Over the past 16 years, Elm Grove Companies has evolved from a small two-person firm focused on buying and flipping homes and small apartment buildings, to a property management, real estate development, construction, and brokerage services company with 90 employees that is developing major affordable housing projects in the wake of NH’s housing crisis.
The firm has been continuously growing and evolving. Elm Grove has 1,700 housing units throughout NH, of which more than 700 are affordable housing units. It has cleared lead paint from several hundred units in NH in the process. “As a real estate developer, we choose to develop a variety of housing types from micro units to market rate and affordable housing,” says Principal Chris Schleyer. “Our philosophy is to build and hold our developments for the long term and care for them in a way that ensures long-lasting quality, customer satisfaction, and community stability.”
By 2015, the firm shifted its focus from single-family homes and small apartment buildings to large apartment complexes, developing several unique projects to meet the growing demand for spaces that would appeal to young professionals, including micro-apartment complexes in Manchester and Concord that are “smart apartments.” Since 2021, Elm Grove Companies, under the leadership of original founders and principals Dave Schleyer and Newton Kershaw and Principals Chris Schleyer and Matt Menning, has shifted focus again to develop affordable housing. It completed an affordable housing project with 74 apartments in Salem and has two more affordable housing projects in the works, forming a pipeline of nearly 500 additional apartments. Elm Grove plans to grow its portfolio to 3,000 units in three years and 10,000 units in 10 years.
What makes Elm Grove Companies unique, Menning says, is its commitment to bring value to residents. “With real estate there’s the technical piece, there’s the financial piece, there’s the operational piece and the human piece,” he says. “We’re not treating people like a commodity.”
That commitment extends to caring for the community. In addition to providing employees with paid time off to volunteer and the leadership team serving on several boards of directors, Elm Grove formed a nonprofit arm of the company that raised more than $70,000 in 2024 for local nonprofits.
Chris Schleyer credits much of the company’s success to its 90 employees. “We recognize that the four of us couldn’t possibly do what we’ve done without them,” he says.
To learn more about these winning companies and celebrate their success with them, join us at the Business of the Year Awards celebration to be held on June 6, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown Hotel. For more information or to purchase tickets or tables, visit BusinessNHmagazine.com.
