EastPointe Realty, established in November 2020 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Community Builders of Kansas City (CBKC), will double the number of multi-family properties under its management in its first full year of operation. As a full-service real estate brokerage firm specializing in property management, EastPointe serves the commercial and multi-family markets.
“EastPointe manages, leases, sells and provides consulting services in all sectors of real estate,” said Irving Blue, EastPointe’s president. “The difference is our We Care approach. Our residents and commercial clients experience our motto in our daily actions that show service matters to us.”
Blue said that EastPointe took on management of its first multi-family property February 1 and will have more than 1,100 CBKC-owned and third-party multi-family units across 15 properties under management throughout Missouri by the end of 2021.
“It is part of CBKC’s strategic intent to build capacity, therefore taking on more ownership in managing and directing the organization’s residential and commercial portfolio became my focus when I started in August of 2020,” Blue added. “Within CBKC we had the desire, real estate management expertise and sensitivity to provide high quality management services.”
The firm has 20 employees. That number will grow as EastPointe adds properties to its management portfolio. Blue said it is part of EastPointe’s vision to have 5,000 multi-family units across multiple states under management. “At that volume, we would still have the ability to extend our We Care culture into those communities, visit them and maintain that personal touch,” he added.
EastPointe is one of the few minority-led, full-service real estate companies in Missouri. Blue, with a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s in urban and regional planning, is also a licensed REALTOR® in Missouri and one of the only African Americans in Missouri who is a certified property manager (CPM) through the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM).
A 2020 article in Commercial Property Executive cited a 2017 study by Bella Research Group and the Knight Foundation. It found that “… more than 75 percent of senior executive jobs in the U.S. commercial real estate industry were held by white men, while only 1.3 percent were held by Black men.” An earlier article in Multi-Family Executive reported much the same, “… the number of women and minorities in leadership roles at multifamily and commercial real estate companies remains stubbornly low—well below 20 percent for women and in the single digits for minorities.”
Blue agrees that Black leadership in residential or commercial real estate is uncommon. “You rarely see people of color with my industry credentials, much less running a real estate business,” he said. “EastPointe Realty is an extension of what anyone will find in CBKC – a well-run, financially performing organization dedicated to being engaged with and in service to its communities.”
While EastPointe Realty brings special expertise to managing and serving its residents and owners in the urban core, good, responsive management that generates the needed financial return is welcomed anywhere.
“It’s not rocket science but it seems to be complex for other firms to care, be responsive, work to make your residents home or work life better, understand the business and still have each property perform,” said Blue. “We Care. That’s even in our email address, epr-wecare.com. It is a high bar but that is our standard; it is what we expect of ourselves.”