Three years ago the only thing Brian Hymel knew about oil and gas was that combustion engines need it. Today, the 34-year-old Utah native is one of the largest real estate players in Southwestern North Dakota and participates in numerous oil and gas industry events.
“It’s funny how we ended up in North Dakota. My two business partners and I originally started Five Diamond Fund managers to use our knowledge base and contacts to purchase and turnaround distressed assets,” Hymel said. “Within a few weeks of starting the company, my partner was having dinner with some contractors that were working in North Dakota. They were talking about how much construction was going on and just how crazy it all was. There was some press that you would see from time to time, but nothing like today.”
Hymel and his partner pondered the reality of North Dakota and the reality of competing with much bigger players in energy-driven development.
“My partner said, what do you think of North Dakota? Honestly, before that night, the last time I thought about North Dakota was when I was studying the states in grade school. As I was trying to recollect the shape of the state, my partner said, lets go check it out. The next day we were off,” Hymel said. “We got on the plane and made the rounds. It was September 20, 2011, and our stops included Williston, Watford, and Dickinson. During our short stay, it was so busy that we could not get a room in any of the towns we visited; we had to stay in Medora, about a 40 minute drive from Dickinson.”
After noticing the positioning of several key energy players, Hymel narrowed his search down to a handful of properties.
“Three pieces of property caught our eye, all in Dickinson, and none of them were on the market. The next week our project manager and I were living at the Rough Rider Inn located in Medora. By the second week of November we were under contract on the Five Diamond Industrial Park. In January we completed all the due-diligence, finished the final plat, and were closed,” Hymel said. “Our shopping Center project was a much more challenging undertaking in some ways, but in the end it will be the highlight of the city of Dickinson and well worth the effort. We have a few other properties that we are looking at in North Dakota, but for now the focus is completing our current projects. When we’re done building our projects in North Dakota, we will have built out an area almost half the size of Central Park in NYC. We will continue to move forward on our real estate projects in Southwestern North Dakota, and see a prosperous 2015 and 2016.”
Hymel has been involved in real estate since 1995. He began his career in the real estate and mortgage business working for several retail and wholesale mortgage lenders, and has amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience through the establishment of his own real estate investing interests. Hymel has been involved with over 1900 real estate transactions representing over $300 million in assets. This practical working knowledge has provided him the opportunity to learn much about the real estate industry, including working with real estate agents, investors, developers, lenders and consumers. Hymel’s desire to establish For Sale By Investor (FSBI), an online marketing portal for discounted wholesale properties, was sparked by his years of acquiring this valuable knowledge and experience in the real estate industry.
Hymel is the Co-Founder of the Mark Eaton Celebrity Golf Classic, Co-founder of the Energy and Infrastructure Summit, and part of the Rocky Mountain Economic Summit leadership team.
Hymel is a partner in Five Diamond Fund Managers (FDFM) a real estate development company with a focus in Dickinson, North Dakota. The company’s core business is land acquisition and development. FDFM currently has three large scale developments in Southwestern North Dakota. The 140-acre Five Diamond Industrial Park (FDIP), the 120-acre Five Diamond Industrial Park Phase II, Situated Directly on HWY 22. Current owners in the developments include Tesoro Logistics, Weatherford, LTR (LightTower Rentals) and Helemeric & Payne to name a few.
FDFM’s 85-acre mixed use, Dickinson Hills Shopping Center (DHSC) is a mixed use property the will include over 300,000 Square feet of retail. The development will also be home to office, hotels and a 250 units apartment complex. The (DHSC) development is situated directly south of Exit 59, across 30th Avenue West from the new $100M CHS facility, St. Joseph’s hospital and the Sanford Health Dickinson Clinic. We are currently selling lots and leasing property in both developments. Hymel believes the complex is one the best piece of property in southwest North Dakota.
“Five Diamonds offers a host of construction and real estate related services to help business prosper in North Dakota. Our services include design build services, construction management, Equipment leasing, and concrete & aggregate to name a few. Whether you are looking to build a bridge or a building in the United States our team can get it done.” Hymel said. “Dickinson Hills is about to become one of the most visible areas of the growing energy hub in the Bakken.”
Outside of real estate, Hymel has co-created a series of summits/events held in Jackson Hole, WY, and Park City, Utah. The events draw some of the biggest names in finance, economics, and energy. As in prior years, the summits/events typically include on-site coverage from the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters, Fox Business, CNBC, and the Washington Times. Keeping the momentum with the economic and energy summits, Hymel is kicking off a new professional group that will incorporate serious professionals who understand working hard and playing hard.
Looking ahead at his investments, the volatility of oil prices doesn’t scare Hymel, he believes the supporting infrastructure is the next boom in the Bakken.
“The shale play is not going anywhere. The industry has figured it out and will continue to get more efficient in exploration and development. We will see things slow down in some areas, with further consolidation through M&A throughout the year due to pricing and over leveraged,” Hymel said. “With production decline rates and the need for a higher global price in oil to balance budgets, the price will go up, its just a product of when. My best guess on the price of oil increasing is the end of Q2, mid Q3 this year. I believe that we will continue to see growth in MLPS and large institutional groups investing in infrastructure for more midstream and downstream projects. With billions of dollars allocated for infrastructure and improvement projects in the state of North Dakota alone, it is a good indication of the long-term outlook for the future and importance of the shale play.”
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