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No. 23
Revenue growth FY 2021 to 2023: 89.3%
2023 revenue: $695.1 million
Fast 25 isn’t the only accolade for Thompson Thrift so far this year. In April, the National Multifamily Housing Council ranked it the No. 13 apartment developer in the country, based on apartment units started in 2023. Although the company develops commercial and industrial properties, too, multifamily housing is its bread and butter. Thompson Thrift began 37 years ago when Paul Thrift and his partner, John Thompson, acquired one repossessed home when they were in college at Indiana State University. “I think I’ve heard the quote say before, ‘You know, we’re the best 37-year-old, overnight success story that you’ve seen,” Thrift says.
An uncertain economy: Building multifamily housing is a capital-intensive business, Thrift says, and the economy has been challenging. Soaring inflation. Interest rate hikes. Risks of recession. Uncertainty. “So I’ve just been counseling our folks to worry about what we can impact,” he says. “Focus on that. Drown out that noise. Don’t listen to the headlines. And so that’s what we’ve been doing, and we fared pretty well.” He says the company plans to do a similar amount of volume this year as last year despite the industry’s challenges.
The need for housing: About 85% of the company’s dollar volume is multifamily, Thrift says. A housing shortage exists. And people are leaving areas like New York, California and Chicago for jobs and quality of life in places such as Florida, Colorado and Nashville, Tennessee. “We feel like there’s a pent-up demand that will continue to exist and that conditions are favorable to multifamily,” he says.
The splinter effect: Thrift credits much of the company’s success to a strong workplace culture, a shared commitment, he says, that is difficult to reflect in words. He speaks of four core competencies: being curious, instilling trust, communicating effectively and driving results. He talks of providing excellent service and leadership. Once you build a strong culture, he says, it governs itself. Leadership doesn’t necessarily have to step in. “I’ve always said it’s like a splinter in the body,” Thrift says. “The body just starts pushing it out. It starts rejecting that splinter. You don’t have to necessarily go in and ask somebody to leave or tell them they don’t fit in. It just happens because they just don’t fit in.”•
Check out more of IBJ’s ranking of Indy’s fastest-growing companies.
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