Developer Pat O’Reilly is putting to work his decade of experience with Miller-O’Reilly Co. Inc. for his own venture, O’Reilly Development Co. LLC.
After developing with business partner Matt Miller since 2003, the developers have parted ways and are operating independently – Miller as Miller Commerce LLC and O’Reilly as O’Reilly Development Co.
“We had accomplished a lot with Miller-O’Reilly, and we both wanted to do some things on our own,” O’Reilly says, describing the split as amicable and noting the parties are sharing office space in Wilhoit Plaza.
For O’Reilly, the move is reminiscent to his start with Miller. He had been working for the one-time family business, O’Reilly Automotive Inc., leading the distribution center division.
“It was a big decision for me,” he recalls, “going from a steady paycheck to starting out on my own.”
Under Miller-O’Reilly Co., the duo became known for developing senior housing at The Fremont and student housing with The Monroe, Deep Elm and The Jefferson, as well as tax-credit funded affordable housing projects such as Forest Park Apartments in Joplin and Kemper Village in Boonville. The 10-year run netted $70 million in financing secured for real estate projects and $16 million in historic tax credits approved for development.
Miller says the development company accomplished its goals.
“Pat and I had a great partnership and still have a partnership in all the properties we had developed and now own together,” Miller says, noting Miller-O’Reilly represents a third of his real estate work and he’s also involved with Bigger Ideas Development, which is wrapping up the Brick City project downtown. “It’s very common in real estate to have multiple partnerships.”
O’Reilly says his new firm is pursuing historic preservation, senior housing and affordable multifamily developments.
“Going out on my own on a new venture without a partner is certainly a new risk, but it’s also very exciting to me,” says O’Reilly, crediting his family’s entrepreneurial bloodlines. “That’s certainly part of it, growing up witnessing that – hard work, dedication and loving what you do. I’ve seen the results of that.”
O’Reilly is the son of Charlie and Mary Beth O’Reilly and brother to Tim O’Reilly, who has developed Doubletree and Hilton Garden Inn properties and Houlihan’s restaurants under O’Reilly Hospitality Management LLC. His grandfather, Chub O’Reilly, co-founded the Springfield-based auto parts chain in 1957 and, in 1993, the company went public (Nasdaq: ORLY). Today, the corporation operates some 4,000 stores recording more than $6 billion in annual revenues.
While Pat O’Reilly worked for the auto parts chain, he started his career with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. After graduating from Missouri State University with a business administration degree and minor in computer information services, O’Reilly went to work for Sam’s Club in Springfield, Ill., under its management training program, and he helped open a Sam’s Club in Columbia in 1991.
He returned to his hometown in the mid-1990s to work at O’Reilly Automotive’s headquarters, and a short time later moved to Kansas City to open the first parts distribution center outside of Springfield. As O’Reilly Automotive’s vice president of distribution, O’Reilly was involved in new warehouse development across the country, including distribution centers added via corporate acquisitions.
“I was traveling quite a bit with O’Reilly Auto Parts,” he says. “I wanted to do something on my own and travel a little less.”
O’Reilly’s first announced project for his Springfield-based firm is a co-development with Joplin master planner Wallace Bajjali Development Partners LP for a $35 million, 150-unit transitional senior living community in the city’s redevelopment area. The plan was presented to Joplin City Council on May 13, O’Reilly says.
O’Reilly Development also has under contract a historic redevelopment in Kansas City and a senior housing job in Blue Springs, adds O’Reilly, who works with three employees in the Wilhoit Plaza office Miller-O’Reilly had called home, 431 S. Jefferson Ave., Ste. 116-C.
O’Reilly splits time in Springfield and a home office in Kansas City.
OreillyDevelopment.com lists Springfield architect H Design Group LLC, Kansas City-based SWD Architects and St. Louis-based Capital Consultants among its development partners.
Steve Monsanto, project manager and part-owner of Build LLC, says the general contractor completed seven projects for Miller-O’Reilly and is transitioning with O’Reilly on his new venture.
“The majority of our work is negotiated. We like to develop relationships with our developers and stick with them where they go and try to be their only contractor,” Monsanto says, noting Build LLC is in line for the historic renovation in Kansas City and the senior housing job in Blue Springs. Morelock-Ross Inc. is the contractor of record for the Joplin project.
Monsanto says the partner approach is not unique in the development industry.
“You learn your quirks of working with each other. You know what each other likes,” he says, describing the O’Reilly Development deal as fluid. “It’s not even a handshake deal. We do our jobs well and he likes working with us, so he keeps bringing us work.”
Web Editor Geoff Pickle contributed to this story.
