Poplar Homes, a California-based property management company, today announced acquiring three divisions of Chicago-based 33 Realty, according to a press release.
These include 33’s Property Management, Maintenance and Leasing divisions, which are expected to continue operation under the 33 banner. Poplar also noted 33 will continue its operations from Chicago under the current C-suite, but stated plans to gradually transition towards a Poplar Homes rebrand over the next three years.
Terms of the sale were not made available, but Poplar did note it did not acquire 33’s Investment Brokerage and Distressed Assets divisions.
Poplar says the acquisition is part of its strategy to grow its footprint across the U.S. and expand into the multifamily property management segment.
“The team at 33 has perfected the multifamily client service model and has excellent momentum in terms of expansion. Together we look forward to bringing our clients across the country a best-in-class service delivery,” said Poplar’s CEO and co-founder Greg Toschi, in the statement. He also called it a “game-changer for our industry.”
This acquisition highlights a shift in focus for Poplar Homes, which is primarily known as a single-family rental (SFR) property management company on the west coast. While the company previously focused on helping the seven million “mom-and-pop” single-family rental owners in the U.S., this announcement shows the company is willing to expand service to new segments in order to take advantage of heightened multifamily rental demand.
The proptech company previously raised $53 million in a Series B round led by LL Funds in March 2022, as reported by FinLedger. The fundraise followed a $10 million Series A in February 2019, and brought Poplar’s total funding to a total of $74.9 million.
Poplar also stated plans to expand from 7,500 units under its management to more than 20,000 units. It doubled the size of its team and had new leadership hires in the past year, including Travis Buchanan as its Chief Operating Officer, Scott Breon as Chief Strategy Officer, Carolyn Landis as Executive VP of Corporate Development and Justin Lieberknect as VP of Marketing.
In July 2022, 33 Realty brokered a $21.7 million sale of a 152-Unit Condo called Quail Ridge of Naperville Condominiums in the Chicago suburb of Naperville. Bear Peak Capital was the buyer and plans to convert the units from condominiums into apartments.
Today 33 is an integrated investment firm with owners and investors as clients, 4,500 units under its management across four states, with more than 1,500 units leased per year and $250 million per year in investment brokerage transactions, according to the release.
Drew Millard founded 33 in 2008, and worked with later hires Eric Weber and Sean Connelly to grow the business into a fully integrated service firm following the 08′ financial crisis. This executive team were also mentioned by Poplar as a key reason for the acquisition.
In other recent proptech news, Mapped, an AI-backed data platform for commercial real estate IoT, announced that its data normalization platform Starter Plan is now available for working software development and data science project teams. Entrata, a multifamily property operations system provider, appointed Stephanie Fuhrman as its SVP of Corporate Development.