W. John Oliver (right) founded Battle Monument with West Point classmates Mike Brumagin and Tim Abbott. (Photos courtesy Battle Monument Partners and Wiki Commons)
A local real estate investment firm continues to bet that there’s rarely a bad time to own discount retail storefronts.
Battle Monument Partners purchased six Dollar General properties in Louisiana and Alabama last month for $4 million total. The deal brings Battle Monument’s total property count to 41, of which 31 are Dollar Generals.
The downtown-based firm’s approach of targeting discount retailers in small markets has made for high growth: Battle Monument posted over 1,000 percent growth in revenue between 2015 and 2017, and 134 percent growth between 2016 and 2018. That landed it on the RVA 25 list of the region’s fastest-growing companies.
Co-founder W. John Oliver said the firm’s attracted to Dollar Generals for three main reasons.
“One is that they’re in a defensive part of the economy. When we first started we knew we wanted assets that would do fine in a recession. The second part of it is, the Dollar General stores that we buy are typically 10 years old or more. For a variety of reasons that we’ve come to understand, those properties are priced at a discount,” Oliver said.
“And third part is we are convinced they have very low risk because not only are they defensive assets, but they’ve been proven to the company. Dollar General’s been operating these for about 10 years.”
Oliver said they buy only properties that have long-term leases and that they don’t plan any changes on the properties beyond usual maintenance.
The deal closed March 9, and Oliver said they were fortunate to have it close when it did.
“Most of the money changed hands (in early) March. That was when things started to get scary in the market,” Oliver said. “In late February we had invited our staff (of 10) to work from home since we saw this thing coming.”
Oliver said the deal is Battle Monument’s largest to date. The firm was founded in 2016 with about $5 million in investor capital, and the deals in Louisiana and Alabama used up the remaining money from its second fund.
Battle Monument recently opened another fund for an undisclosed amount. Kaplan Voekler Cunningham & Frank is Battle Monument’s legal counsel in the raises.
W. John Oliver (right) founded Battle Monument with West Point classmates Mike Brumagin and Tim Abbott. (Photos courtesy Battle Monument Partners and Wiki Commons)
A local real estate investment firm continues to bet that there’s rarely a bad time to own discount retail storefronts.
Battle Monument Partners purchased six Dollar General properties in Louisiana and Alabama last month for $4 million total. The deal brings Battle Monument’s total property count to 41, of which 31 are Dollar Generals.
The downtown-based firm’s approach of targeting discount retailers in small markets has made for high growth: Battle Monument posted over 1,000 percent growth in revenue between 2015 and 2017, and 134 percent growth between 2016 and 2018. That landed it on the RVA 25 list of the region’s fastest-growing companies.
Co-founder W. John Oliver said the firm’s attracted to Dollar Generals for three main reasons.
“One is that they’re in a defensive part of the economy. When we first started we knew we wanted assets that would do fine in a recession. The second part of it is, the Dollar General stores that we buy are typically 10 years old or more. For a variety of reasons that we’ve come to understand, those properties are priced at a discount,” Oliver said.
“And third part is we are convinced they have very low risk because not only are they defensive assets, but they’ve been proven to the company. Dollar General’s been operating these for about 10 years.”
Oliver said they buy only properties that have long-term leases and that they don’t plan any changes on the properties beyond usual maintenance.
The deal closed March 9, and Oliver said they were fortunate to have it close when it did.
“Most of the money changed hands (in early) March. That was when things started to get scary in the market,” Oliver said. “In late February we had invited our staff (of 10) to work from home since we saw this thing coming.”
Oliver said the deal is Battle Monument’s largest to date. The firm was founded in 2016 with about $5 million in investor capital, and the deals in Louisiana and Alabama used up the remaining money from its second fund.
Battle Monument recently opened another fund for an undisclosed amount. Kaplan Voekler Cunningham & Frank is Battle Monument’s legal counsel in the raises.
what an interesting investment strategy. They are in small southern towns of most likely low to moderate incomes. the properties have been NNN for 10 years, so the first group of investors have made handsome profits on the biggest risk period and are ready to cash out. Battle Monument assumes it at a lower risk point and they can predict how viable the risk might be of intrusion from a bigger player. Smart guys! That military education didnt go to waste.