Northside Tool Rental acquires Able 2 Rent All and Patrick’s Rentals & Sales
Three generations of Atlanta rental families -- Milling, Nickell and Douville -- converge under one platform; Cooper Douville to lead NTR’s South Atlanta market.
Northside Tool Rental (NTR), the family-owned equipment rental company founded in the heart of Atlanta in 1953, has acquired Able 2 Rent All in Fayetteville and Patrick’s Rentals & Sales in McDonough, expanding the company to six locations across metro Atlanta and establishing a leading independent presence in the South Atlanta rental market.
The story behind the deals stretches back further than the headline. Northside Tool Rental was founded in 1953 by Roy Milling, the grandfather of NTR’s current owners, Jeff and Steffen Lignugaris, and the ninth president of the American Rental Association (1968–69). In the 1990s, Tom Nickell and John Douville worked side by side at Taylor Rental, both friends of Roy. Tom’s son, Josh Nickell, runs NTR today as CEO. John’s sons, Cooper and Robert, went on to lead Able 2 Rent All and Patrick’s Rentals & Sales as respected independent operators serving Fayette and Henry counties, carrying their father’s rental career into a second generation. With these acquisitions, the next generation of three Atlanta rental families is now operating under a single platform.
“Northside Tool Rental was built on relationships. That isn’t a tagline, that’s the operating system of the business,” says Nickell. “Roy Milling, my dad Tom and John Douville built each other’s careers as peers in this industry over 40 years. That Cooper, Jeff, Steffen and I now get to build on what they started is the kind of legacy you can’t manufacture. Strategically, this puts NTR exactly where we want to be: six locations, accessible across all of Atlanta, with a real growth engine underneath us, but it’s the team, passion, and legacy that make it run.”
The acquisitions advance NTR’s strategy of building a regional platform in Atlanta and its broader goal to serve underserved small and mid-size professional contractors. NTR’s model is built to work together, without erasing what made them strong: their teams, their customer relationships, their place in the local community, and, in many cases, the founding family's ability to participate in building the next generation in local rental.
The Fayetteville and McDonough locations will be branded as Northside Tool Rental but retain their core staff, fleet philosophy and customer-first focus. The Douville family retains ownership of the underlying real estate at both locations.
“Steffen and I have always been clear about what we’re doing here. We’re building a lasting business, not preparing for an exit,” says Jeff Lignugaris, co-owner of Northside Tool Rental. “Our grandfather built this company on relationships, and he believed in the independent middle-market rental business as a category worth fighting for. Roy was friends with Tom Nickell and John Douville. If he were here today, he’d recognize what’s happening: three rental families, three generations, building one platform meant to last another seventy years. The Douvilles aren’t selling out. They’re joining a family operation that respects what they built and intends to grow it the right way. That’s how Roy would have wanted us to do this.”
Cooper Douville, a longtime Atlanta rental operator, will continue with the combined business, leading Northside Tool Rental’s South Atlanta market. He will oversee the integration of the Fayetteville and McDonough operations and serve as the customer-facing bridge between the legacy Able 2 and Patrick’s customer bases and NTR’s broader platform.
“My dad and Josh’s dad came up in this industry together, and Roy Milling was right there with them,” says Cooper Douville. “I’ve spent my career running Able 2 the way our family wanted it run, close to the customer, fast, creative and honest. Joining Northside doesn’t change any of that. It gives me a platform to do more of it, with the scalability, fleet investment and operating infrastructure that a small independent shop just can’t build alone. I couldn’t have written a better next chapter.”
Both locations will operate under their existing leadership through the transition and rebrand as Northside Tool Rental in the months ahead. NTR plans to invest in fleet, technology, and team capacity at both branches throughout 2026.
“That’s the next chapter we’re writing,” Nickell adds. “A small family operation with a big idea.”
Northside Tool Rental was featured in a previous issue of Pro Contractor Rentals magazine. Read about it here.
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