
Both companies bring a significant geographic footprint and a depth of property management experience to the table.
Balfour Beatty Communities has more than 37,000 residential units and $5.5 billion in real estate assets under management, and it has developed or renovated more than 27,000 multifamily units with a total value of close to $4 billion.
Block Real Estate Services manages more than 22 million square feet of retail, office and industrial properties and more than 2,000 multifamily units for equity partnerships and third-party owners.