GIE in Review: Managers Purchase Post Landscape

SMYRNA, Ga. - The face of the landscape industry in Atlanta continues changing with the Nov. 8 announcement that three managers at the Post Landscape Group, a division of Post Properties, purchased the operation from its owners. This comes just a few months after The Brickman Group, Langhorne, Pa., purchased the $40-million landscape division of Duke-Weeks, also based in Atlanta.

In an exclusive interview with Lawn & Landscape magazine, Jim McCutcheon, chief operating officer, and Gib Durden, vice president/sales manager, explained that the deal was initiated by the owners of Post Properties early this year when they decided to refocus the business on its core operations, such as property development.

"This is actually the reverse of the consolidation trend we've seen in the industry for the last few years," observed McCutcheon. "We've gone from being part of a large, publicly traded company to being a privately owned company."

The landscape company, which will have 2001 revenue of about $18 million, will now be known as HighGrove Partners, and McCutcheon said the deal will help it grow in numerous ways. "We didn't do any work for Post Properties, although everyone thought we did," he pointed out. "But the name closed a lot of doors for us because many of the other property managers in town didn't want to deal with someone who they had to compete against.

"Plus, now we're not governed by real estate principles," McCutcheon continued. "Not to mention the fact that being public has its disadvantages like not being able to go into new markets that may not be profitable for a year or two. Now we can do that."

"Nor do we have to worry about pleasing an executive board and taking every job that comes along just so we can grow," explained Durbin.

HighGrove Partners is owned by McCutcheon, Bill Lincicome and Ken Rogers, who have essentially run the operation for the last 10 years, and they expect to shrink the business to some degree in 2002. "We're going to cull off some of the work that we really shouldn't be doing," McCutcheon noted, adding that the company has two offices in Atlanta and two in Charlotte, N.C. In addition, he would like to see the sales mix move from its current ratio of 60 percent maintenance and 40 percent design/build to about 75 percent maintenance and 25 percent design/build.