Two of the area's top real estate developers are uniting to form their own company.

Larry Pobuda, a member of the executive team at United Properties, is joining his old friend Stewart Sender, whose firm helped build two of the area's largest and most successful condo projects.

They are naming their firm the Stewart Lawrence Group because they figured nobody would be able to spell "Stender Pobuda." The two have not yet set up an office or hired staff.

The company will develop and invest in office, industrial, health care and multifamily projects. Most of its work will focus on the Twin Cities; however, the duo also is looking at deals in Phoenix.

Stender, 48, is co-founder and president of Apex Asset Management, a St. Louis Park-based boutique development firm. In addition to investing and developing offices and apartments, Apex was a partner with Minnetonka-based Opus Northwest on the development of Grant Park and The Carlyle, two high-profile condo projects in downtown Minneapolis.

Pobuda, 46, has been senior vice president at Bloomington-based United Properties since 1991 and has headed the company's fledgling six-person health care real estate group for the past year and a half. He spent the better part of a decade starting and running United Properties' Corporate Real Estate Services Group, which now has about 95 employees and operates in five states. He has been a member of United Properties' executive team for the past 10 years.

Stender said the two men talked about the partnership for years, but it was only in the past few months that Pobuda felt he was ready for a new challenge. Pobuda declined to comment on the new venture until he leaves United Properties on Aug. 4.

Boyd Stofer, president and CEO of United Properties, said Pobuda's departure is disappointing but friendly, and he wishes him well. "Larry has a very strong marketing ability and he's a good strategic thinker," Stofer said. "He's always been interested in growth opportunities." Mike Fleetham, vice president of the health care real estate group at United Properties, will replace Pobuda as the head of that unit for the time being, Stofer said.

Stender is winding down his involvement with St. Louis Park-based Apex, a 12-year-old firm he operated with business partner Bob Lux. Lux will gradually end his partnership with Stender. He expects Stender and Pobuda to do a good job digging out deals. "There are not two more capable or highly qualified real estate guys in Minneapolis," he said.

The relationship between the two goes back to 1988, when Pobuda was a graduate student at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. Stender helped recruit him to join the Minneapolis office of Trammell Crow. The two men worked on several projects together. Over time, their families also became close friends. Stender's wife, who is an obstetrician, delivered both of Pobuda's children.

Collin Barr, vice president of development at Ryan Cos. US Inc. in Minneapolis, who worked with Stender and Pobuda at Trammell Crow, predicted their new company would do well. "They're both very competent real estate professionals that are highly respected in the industry," he said.

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