Alerus Financial to sell property management division

After buying five financial firms in 2009, Alerus Financial announced Thursday it will sell its property management division to focus on its core banking services.

The Grand Forks-based financial services firm’s property management division currently manages about 900 residential units and 100,000 square feet of commercial real estate in the Grand Forks and Fargo areas.

On April 1, Alerus’ Residential and Commercial Property Management Services will be sold to Investment Management and Marketing, a company based in Minot that already man-ages 4,000 residential units in six Midwestern states and has more than 100 employees.

Alerus spokeswoman Missy Keney said building owners and tenants can continue to work with their previous representatives for now. Information about the sale will be sent to all affected customers, she said.

Keney said both companies will work with customers to ensure a smooth transition.

“We’ll be working real closely with them so that the customer knows what’s going on,” she said.

Alerus isn’t disclosing the sale price.

‘FOCUS’

In a Thursday statement, Alerus President and CEO Randy Newman said the sale stems from the company’s growth and emphasizing its main financial services such as banking, retirement plans and agricultural-related products.

“As a result of our recent expansion in the Twin Cities and Arizona, it’s the appropriate time to streamline our product offerings to focus on our core product lines,” he said.

“Although commercial and residential property management have played a role in our company in the past, we now believe our customers will be better served by IMM, whose primary focus is managing real estate property.”

Alerus had five acquisitions in 2009, including a branch of Meridian Bank in Arizona and the retirement plan practice of Fargo-based Eide Bailey.

The other three deals were all based in the Twin Cities, picking up the Residential Mort-gage Group, three branches of Prosperan Bank and a branch of BankFirst.

All together, the acquisitions brought Alerus’ total banking assets to $1.1 billion, a jump from around $750 million in early 2009. It also meant a growing presence in the Twin Cities, where Alerus now has about 230 employees, Keney said.

That’s more than the 200 employees in Grand Forks or the 100 in Fargo. Keney said the sale makes sense as Alerus continues to expand its banking operations.

“Property management isn’t necessarily part of that core,” she said. “Our whole goal with this is to focus on what we do best, and that’s our financial services.”

Terry Longtin, director of property management, said Alerus has been in the property management business since 1992. The sale will affect 12 Alerus employees.

“All of them will be interviewed with IMM, which is currently in process,” he said, adding they could also apply for other open positions at Alerus.

Keney said employees were notified Monday, and will be given severance packages if they are not hired by either company.

Selling the division was a “more recent” decision, Longtin said, but Alerus still scouted around to find a good company with expertise in the property management industry. IMM’s local connections and presence in the region even before the sale also bode well for the company, he said.

“We wanted somebody that understands our market, and since they’re in Grand Forks and Fargo, they already have a good handle on that,” Longtin said.