LEADERSHIP LESSONS: SCOT SELLERS
  • Age: 50
  • Favorite Quote: “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness and all of these things will be given to you as well.” —Jesus Christ
  • Best Business Decision: Sticking to the strategy that Archstone articulated in 1994, despite more than eight years of criticism. “We have always said that the willingness to stand up and do what we believe in is a hallmark of our company.”
  • Best Advice You Ever Received: The most common regrets at the end of people's live are: 1) I wish I had spent more time with my family, and 2) I wish I had taken more risks. Live your life so as to not have either of those regrets.
  • Ideal Leader: “Ronald Reagan accomplished so much in his life and was also someone that people felt great interacting with and wanted to be around. That is a tremendous combination of skills.”
  • Leadership Philosophy: Hire smart people with a passion for excellence and a desire to serve others, and provide an environment that supports and encourages them to use their talents accordingly.
  • Favorite Activities: “I got in quite a few days of surfing in Mexico and California last year and also played several national 50-and-over tennis tournaments, which was a lot of fun and very challenging.”
    ARCHSTONE-SMITH
  • Founded: 1963 (as El Paso Real Estate Investment Trust)
  • Headquarters: Englewood, Colo.
  • Employees: 2,666
  • Geographic Coverage: National and international (Germany)
  • 2007 Revenue: Undisclosed
  • Units Owned/Managed: 87,667
  • Development Pipeline: $6.3 billion

    FRESH BREW

    A little bit of java recharges the business center for the 21st century.

    No doubt about it—today's apartment renters live in a mobile society. Blackberries, cell phones, and laptops provide many with the opportunity to work and network from home. And Gen Y? If they can't move throughout a multifamily complex and plug and play at the same time, their response to a lease overture is likely “whatever.” During the past decade, the answer for most developers to this itinerant professionalism has been the business center: an alcove off of the clubhouse with a couple of PCs and utilitarian finishes, which felt like, well, an office.

    Like other multifamily developers, Englewood, Colo.-based Archstone-Smith has discovered that's not quite what residents in core high-barrier markets want. Their solution: pull the technology into the clubhouse, add mood lighting, pump up the WiFi, and brew some lattes. In the resulting Starbucksesque environment—dubbed a “click café”—Archstone-Smith residents can grab a paper, get a caffeine fix, check email, and relax 24/7 in a chic atmosphere.

    “At most of our communities, we're putting in click cafés to provide a social networking area to recreate a sense of community where people will want to live with us for years and years to come,” says Jack Callison, Archstone-Smith's president of U.S. operations. “We're trying to create a sense of environment, trying to create what [Archstone-Smith chief development officer] Al Neely calls the ‘there, there.'”

    In fact, the cafés have been a triple shot of success, Neely says, enabling residents to fully leverage tech amenities that sat dormant in business centers and reinvigorating the social atmosphere of the clubhouse. This is creating a greater brand identity for the Archstone-Smith apartment product. “People like to be social; they don't want to feel isolated in their amenities,” Neely says. “So we've made a point to use a lot of glass, open up the cafés visually to any courtyards or fitness centers or pools, and make the space welcoming. It has become the heart and the soul of our communities.”

    That's an achievement that any Archstone-Smith resident should be able to warm up to, fresh out of the pot.