200+ Site Park, St Louis MSA — Record Price
Seller was mom and pop and the buyer was RHP. Put these two together on an off-market deal where the big institutional buyer would have run all over this seller. But we ran a process and ended up with an offer at $75k/site, the highest (at that time) in the St Louis market.
While under contract, we learned that the seller was overcharging the tenants for water — which effectively made him an unlicensed utility provider (a big no-no with the potential for a massive class action lawsuit from the tenants). RHP initially suggested a multi-million dollar retrade or simply walking away, but they stayed in the deal to preserve their relationship with Yale.
Josh Mermell said this was the only deal in his 20-year career that he was scared they might actually lose money in the long run. For a big institutional group to knowingly close a deal like this says a ton about Yale's reputation and the leverage it brings to a mom-and-pop seller.
