Our Story

          We purchased our first building in 1989. It required substantial renovations. Our first tenants moved in August of 1991. In the industry that is called the date when the building was put into service.

          When those first tenants moved in, Michael Markstahler was himself still a tenant, living in another rental agency’s property. In fact Michael had been a tenant for a number of various landlords for twenty-one years prior to opening that first building. Over that time he had accumulated a good deal of firsthand valuable experience related to being a tenant and dealing with a variety of landlords.

          Since then we have learned a great deal about the business. We have honed and defined our market. And most importantly we have realized that while the baseline is to provide a consistently good product, what is essential is making certain that our tenants can count on friendly, professional and timely service.

          Years in the business of being landlords have afforded us the opportunity to see a large number of tenants come and go; literally thousands. Being a tenant is sometimes a necessity but most often a life choice. But other than that, there is nothing different about a ‘tenant’ than the general population. In short there are all kinds. Sometimes the difficult or demanding tenant takes up so much time and energy that we forget to say thank you to those who simply pay their rent and otherwise live quietly. We try to not forget about these tenants.

Our focus has always been on those who wish to live in or within a short walking distance of Downtown Champaign. It means someone who enjoys the micro-urban culture that is the heart of Downtown. This often means professionals in the early part of their careers. However it can also mean empty nesters and retirees. We have both.

We have a mix of apartments, condos, lofts, duplexes, flats and single family homes. They are divided between being located directly in downtown and in the historic neighborhood directly west of downtown. With the first, downtown is just outside your building’s front door. With the second you are living on tree lined streets with picket fences while being just a few minutes stroll to the best martini in town.

All of our properties are within six blocks of each other east to west and four blocks north to south. Our office is centered in the middle of our properties for ease and walkable access. Our farthest property from downtown is an eight minute walk. Additionally we are well situated with two major Champaign Parks within a short walk; West Side Park and Spalding Park.

           We have a small, long serving professional staff. Michael Markstahler, after graduating from college spent many years in the 1970’s and 80’s starting and running grass roots not-for-profits, working in areas of poverty, racial justice, gay rights, feminist issues and ecology. In his mid-30s he started a construction firm and in his early 40s became a landlord. He brings planning, budgeting, management and supervisory skills gained over the years to his position as general manager.

Second in the office is Elizabeth Markstahler. She and Michael were once married and have remained friends for years. Starting out as an elementary school teacher she later became deeply involved and a leader in community wide recycling for over a decade. For her efforts in this arena she has been presented with a key to the City of Champaign by the mayor and is a past winner of Central Illinois Business Magazine’s ‘Forty Under 40’. For RDI, Elizabeth keeps the books, manages special projects, provides day to day tenant services and because she likes being in the field more than the office, can often be found painting.

John Lindell is Elizabeth’s brother. At one point, John operated his own lawn care business. Then, for a number of years, he worked as a cook first at Esquire Lounge and then Clark Bar in downtown Champaign. For a while he also owned and operated the Embassy in downtown Urbana. He began working for us, taking care of our lawns, in 2008. Over the years he has expanded his duties to doing most of our rental showings and a variety of other maintenance work.

Tom Farrar first worked for us when we also did major construction projects for others.  In the late 1980’s we built a large condominium project called Campus Oaks in Urbana.  Tom there handled all of the painting.  He has worked for us continuously since.  Over the years Tom has downsized.  Today, he no longer has employees and works independently.  He does a lot of our electrical, painting, carpentry and drywall repairs and remodels now.

Jeff Carper is a custom carpenter who has been working for us since the mid 1980’s. If you have ever watched on The History Channel the show American Pickers you know what Jeff has evolved as his primary occupation – picker. He also dabbles a bit in crafts and true art. He has won several awards for his work in statewide competition. Jeff still works for us part time. He does special projects – improvements, repairs, alterations that require focused energy at one property at a time.

Lanz Plumbing and Heating – We first used Lanz on the buildout of The Hickory Street Apartments in the first decade of this century.  They have been doing our plumbing and HVAC work ever since.  This is true for both new installation and maintenance down to seasonally changing filters at The Quarters and The Hickory.

Janice Juraska is Michael’s wife. Janice is a full professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Illinois. That is her full time profession, actually her calling. She plays no day-to-day role in the management of our rentals. As an owner, she consults on all major projects and in planning future projects and expansions.

We also engage a number of sub-contractors when specialty services are needed or Tom, John or Jeff is not available. All of these sub-contractors have worked with for years and years. They have earned our trust.