Herbert Emmerman and Garry Benson

Principals
EMS/GARRISON

As the residential real estate market begins to show signs of life, few companies are in a better position to bring the level of expertise and experience necessary to grow this market than EMS/GARRISON, the newly formed partnership of Herbert Emmerman and Garry Benson.

“Our mission is to identify and develop upcoming opportunities in recovering residential markets nationwide for or with clients, investors and development partners,” Emmerman and Benson say.

Both men are certainly qualified for such a mission. Before striking out on their own, Emmerman and Benson worked side by side for 15 years at The Dunbar Corporation, Romanek-Golub and Equity Realty, where they were involved in the development, marketing and sales of nearly 10,000 residential units. Their subsequent solo achievements were even more impressive: Emmerman is the founder and CEO of Equity Marketing Services, and Benson is the founder and president of Garrison Partners. Between them, these two firms have represented 244 developments comprising more than 34,000 residential units in 25 states. In the Chicago area alone, their respective firms have developed and/or marketed 120 condominium communities.

Now that they have rejoined forces, Emmerman and Benson are setting their sights on condominium conversions and adaptive re-use of commercial structures, which they see as the immediate future of urban real estate in Chicago, as well as other major urban centers. They point out that available condominium inventory is now very low, providing significant opportunities for developers to re-ignite the housing market. But coming out of a long and deep recession, it will take both expert planning and know-how to translate this potential into reality.

“Appropriate properties must be identified and successfully negotiated; funding sources must be secured; and strategic conversion and marketing programs must be developed and executed,” Emmerman and Benson say. “This is, of course, why we created EMS/GARRISON.”