@properties, Chicago’s highest-performing locally-based residential brokerage by volume, quietly sold a portion of the company to a Virginia-based private equity firm, The Real Deal has learned.
A Federal Trade Commission filing did not say how large a stake Quad-C Partners bought in the brokerage, or how much the Charlottesville-based firm paid to acquire it. A spokesperson for @properties declined to share either figure.
The deal occurred in April, according to the commission.
Quad-C lists “majority positions” under the “investment criteria” on its website, but @properties co-founders Michael Golden and Thaddeus Wong wrote in a joint statement Thursday they will continue to own and operate the firm.
The deal will help the brokerage “accelerate and expand” its rollout of new technology and marketing tools for its agents, and shop those tools to “independent firms outside the Chicago market,” the statement said.
Golden and Wong led a $5 million Series-A funding round earlier this year for First.io, a tech startup that uses artificial intelligence to connect brokers with prospective sellers.
@properties has become the highest-performing locally based residential brokerage by volume since its 2000 founding, having transacted more than $9 billion in sales last year. Only New Jersey-based Coldwell Banker sold more, at $9.7 billion.
Emily Sachs Wong, the firm’s star broker and wife of Thaddeus Wong, sold properties worth a combined $174.9 million last year alone, according to Crain’s.
@properties manages 28 Chicago-area offices, including four it opened in August.
In April, @properties took a not-so-subtle shot at newcomer Compass when it hung a banner outside of Compass’ Lakeview office reading: “Don’t ask directions from a tourist.”