About

Olympus Ventures is a Minnesota based company that serves as the family office and private  investment company of Richard M. Schulze, the founder of Best Buy. Olympus' investment  platform consists of commercial real estate, public and private equities and alternative  investments. Olympus and its affiliates operate a significant and diverse commercial real estate  portfolio of predominantly industrial, healthcare, office, residential, and self-storage assets.  Their real estate team primarily focuses on acquiring existing assets or developing new properties from the ground up across the country. However, even in the current economic climate with rising interest rates, high labor costs, and falling self-storage rental rates, Olympus has enhanced its development resources to identify new sites nationwide. 

Problem

Andrew Beranek, Manager of Real Estate Development at Olympus Ventures, specializes in sourcing new development opportunities that meet the company's investment criteria and underwriting deals that pencil. 

However, before the underwriting process even starts, Andrew spends his day on the following tasks: 

1. Relying on brokers to inform him about new opportunities in targeted markets with high growth potential. 
   
   

2. Reviewing listings on CoStar or Crexi to review available listings in target markets. 3. Finding interesting listings and placing the addresses on Google Earth to scope out the area. 
   
   

3. Lastly, entering that information into another industry data provider to measure local competition and rental rates, hoping that it meets his criteria. 

The overwhelming number of potential sites all over the country makes it impossible to review them all. As a result, he sticks to familiar areas to manage the complexity of finding additional submarkets. 

Solution

Within the first weeks of using the PropRise intelligence tool, Andrew found an emerging market that he would have never come across using his traditional methods. This market is located in an under-discussed location off the coast of North Carolina, 1,000 miles away from his office in Minnesota. PropRise’s AI-driven platform allowed him to quickly analyze and identify promising sites based on his specific criteria.

Excited by this discovery, he immediately added this location to CoStar and set up weekly notifications for new listings in the area. Just a few days later, he received an alert for a three acre plot of land that he immediately knew would fit his buying criteria. Acting swiftly, he contacted the broker and was able to submit a letter of intent within two weeks of using PropRise. 

Looking Ahead

Olympus’ original goal of identifying new markets through PropRise has been achieved. With added features on the platform, such as active on-market listings, Andrew plans to use PropRise frequently to find not just new markets, but also deals that fit his criteria. The team at Olympus looks forward to continuing their successful partnership with PropRise.