New RiverRock Unit Targets Troubled Properties

SANTA ANA, CA-Property management firm RiverRock Real Estate Group has launched a new division called the Value Maximization Unit that will specialize in stabilizing distressed assets and has named 35-year industry veteran Carla Gazzolo to lead the new effort. Gazzolo, who is a former senior vice president and regional managing director with Colliers International, tells GlobeSt.com that the new RiverRock unit already has proposals out to a number of property owners and will be offering its services for assets of all sizes, including portfolios.

John Combs, founder of RiverRock, says that stabilizing troubled assets is “the most crucial step” for owners in today’s economy. He points out that RiverRock is already experienced in turning troubled assets around. For example, the firm is managing residential and commercial assets for receivers working in the hard-hit Inland Empire market, and its team has years of previous experience working with distressed properties when the government formed the Resolution Trust Corp (RTC) to liquidate insolvent assets of the savings and loan associations in the previous economic downturn.

Combs and Gazzolo say that RiverRock is positioned to create strategies for coping with the fallout from the current economic crisis through the combination of the new Value Maximization unit and a services platform that already includes property management, construction management, project management, leasing and accounting. Gazzolo points out that the combination of RiverRock’s experience with distressed assets and its services offerings enables the firm to tailor a strategy that best suits the specific asset.