Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) is a publicly traded

real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...

based in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

that invests in

apartments An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are man ...

in the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...

and the Southwestern United States. As of December 31, 2020, the company owned 300 apartment communities containing 100,490 apartment units. It is the largest owner of apartments in the United States and the 7th largest apartment

property manager A property manager or estate manager is a person or firm charged with operating a real estate property for a fee when the owner is unable to attend to such details personally or is not interested in doing so. The property may be individual title o ...

in the United States.

History

The company was founded in 1977 by George E. Cates. In 1993, the company was organized as a real estate investment trust. In February 1994, the company acquired The Cates Company from George E. Cates and became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

. In March 2009, founder George E. Cates retired. In October 2013, the company acquired Colonial Properties. In December 2016, the company acquired

Post Properties Post Properties, Inc. was a publicly traded real estate investment trust headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia that invested in apartments. As of December 31, 2015, the company owned interests in 24,162 apartment units in 61 communities. In 2016, the ...

and was added to the

S&P 500 Index The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices. As of D ...

. In 2017, the company was ranked 142nd on the "Growth Champions" list published by

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

. In November 2018, the company paid $11.3 million to settle a complaint that Post Properties violated the design and construction requirements under the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act at 50 properties.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Real estate companies established in 1977 1977 establishments in Tennessee Companies based in Memphis, Tennessee Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Real estate investment trusts of the United States 1994 initial public offerings