Brian Flanagan began his business voyage in the early days of the environmental remediation industry with his first business collaboration, Midwest Asbestos Removal Service (MARS). Quickly realizing that the regulatory enforcement of new environmental laws would result in exciting growth opportunities, he developed a remediation services company to serve real estate owners and environmental consultants. MARS became recognized as one of the leading environmental remediation service contractors in the Chicago market. At its peak, the organization had annual revenues of over $50,000,000.00 with 800 employees. MARS operated five distinct divisions that specialized in the environmental services sector. Recognizing the finite nature of the environmental business, Brian elected to diversify into other investment vehicles. Initially, MARS acquired environmentally distressed real estate assets from commercial banks and lenders in the financial services industry. MARS later broadened into devel