A Decade of Real Estate Tax Planning for a Family-Owned Real Estate Business

How EisnerAmper Built a Steady Tax and Advisory Foundation for a Family-Owned Commercial Real Estate Firm

Key Takeaways

Murray Commercial, a family-owned commercial real estate firm, has worked with EisnerAmper for more than ten years across its brokerage, property management, and development operations.
EisnerAmper simplified the accounting infrastructure behind roughly 50 sets of books spanning multiple ownership groups.
After the founder’s death in late 2024, EisnerAmper repositioned trusts and entities within the available window to reduce estate tax exposure.
Inherited properties were valued at current market levels, which lowers future capital gains exposure for the family.
A coordinated cost segregation engagement improved the after-tax economics of a new flex industrial development.
The relationship gives Murray Commercial a real estate tax planning foundation that scales as the organization grows.

“It’s a very collaborative effort, in aligning with the culture and the group. Everybody’s in that collaborative approach and working together to make sure things are done correctly.”

Jace Murray

Murray Commercial

Client

Murray Commercial is a family-owned commercial real estate firm based in St. Charles, Illinois, with roots in the western Chicago suburbs going back to the 1940s. Founded as a land brokerage firm serving the Northern Illinois agricultural corridor, the organization has evolved into a full-service commercial real estate firm covering brokerage, property management, asset management, and development.

Jace Murray joined his father in the late 1990s, and the two built out the brokerage, 1031 exchange, and syndication work that defines the organization today. What makes Murray Commercial unique is the breadth of work carried by a small team. The organization plays both fiscal and physical roles for its clients, handling the books, leases, and buildings so investors can treat real estate as a productive piece of their portfolio.

The Challenge

A Small Firm Carrying a Large Accounting Footprint

Running 50 sets of books across multiple ownership groups is a heavy lift for any organization, especially for a firm whose core competency is real estate. As the portfolio grew through 1031 exchanges, syndications, and third-party management engagements, the accounting and tax complexity grew with it. Murray Commercial needed an advisor who could keep pace with that complexity and serve as a reliable extension of the team.

A Generational Transition on a Tight Timeline

In late 2024, Jace’s father passed away. Years of estate planning had built up a layered structure of trusts and entities that the family’s estate planning attorney described as a collection of buckets. The family was suddenly working against a real timeline to make final positioning decisions that would meaningfully affect estate tax exposure and the taxable value of inherited real estate holdings.

“EisnerAmper has helped simplify our business operations so that we can focus on what we need to focus on every day to improve our business model and do more with less.”

Jace Murray

Murray Commercial

How We Helped

The Approach

A Decade-Plus of Continuity.

The relationship between Murray Commercial and the EisnerAmper team is more than ten years old, predating EisnerAmper’s combination with the firm that originally took on the work. The team has accumulated institutional knowledge of the multiple ownership groups, the historical 1031 transactions, and the asset-level details that would take years for a new advisor to learn.

Simplifying the Infrastructure Behind a Complex Portfolio.

Much of the work has centered on bringing structure and consistency to the accounting footprint behind the portfolio. The EisnerAmper team has helped identify economies of scale across the ownership groups and give leadership confidence that the underlying infrastructure is in place correctly.

Estate Planning Execution Under a Tight Window.

When Jace’s father passed, the EisnerAmper team worked alongside the family’s estate planning attorney to make final adjustments to the trust and entity structures within the window that was still available. The goal was to mitigate estate tax exposure and position inherited properties at current market levels for tax purposes, reducing future capital gains exposure. The 2025 tax year that followed required closing out multiple trusts and entities and reflecting those changes across a wide set of returns. The EisnerAmper team carried that work through a two-and-a-half-year reporting cycle, allowing the family to focus on running the organization.

Extending the Engagement Through the EisnerAmper Network.

On a recent flex industrial warehouse development, the EisnerAmper team connected Murray Commercial with a third-party cost segregation provider and guided the engagement to a result that improved the after-tax economics of the project. It is one example of how the broader EisnerAmper network can be brought to bear on a specific opportunity without the client having to source specialists on their own.

Results

Over more than a decade of work together, the engagement has produced outcomes that go beyond compliance. Key outcomes include:

A simplified accounting and reporting infrastructure across roughly 50 sets of books and multiple ownership groups. Leadership has the confidence to focus on real estate rather than on the back-office mechanics behind it.
Meaningful tax savings on the estate of the founder. Coordinated work with the family's attorney repositioned assets in the final available window and positioned inherited properties at current market levels, reducing future capital gains exposure.
Completion of a complex, multi-year tax reporting cycle. Numerous trusts and entities tied to the estate were closed out and reported across the right returns over a two-and-a-half-year window.
Improved after-tax economics on a new flex industrial development. A coordinated cost segregation engagement with a specialist provider in the EisnerAmper network changed the math on the project.

Beyond the measurable outcomes, the relationship has given Murray Commercial a steady tax and advisory foundation that scales with the organization. The work is collaborative, the team is consistent, and the institutional knowledge of the portfolio compounds over time. That is the kind of foundation a small firm needs to keep growing without the back office becoming the bottleneck.

“We’re handling over 50 books. For a small firm like us, it’s a lot. They’ve been instrumental in being there with us, helping us along the way. We all rise with the tide.”

Jace Murray

Murray Commercial

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Ready for an advisor who understands your business?

If your organization is managing a layered real estate portfolio, preparing for a generational transition, or looking for an advisor who can carry complexity off your plate, EisnerAmper’s Real Estate Services team can help. The same hands-on approach that has supported Murray Commercial for more than a decade is available to owners, operators, developers, and investors at any stage of growth.