CHICAGO—Chicago real estate veterans Susan Tjarksen, Todd Stofflet and Lee Kiser have just joined up and launched a new firm in River North called Kiser Institutional Group. Tjarksen, principal and managing broker, owns a majority stake in the new venture, which will offer brokerage and development services to institutional multifamily firms.
“We are not simply launching a new company, but a whole new way of doing business,” she says. “With the depth of experience of our principals, the leadership of Todd Stofflet in brokerage efforts, and the utilization of customized market intelligence, we will provide institutional owners a fresh perspective on transactions that will deliver an immediate impact and also resonate for years to come.”
According to Tjarksen KIG will introduce new ways of interpreting data that will go beyond standard investment criteria used by the industry for decades.
“The institutional brokerage business hasn't changed or adapted to encompass all elements of a property in a deal or to appeal to all the individuals involved with the investment,” Tjarksen adds. “A property manager, asset manager, financial analyst and acquisition professional are all going to look at a deal differently, but they currently only have one linear set of data to review. With our three-dimensional platform, we will provide dynamic intelligence to a wider group of decision makers.”
Tjarksen has more than 25 years of real estate experience working with national and international investors and both private and public institutions. A specialist in condominium and apartment development, she has planned, built, designed, brokered, financed and delivered projects totaling more than $2.5 billion in revenue. Her clients include I P Global, LNR, Lekki Beach Nigeria LLC, the Lynd Companies and Bayview Asset Management.
“The opportunity to build a privately-held institutional brokerage firm from the ground up is incredibly rare,” says Stofflet, managing partner at KIG. “I've been fortunate to work with some of the largest clients in this arena for more than a decade and now I am excited to be in a situation where we can create and deliver information to them in a way that will be more meaningful.”
Stofflet has owned multifamily assets throughout the Midwest and Southeast for 15 years. He has negotiated the sale of more than $1.5 billion of assets for owners such as AIMCO, Equity Residential, UDR, Berkshire Group, JP Morgan, and Steadfast Companies.
Kiser co-founded the Chicago-based Kiser Group in 2005, and has been involved in more than $2 billion in transactions.
“The institutional multifamily brokerage industry is ripe for change. KIG will bring a fresh approach to brokerage," says Kiser. He will continue to handle the day-to-day operations of Kiser Group, but as principal will also help run the new company. "Although I have studied the institutional multifamily brokerage industry for several years, I was reluctant to move forward in this niche I saw until the right team was in place."
KIG officials say they are currently marketing a 374-unit property in Merrillville, IN; a 530-unit apartment portfolio in Chicago; a multifamily development parcel in River North and another in Lexington, KY.
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
