ElmTree Funds’ Jim Koman built Clayton’s newest offices. Here’s what’s next for his firm.

The greenspace, which tops a concrete parking garage, has already been a hit with tenants of Forsyth Pointe, the new 1 million-square-foot, dual tower development at Forsyth and Brentwood boulevards that Koman built amid a tumultuous time for the office market. 

In any other office development, Koman says, cars would be parked here.

“Who wants to look at that?” he said. 

Whatever misgivings companies had about the future of the office during the pandemic, Forsyth Pointe has proven that businesses will pay the highest rent in town — think $50 a square foot — to get the best amenities available. 

His company’s 19,000-square-foot office, for example, has breakout rooms and sitting areas, marble waterfall countertops in the cafe area, which features a pool table and free food and beverages. The Bevi, which dispenses a variety of flavored and sparkling water, is a big hit with his employees.

The pandemic, rising construction costs and competition from a nearby office building threatened to derail Forsyth Pointe. But today, both towers are nearly fully leased and some of the region’s biggest companies have relocated here. It marked a milestone for Koman, a longtime commercial real estate executive who runs one of the largest private equity firms in the region, ElmTree Funds. 

“It’s best in class,” Koman said of Forsyth Pointe. “You have endless views of the park and all of West County from here.”

Koman founded ElmTree Funds in 2011. His firm works with investors, developers and other partners on finding or building properties across the country that have leases in place with companies that are financially strong.

The company only focuses on industrial properties — Koman built Forsyth Pointe with a trust separate from his private equity firm — that serve “the backbone of the economy,” he said, like logistics and fulfillment, in growth markets with big labor pools like South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Alabama and Arizona.

“We’re trying to find what we feel is mission critical to the operation of a Fortune 100 across the country,” he said. 

ElmTree’s portfolio has grown from 194,262 square feet in 2011 to over 55 million square feet today. It also has grown from $40 million assets under management in 2011 to $2 billion in 2019, with projections of reaching $8.5 billion at the end of this year. His goal is reach $15 billion within the next four years. 

Koman credits the growth, in part, to its open-ended real estate investment trust, which continuously raises capital from long-term, accredited investors.  

“This growth story has been organic — we did not make team and/or firm acquisitions, we grew and elevated those from within,” Koman said. “We have remained disciplined to our strategy and calculated investments.” 

He’s looking south for next opportunity, in states that border Mexico, which serve as connection points to Central and South America. He anticipates more American companies will re-shore operations from overseas in this area, which has a big labor pool and lower costs compared to other big industrial markets, such as Southern California. 

“There’s a lot of people sitting on the sidelines today. We’re not a group that’s sitting on the sidelines,” Koman said. “We think there’s really solid buying opportunities right now.”