Nemont Manor Purchased by Silver Tree Residential, LLC

Nemont Manor has been purchased by Silver Tree Residential, LLC, of Memphis Tennessee.

Nemont Manor, located at 1100 4th Ave. S., in Glasgow, mostly serves seniors 62 and older of Valley County. The facility offers one bedroom apartments, income-based rent, on-site staff and maintenance, and all paid utilities.

James Carmichael, owner of Silver Tree Residential, declined to disclose the price of purchasing the facility, although the closing process lasted about eight months. The price of the sale is a public record available upon request at the Valley County Courthouse.

The company generates about $6.83 million in sales annually, according to dnb.com, and owns and operate 68 communities with 9,878 apartment homes, over 10,500 residents and 473 employees across 23 states.

"Our team and I live and work in Memphis, Tennessee," Carmichael said Monday during a meet and greet luncheon with the residents at Nemont Manor. "We flew up here this morning because we wanted to come meet you all. I have been doing this for nearly 20 years. We are very different from a lot of owners or management companies. We are one and the same. I am the owner and I am the owner of the management company. There is nobody else that makes the decision."

Carmichael said his company is currently focusing on repairing and renovating the facility, something which could take up to two years to complete.

"There are a number of things, that as we walk around this apartment community, that we know you are not happy with. And, you have every right to be unhappy. But, we are going to fix them. Our team is going to increase in size. We have already hired someone to join our facilities team."

Big ticket items will be the first priority, Carmichael said. That includes an often malfunctioning elevator in which residents have become stuck in the past between levels.

"If I don't have the elevator fixed in the next 30-days, the next two weeks, the next time I am here, just shoot me in the parking lot," Carmichael joked. "I don't want to get shot. We will be working to make improvements. The common areas will change. Improvements will be added. Furniture, artwork will all change as we move forward. We want you to be happy because we want you to stay. Basically when you go and buy a new phone or a new pair of sneakers, you want to make sure you get a great product with a great service and you want to make sure it lasts and it works. If it doesn't, you are never going to buy it again. It is really quite simple. We want to make sure you are happy so you stay."

According to Faith Wilson, Silver Tree Residential marketing manager, the company is focused on the long-term preservation of affordable housing communities.

"As part of the acquisition we extended the Section 8 contract for an additional 20 years with Housing and Urban Development (HUD)," Wilson said. "Our primary goal is to provide the best quality housing possible to our residents with safe, quiet, and amenity filled communities. We manage both senior and family communities designated with Project Based Section 8 Rental Assistance."

Wilson said Nemont Manor will go through a $1.4 million renovation that will fix the elevators, renovate common areas, add new flooring and paint, add age appropriate furniture, amenities and much more.

Silver Tree embraces the concept of "Aging in Place," Wilson said. "This concept ensures we not only provide housing, but also services that help our senior residents manage their life and needs. The staff at STR are committed to development and rehabilitation methods that offer the least disruption possible to our residents, all while maximizing the most benefit to the community so that our buildings can remain affordable for future generations. We are very excited to join the Glasgow Community and looking forward to providing affordable housing for many years to come. We know that the previous owners did a disservice to the building and we are already making changes to make an immediate impact for the better for our current and future residents. We are looking forward to being a good neighbor to Glasgow and doing the right thing by the community for a long time."

Carmichael said the company has a proven track record of improving existing facilities it acquires.

"We have been able to demonstrate, through our operations, through our track record, that we can have a positive impact."

Part of that is planning proactively against future incidents, Carmichael added.

"Maybe the elevator does go down after we fix it. We have to make sure we have the right people that we can call that can come help us to make sure the things that need to be fixed are done immediately. It is an apartment complex. Things are going to break. One day there will be a leak. Your toilet may leak, or whatever it may be. We are going to have the right plumber there to make sure we can fix these issues immediately."

For other potential issues, "we are not going to wait for you to call us," Carmichael continued. "We are the type of company with different systems and procedures where we are going to go proactively look at issues. How we are going to do that, is we are going to come to your apartment, we are going to ask if we can come in, and check everything to see if it is working. We want to do that because you want everything in your apartment to work. We are going to be very proactive about elevators and the roofs and all those things. All the things in the common area, all the mechanicals, and also the things in your apartment too."