Berkadia's Ken Aston and Andrea Kendrick on how they sell millions in commercial real estate

Ken Aston and Andrea Kendrick are familiar names in St. Louis’ commercial real estate world. Last year, the two Berkadia brokers closed the largest local multifamily deal in history — a $180 million portfolio sale of six apartment complexes. They also brokered the $80 million sale of the Orion building in Central West End. This March, CoStar Group named them two of St. Louis’ top brokers. We spoke with Aston and Kendrick to learn more about their success.

How long have you been working together? Kendrick: Ken’s been an apartment broker for about 37 years, I’ve been a broker for about 13 years, and we’ve been partners for a little over 10. Aston: And it’s been good for me, because — you can probably guess my age since I’ve been doing it for 37 years. Technology changes so rapidly, and to be able to have somebody as sharp as Andrea as my partner, who is a whiz with technology, it has really helped immensely. I couldn’t be more happy with the team we have right now.

Tell us a bit about the $180 million portfolio sale. Why was it such a big transaction? Aston: Over the last five years, we have started to see more portfolio sales like this. The reason for portfolio sales is there is so much investment money out there wanting to invest in apartments. And for some of the funds — both the public and the private funds — it’s just as easy to place $10 million on a deal as it is to place $100 million on a deal. And since the money is readily available, people would rather get more money out the door than less. 

What’s the secret to your success? Kendrick: We take a team approach, which includes the both of us, our mortgage bankers, financial analysts, researchers and our marketing and management teams. Aston: We’re very, very responsive to our clients’ needs. We have clients that will call us or email us and ask us for all kinds of detailed research information on, let’s say it’s some obscure market in another part of the United States. We’re able to obtain that information, because of our research department, pretty instantaneously. And we promote St. Louis, too. We’re both born and raised in St. Louis. We know every street in St. Louis. We know the good, we know the bad and we know how to sell St. Louis. In order to get an investor to buy a property in St. Louis where he’s never owned before, you have to sell them on St. Louis first. And we’re good at that. When people get through with us for the day, and it’s their first visit, they’ll think they were in New York City or something.

What is the most challenging aspect of your job? Aston: We're straight commission. And in this business, you're only as good as your last sale. So you don't have a steady stream of income, but for the most part, apartment brokerage is a very, very good business. I would consider it recession-proof. Because when the markets turn south, properties still sell — only our clients change. Our clients become banks. When banks foreclose, they have to sell. I can't remember ever experiencing a down year in this industry. Kendrick: Being on 100% commission, obviously it can be a really, really good thing, and, you know, for some years it can be tougher. We're very fortunate that we've had a long run of successful years.

Where is the local CRE market headed? Aston: We’re seeing more new multifamily construction in St. Louis now than we’ve seen since the early to mid ‘80s. But there’s a difference. There are a lot more renters by choice now than there’s ever been. It’s millennials and it’s retirees. They don’t want the hassle of homeownership anymore. They want the flexibility and the freedom to travel. Kendrick: That’s right. And if you look at our economy, we’ve got a very strong health care industry, very strong education industry, and manufacturing and services industry — we’ve got a diverse economic base. I think that’s one of the reasons why, going forward, we’re going to continue to see these out-of-state and foreign investors coming to St. Louis. They get steady returns here to balance out the not-so-steady returns in some of the coastal markets that they invest in.