New owners hope to revitalize Foxfire firm

FORT COLLINS – The hot combination of new ownership and veteran expertise is promising to breathe new life into a long-time Fort Collins property-management firm.Foxfire Property Management, the largest manager of commercial and residential property in the city, has been purchased by RCE Inc., a trio made up of Robin and Christian Bachelet and Ed Stoner. Stoner had been a partner in the firm before, as well.
The new entity bought out company founder Brian Soukup, who started the business in 1979.
The new owners have changed the business’ name to Poudre Property Services.
“It’s a new entity, a new name and a new philosophy,” Stoner said.
While coy about the financial end of the transaction, the new owners were candid about the fact that they intend to change the way the former Foxfire does business.
“Foxfire traditionally has had a reputation of being difficult to work with from the student side,” Stoner said.
The company manages a significant number of residential units occupied by Colorado State University students.
“We want to be more efficient, more effective and become more specialized in what we do,” Stoner said.
Part of the strategy, Robin Bachelet explained, is to increase the value of each asset. That typically means enticing owners of buildings managed by Poudre Property Services to invest in more-than-routine improvements that will attract stable tenants.
“In many cases, we’ve ended up having to manage people more than we manage the property,” Stoner said.
Already, Hi-Lan Apartments, 775 W. Lake St., and Mosher Manor, 113 Myrtle, have been updated.
“One goal is to improve the properties,” Bachelet said. “Another is to cater to tenant needs.”
For example, an additional employee was hired for maintenance. Eventually, Poudre Property Services will update its fleet of maintenance vehicles and redo aspects of its headquarters at 706 S. College Ave.
In addition to the residential business, the company also manages some commercial retail property, storage units and 23 homeowners associations.
While third-party management continues to be the focus, the new owners hope in the long run to increase the number of properties they own.
Poudre Property Services’ portfolio now includes some 350,000 square feet of commercial space and approximately 1 million square feet of residential. Stoner said vacancy rates now stand at about 1 percent.
The new management team also will scout for new properties for its owner-clients. Many of them are out-of-state, Stoner said, coming from places such as Hawaii, Massachusetts and Texas.
Indeed, one of the former Foxfire’s long-time clients was Robin Bachelet’s family.
“Christian wanted to learn the business,” Robin Bachelet said of her husband. “We have our own investment property in California.”
The couple relocated here from the West Coast in the spring and later teamed with Stoner.
Robin Bachelet is responsible for the residential side of the business and personnel. Christian Bachelet is in charge of leasing.
ÿ