Battle Monument Group's partners, from left to right: Peter Stark, Mike Brumagin and John Oliver.
Photo courtesy of Caroline Martin.

“It took dozens of site visits across eight states in eight days . . . for John Oliver and Peter Stark to double the size of their real estate firm’s portfolio.

But the schlepping, which Oliver joked was like a Homeric Odyssey, was worth it.

Their company, Battle Monument Group, closed on the purchase of 44 Dollar General stores for a total of $41 million. The April deal came a few weeks after the firm had acquired another 21 Dollar General stores for $14.5 million.”

“[We] previously had made a run at the 44-store portfolio. “We weren’t quite large enough to take it three years ago and we had to just accept that,” he said. “When it surfaced again, we jumped on it with everything we had.”

The deals were financed in partnership with the new Richmond bank Southern Community Bank, a local offshoot of Tennessee’s Sevier County Bank in addition to investor capital from our two active funds.

“The larger raise, which sought $25 million, has been completed, Oliver said. The smaller fund has raised $4 million of the $10 million it’s seeking.

“We didn’t anticipate this but the larger fund has been extremely well-received. The smaller fund is doing better than expected as well, but when you’re taking money in smaller chunks it takes longer to fill in,” Oliver said.”

Battle Monument staff and guests celebrate at our downtown office.
Photo courtesy of Caroline Martin.