Old friends leave APEX, United Properties for their own development and investment venture

In mid-July, Stewart Stender of APEX Asset Management and Larry Pobuda of United Properties announced the formation of the Stewart Lawrence Group, a new commercial real estate development and investment firm.

Stender was co-founder and president of St. Louis Park-based APEX Asset Management Corp. Pobuda, a senior vice president and member of the executive team at United Properties, has overseen the Healthcare Real Estate Group and the Corporate Real Estate Services group at United Properties.

"Larry and I have talked about this informally for years, about how great it would be to reconnect and build a company together," Stender said.

Pobuda said he is excited about starting a new business with someone he has known for years. "It's certainly a unique opportunity for me to come together with a friend and trusted adviser of mine," he said. "Stew and I have had a friendship and a business relationship dating back to 1988. I've been with United Properties for 15 years, and I've had 15 great years with that company. It felt like it was time to spread my wings and do something entrepreneurial."

The firm will focus on office, industrial, health care and multi-family projects. Per Stender, anything goes except retail, hotels and mini-storage. "We have things early in the pipeline. We're in pursuit of a couple of deals, but nothing we can announce yet," Stender says. The new firm will not settle into office space until September. Stender said shifts in the commercial real estate market make it a good time to launch the new venture.

"I see the office opportunities either driven by a specific tenant or by land control," Stender said. "I think the industrial market is probably a little easier to break into. It's a simpler product type, a little less risky."

The firm will also tackle select residential projects. "I could see apartment development acquisition in the short or long run. I could see coming back to the condo development market at a later date," Stender said.

APEX partnered with Opus Northwest on Grant Park and The Carlyle: two iconic condo towers in downtown Minneapolis. "I think as interest rates continue to tick upward, it will create more renters than we've seen in the last few years. I think demand will be increasing in the apartment market," Stender said. "We are at a transition time as the condo market has peaked and the office and industrial markets make their recovery."

Pobuda also sees opportunity in what he calls an "exceptionally strong" healthcare market.

"I think for the next several years there will be continued demand for new product and for the redevelopment of existing inventory," he said.

Both Stender and Pobuda have long resumes in local commercial real estate circles. Tim Murnane, vice president and general manager of real estate development for Opus Northwest, thinks they will make a good team. "I've known them for a long time, and they're both great guys. When I heard it, it made a lot of sense to me," he said.

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