The task of redeveloping a 175-year-old abandoned hospital in Montreal proved to be too much for some investors, but 29-year-old Richard Geller is looking to rise to the challenge.
Red tape and expensive headwinds caused some investors to shy away from taking on the resurrection of an entire downtown block once home to the Miséricorde Hospital. Geller, whose property management arm Alta Group is best known for managing downtown commercial properties, stepped up to head the $250 million venture.
Geller’s rise to real estate entrepreneur does not appear to be a natural evolution from his first job as a 15-year-old spinning tunes in Montreal’s buzzing after-hours nightclub scene. Deejaying, however, wasn’t a stable income, and financial strains in his family of Russian immigrants made staying in school difficult.
“My parents wanted me to go out and work. We were broke. I came from a very frugal background,” Geller said in an interview.
Geller became a certified construction worker and toiled on a few projects before becoming transfixed by the large-scale real estate undertakings that he passed by while on his treks around Montreal, such as Brivia’s YUL high-rise condos.
After spotting signs advertising real estate developer Canderel, Geller cold-called its founder, Jonathan Wener. The call "motivated me to get into managing serviced-based real estate businesses," Geller recalled.
He took the advice, taking a step back from construction to launch a short-term rental cleaning and maintenance company. He then started adding on rental management for those customers.
Geller’s efforts bore fruit when the Rumpf family of Prime Properties gave Geller the opportunity to manage 27 units at the popular downtown intersection of Bishop and De Maisonneuve.
"I increased revenues for the landlord, I offered a vertically-integrated management service and then scaled it," Geller said.
New municipal regulations limiting short-term rentals forced Geller to adjust his strategy. That included launching Staerk Group, a company that allowed him to branch out into buying, renovating and selling properties. He recently changed the name to Alta Group, meaning elevated.
The firm's first deal was for a multiplex near the Bell Centre on Overdale Avenue.
"I put an offer on it and luckily I found a family office to co-invest with me and it was proven to be a very good first investment,” Geller said.
Geller recently attracted attention after investing several million dollars into transforming a former church into one of Canada’s priciest short-term rental units. The property in Old Montreal, branded Doxa, has generated attention from well-heeled guests since its launch in April.
Geller now oversees about 15 employees along with business partner Thomas Rohan. He remains an avid fan of city life and plans to keep his focus on properties in the urban core. He said that he is also now looking at deals in Toronto or New York.
“We’re already managing over half a billion in assets, and we’re doing it really well," Geller said. "We are streamlined and we’re super lean."