A local housing developer has rebranded its business.
CPM Companies officially changed its name and restructured to North Bay Companies on Oct. 1, according to an email sent to tenants. Previous tenants of the developer believe the business rebranded to leave behind its negative history.
North Bay Companies also moved from one of its former office locations. Its University leasing office is now located at 2316 4th Ave. S. The company owns housing units in the University Area.
University junior Olivia Lambert is a tenant at a North Bay-owned property on 15th Avenue Southeast.
Lambert recalled unsanitary conditions in her apartment upon move-in.
“The kitchen wasn’t cleaned up, there [were] scratches on the wall, the carpet [was] stained,” she said. “I was unsatisfied with that.”
University student Bilal Abdelqader said he and his five roommates also had a “terrible experience” renting from the company.
“The place was completely trashed,” he said.
Minnesota Student Association President from 2016-17 Abeer Syedah said she fielded many concerns about the company during her presidency.
“While I was still at the [University] and still working with students … CPM was known notoriously … [for] being difficult to rent with,” she said. “They had a strange presence in the number of luxurious high-rises and luxury developments.”
Syedah said the rise in luxury apartments in the University community created concern among students due to a lack of affordability.
“We were discussing … how these apartments are being popped up to the point where students are actually getting pretty concerned about luxury apartments, how they are unaffordable and how they con the students,” she said, “That’s when CPM became a big conversation.”
North Bay Companies owner Daniel Oberpriller refused multiple requests for comment on the developer’s rebranding.
“We have no insight and there’s no data on why they changed their name,” Syedah said. “My insinuation would be that given the number of students that I know that have a [poor experience] with CPM. … I would guess that because they have a bad [reputation] they are trying to shake that off.”
Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified some of the properties CPM owns. Additionally, the article has been updated to include attribution.
