“I’ve learned a little about a lot.”

Mark Ainley, founder of GC Realty and Development, attributes that phrase as a defining trait of his career. It embodies the entrepreneurial spirit that Mark and the team bring to the industry of property management. They’re always willing and able to venture into new professional territory and that pushes them forward in real estate investment and property management alike.

GC Realty and Development has been a staple in the Chicago real estate market for over 2 decades now and pushed even further into the property management industry since then. If you’re looking for real estate professionals or property management experts, you won’t find a team more dedicated or knowledgeable about the local scene. But how exactly did they forge this path?

We sat down with partner and co-founder Mark Ainley to get the full story from GC’s humble beginnings to becoming the pillar of Chicago property management they are today.

The Enterprising Beginnings of GC Realty

Mark Ainley and fellow partner Bryan Sonn have been friends and business associates since their college years. They were entrepreneurs at heart, always looking for their next new venture in a myriad of different ways. Mark often jokes about their time selling purses or his time in Los Angeles that he said, “made me realize how much I love Chicago.”

Finally, back in his home territory in Chicago, Mark officially founded GC Realty and Development in 2003 with co-founder and best friend John Chiariello. The company was named after John’s father, Gaetano Chiariello. John came to him with real estate experience and wanted to pair that with Mark’s business-centric mindset.

Always one to try new things, Mark agreed. Little did he know the journey this would take him on and what the company would become.

Growth Through Adversity

Just three years into their real estate business, John Chiariello tragically passed away in a car accident in 2006. This was a major turning point for Mark and GC Realty, as Mark wasn’t sure if they should close up shop or continue with their business.

Ultimately, Mark and Bryan decided together to purchase John’s family’s stake in the company. It was a hard decision to write that check for two young professionals just starting. However, according to Mark:

“I knew it was right, looking back at a decision like this. It didn’t take long for me to reflect and think it was worth it. I knew that small dollar amount would be pennies compared to what we could do with this and what the company meant to me. And the company still drives me on a daily basis for those same reasons.”

Forming the Investor’s Mindset

In 2008, GC Realty would be faced with another mountain to climb. This time in the form of the market crash that left so many in the real estate industry in panic. Right before the crash, GC Realty bought a new construction office building with the intention of growing the property.

Then, the housing market crashed. Mark and Bryan were left with this investment property alone, as the rest of the investors bowed out. Mark spoke on this period, saying, “At the time, we weren’t focused on property management. With the market crash, we were just focused on survival. We were doing property preservation for companies and whatever it took to pay the bills.”

These challenges also led them to start buying, fixing up, renting out, and then selling properties. From 2008-2018, GC Realty bought 482 investment properties. Through their rehab work and renting out the properties they bought and sold themselves, they slowly learned the property management business as well.

This growth was bolstered by the addition of their third partner, Clifford McCue. Cliff joined in on the investment side in 2014, and then in property management in 2017. His partnership has been instrumental in the success of GC Realty & Development.

GC Realty having that real investor experience is why they’re able to keep their finger on the pulse of Chicago’s real estate market to this day.

The Shift to Property Management

At first, the team at GC Realty was hesitant to get into property management for properties they were selling. The shift came when they sold an investment property to their attorney. He insisted that Mark and the team be the ones to manage the property. Apparently, he was persistent because Mark agreed. They continued to manage the property for him up until 2023.

From there, property management naturally grew over the years for GC Realty.

“It was in 2018 that we made the conscious decision to focus on property management. Along the way, property management grew for us. By 2018, we were at 600-700 doors. We were just kind of dabbling in it, growing with the times. But we knew there was opportunity there. And after everything we’d been through, we knew what we were doing.”

From 2018 to 2023, GC Realty’s property management business grew almost 5 times larger. You won’t find too many property managers who possess as much hands-on investing experience as Mark, Bryan, Cliff, and the team as a whole.

Mark even has a podcast series, Straight Up Chicago Investor, highlighting local Chicago real estate investors and educating the community on critical industry knowledge. And they have a little fun while doing it!

The GC Realty Difference

It’s clear that GC Realty has the experience to maximize a rental property for its clients while protecting that investment. But what sets the team apart? What makes GC the right choice for property management in Chicago? When we asked Mark, he had this to say:

“One good thing about Chicago is the mom-and-pop providers. I still consider us one of those mom-and-pops, we’re not one of the national scale companies. Because of all the regulations here and because there are over 120 suburbs you have to learn, it’s hard for these big national companies to come in here and operate effectively. It’s hard when you don’t have that local knowledge.”

Mark lives and breathes Chicago real estate and that’s not something you’ll find just anywhere at the level GC Realty operates on for this city.

Mark continued this sentiment, “It creates this moat around Chicago. That moat traps all of these local guys here and helps us all be on one team. We have 13 million people here in this MSA. We have a million rental units. If you take the industry in Chicago as a whole, there’s just so much opportunity. There’s so much opportunity where we can all collaborate.”

Mark proves that, even as competitors, you can collaborate and make the industry better. He started a local organization called Chicago Property Managers Best Practices Group. Once a month, different competing property managers in Chicago meet to share ideas, solve issues together, and refer business to each other.

That’s the GC Realty difference. Like Mark said, he’s “learned a little about a lot.” That mindset extends through him and Bryan to the whole team. To know that you always have more to learn, and do whatever it takes to make the city of Chicago and its property investors better, is a constant driving factor.

GC Realty is always looking for new opportunities to make that difference with new property owners. If you want to learn more about Mark and the team, check out our services page or contact us for a free consultation.