Campus Property Management

How did Campus Property Management first begin? Our story starts very similar to many of yours…as a student at the University of Illinois. It all began when an innovative young entrepreneur, Erwin Goldfarb, moved to Champaign in 1947 to begin his freshman year in the mechanical engineering program at Illinois. He was drawn to the campus’ drive for academic excellence, outstanding reputation, and engaging student groups. 

With an influx of men back from WWII on the G.I. Bill, the University found its dormitories full and was forced to utilize alternative buildings to house its growing student population. Erwin remembers his freshman year accommodations in the Kenny Gym Annex…his bunk-bed lined up in a huge barracks room with hundreds of other students, “there were basically three huge rooms…the main dormitory, the living room area, the study, and one bathroom, with only eight showers for all of us. That was all we had back then, it was no more than a basic shelter and a place to sleep, but we called it home.”

The next three years of student life flew by quickly, as Erwin proudly graduated from Illinois and chose to stay and work locally as an engineer for CS Johnson. But it was during that time that he learned valuable lessons in customer care and management from landladies he had rented from. Proud of the growing Champaign community, Erwin bought his first apartment building in 1967 and the rental company was founded. 

For ten years Erwin kept his apartment complex at full capacity and his tenants happy. While continuing to work full-time, he took great pride in providing the best in customer care by fixing all maintenance problems, laying carpet, painting rooms, collecting rent, and signing leases all by himself on nights and weekends. “The apartments were perfect for me, I knew all the people…their names...their kids…where they worked…it was great, I could give them outstanding personal service. But I knew that to grow I could not manage alone at this pace, so my retirement from CS Johnson gave me the time to focus on my new business expansion.”

Apartment buildings were gradually added to the rental portfolio in the early years, but in 1983 Erwin utilized his innovative engineering skills to design his first building from the ground up. Designing and building unique apartments allowed his company to grow at a very fast rate of 19% a year on average, that’s doubling in size every four years. The creative entrepreneurial atmosphere of the company helped the skilled management team expand and meet the needs of the growing University of Illinois population as well, and in 1988 the company took the name of Campus Property Management.

After over 40 years in business, the rental company, now CPM, is proud to continue serving the Champaign community and the students of Illinois. We house over 4,500 tenants in 1,850 apartments over the course of one academic year. “I look back at my barracks student accommodations, and think how far we've come. Starting with my first apartment complex, it is amazing to see how fast we have grown with the support of the university community, and the wide array of modern living choices we now offer tenants. We actually house about 3% of all the people living in Champaign-Urbana…how tremendous to give back like that. And for me I’m so impressed with our student tenants…they have such bright careers and great futures ahead of them, I can only hope they too reach for their dreams and become successful in whatever they set out to do.” 

- Founder, Erwin Goldfarb