A History Of Growth And Innovation
Brian Flanagan began his business voyage in the early days of the environmental remediation industry with his first business collaboration, Midwest Asbestos Removal Service (MARS). Quickly realizing that the regulatory enforcement of new environmental laws would result in exciting growth opportunities, he developed a remediation services company to serve real estate owners and environmental consultants. MARS became recognized as one of the leading environmental remediation service contractors in the Chicago market. At its peak, the organization had annual revenues of over $50,000,000.00 with 800 employees. MARS operated five distinct divisions that specialized in the environmental services sector.
Recognizing the finite nature of the environmental business, Brian elected to diversify into other investment vehicles. Initially, MARS acquired environmentally distressed real estate assets from commercial banks and lenders in the financial services industry. MARS later broadened into development of commercial and industrial properties. Along with prior ownership of two hotel properties in Southwestern Florida, MARS owns and manages over 2,000,000 square feet of commercial and industrial real estate in the Chicagoland area.
In the mid 1990s, Brian divested himself of the environmental services industry to focus on real estate and other operating company investments. In 1997, MARS acquired the Brucker Company – a small manufacturers representative organization servicing the HVAC industry. A veteran at MARS assumed the role of President at Brucker and completed two subsequent acquisitions in the industry. Today, Brucker is a broad-line distributor of HVAC equipment with annual revenues exceeding $40,000,000.00.
Seeking more platform and synergetic acquisitions and in order to leverage their time and capital, MARS decided to transform into an investment vehicle that more closely resembled a holding company. MARS 2, LLC acquired TNR Staffing (DBA Therapy Network Resources) in November 2009. For the past 25 years, TNR has been one of Chicagolands’ premier providers of rehabilitative services. Just recently in 2021 TNR was acquired by one of the nations leading physical therapy companies.
Unlike typical private equity investment groups, MARS brings a unique, entrepreneurial perspective to their investments and has proven experience building successful operating companies. MARS is also not beholden to the short-term return horizons of industrial investors. They are long-term investors seeking to compound equity growth in defensible operating companies with internal or external growth opportunities.
directly or indirectly manages over 15 investments in several key areas: real estate development and management, heating ventilation and cooling distribution, medical staffing, hotels and outdoor media. But we are more than a collection of successful investments; each has new venture has been carefully chosen to play a vital role within the company.
The Principals of draw upon decades of varied experience to identify well-defined opportunities for future growth. A key advantage of MARS 2 has been its ability to meld diverse affiliates into one corporate while still allowing each the autonomy to move independently and act decisively.