CapVest, LLC settles into its new offices in Altoona

Heather Graves

Staff

August 19, 2024

ALTOONA – For more than 20 years, Founding Partner Bill Albright said CapVest, LLC has focused on building impactful communities – something it accomplished by developing, constructing and managing a range of properties, including residential rental communities, commercial buildings and self-storage facilities.

Albright said the opening of the company’s new offices in Altoona furthers that commitment.

“Our new location is not just a workplace – it’s a hub where great ideas come to life and lasting relationships are built,” he said.

The past 20-plus years

Albright – along with fellow founding partners Trevor Bohland and Paul Madsen – have been developing, constructing and managing properties as two separate entities – Capital Investment Partners and Eau Claire Realty.

Earlier this year, Albright said the decision was made that to achieve the company’s overarching goal of “building impactful communities” it was in the best interest of all stakeholders to separate the two companies and streamline each company’s focus.

This move, he said, included selling the Eau Claire Realty name to a local real estate company and offering all its services now as CapVest, LLC.

“We shortened the name to CapVest and now do everything under one umbrella,” he said. “CapVest does development. CapVest does property management. And CapVest does construction.”

CapVest, Albright said, continues to grow – in staff and management units.

“We add about 100 units of management a year – we are currently at 1,000 units of management,” he said. “We construct about 100 a year, which stay within our portfolio and are connected to our management arm.”

New properties, Albright said, equals a need for additional staff.

“Every 300 units or so, another leasing agent is needed,” he said.

The continued growth the company has seen in recent years, Albright said, prompted the need for additional space.

CapVest celebrated the opening of its new offices – located at 1411 Winchester Way in Altoona – last month.

New digs

Conversations regarding a new office, Albright said, started a few years ago.

“We were spread out throughout the (former) building,” he said. “Executive offices were upstairs, everyone else was downstairs. No one was intermingled together, so you couldn’t get a feel for the office.”

The new building – a multi-purpose property with offices in the front and warehouse space in the back, Albright said is owned by a business partner of his.

Though it is again two levels, he said the atrium opens up with space and connects all employees.

“We put in some big windows on the side to make sure everyone got natural light,” he said. “We have storefront glass that goes into the offices, so we are all working together – which is pretty cool.”

Albright said the new space is slightly larger than CapVest’s previous building, which provides more room for offices.

The building, he said, is also equipped with the latest technology.

“We have several meetings via Microsoft Teams, so we have Teams for our telephones, and all of the conference rooms are Teams conference rooms – which makes collaboration much easier,” he said. “Our operations director is based in Iowa, so to allow for that, we have to have those capabilities. That was a priority of the new offices.”

Albright said the reaction from employees has been “energetic.”

“It seems silly to say, but they are happier because there is so much light and openness – and if you have a question, you just walk down the hall,” he said.

The office walls, Albright said, are filled with pictures of CapVest projects, as well as the company’s mission statement and core values.

“We asked our employees what our main focus means to them,” he said. “We took those (responses) and put them up on the walls all over the office. (They are more) than something on paperwork – they are things we express and use every week. It’s nice to have those posted so we can see them on a regular basis.”

Some of the quotes gracing the walls of CapVest’s new offices include:

• “Enriching the lives of our employees and communities in which we develop, by providing quality properties and lifestyles for everyone.”
• “By fostering thriving and well-maintained communities, we create environments where individuals and businesses can flourish.”
• “Evolving a piece of land to create a massive impact: from the initial vision and planning through construction, relationships are built by all involved in the process and in the communities of families that make our properties their home.”

Home base

Albright said Altoona and the Greater Eau Claire region is CapVest’s home base. 

“As part of our business plan, our business model, we stay within 90 miles of Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls,” he said. “The reason for that is our employees are locally based, and it allows them to get to a location in no more than an hour and a half, get the job done that needs to happen that day and then get home to their families.”

Being centrally located, Albright said CapVest’s service area includes Wausau, Stevens Point, Minneapolis, River Falls, New Richmond and Hudson.

“We’re in a great location to be able to fulfill our mission of staying in that 90-mile area and still have a good opportunity for our employees, as far as our development,” he said.

Albright said CapVest’s capacity for growth is further supported by the new offices.

“There is plenty of room for growth in that space,” he said. “We could possibly grow more with satellite offices. We are currently opening an office in River Falls because we have a large quantity of units over there.”