Stage Equity Launches Property Management Division

Jackie Kahn has 15 years of CRE experience working for companies such as VEREIT and Sterling Bay.

CHICAGO—The healthcare sector is seeing spikes in demand and development, leading many in the business to make expansion plans. Skokie, IL-based real estate investment company Stage Equity Partners LLC , for example, has just added a property management division and brought on two new hires with solid pedigrees. Jackie Kahn , a 15-year industry veteran formerly with VEREIT, Inc. and Sterling Bay Cos. will head up the new division as director of property management. Aimee Kish, who joins the Stage property management team as director of accounting, held similar positions at General Growth Properties and most recently at Newport Capital Partners . “Our focus is on medical office,” Stage principal Russell Brenner tells GlobeSt.com, “and we are seeing continual upticks in transaction volume, velocity and size.” The company now owns and operates properties worth an aggregate of about $125 million in metro areas such as Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and in Florida. “Our growth is also on an upward trajectory and we felt that this was the next important step we needed to take.” “There are very few firms like ours, either big or small,” Brenner adds, meaning those that own class A healthcare properties and manage them as well. A fully integrated property management division with a dedicated staff will help further differentiate Stage. That is vital in this sector because many of the sellers are physician practices structuring sale-leasebacks. They are especially interested in “their future landlord has the wherewithal to meet their needs.” Furthermore, sometimes the sellers are developers that still have a long-term interest in the properties up for sale because they want to continue doing work for the users that occupy the space. “They don’t want to sell to somebody who is not going to help them cement that relationship,” says Brenner. “Jackie and Aimee are significant additions to the Stage team,” he adds. “Their reputations in the Chicago commercial real estate industry are nothing short of impressive. We couldn’t imagine a better team to lead and grow our newest enterprise.”