When the apartment industry was mired in a serious recession in the early 2000s, many people called it a "perfect storm"–and it's easy to see why. A poor economy and low interest rates pulled people out of apartments, while a flood of new construction saturated demand for rentals.
If you are in the apartment industry, chances are that, whatever your job, you saw less of a merit raise this year, according to the National Multi Housing Council's seventh annual National Apartment Survey of Compensation and Benefits Practices released earlier this fall.
Imagine 2 million houses and apartments just disappearing from the American landscape. As dramatic as that sounds, that's exactly what happened between 1993 and 2003, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.
The condominium market is cooling, and even a star as hot as actor George Clooney can't heat it up again.
They're smart, demanding, and restless. Masters of multitasking and technology, they're simultaneously glued to their computers, iPods, and cell phones. They travel in small packs and are willing to swap personal living space for a hip place in the city near coffee shops, restaurants, and...
The apartment community was named JFK Manor, after America's murdered president. But in Richmond, Calif., the public housing complex had earned an entirely different moniker to go with those initials: Just For Killers. In fact, things were so bad at the drug-infested, 324-unit complex where gunfire...
Dan Haefner, the chief information officer at Atlanta-based Lane Co., had a decision to make. With an ever-growing number of projects on Lane's technology to-do list, his own team was already stretched from rolling out a new Web-based property management system at the company. Then, a new request...
In the past, buying multifamily properties in the United States was a no-brainer for foreign investors if they could afford it. The selling point: stability. With political and economic stability, foreign investors can feel secure about putting their money in American apartments, according to Wayne...
Dave Woodward of Laramar Communities chose to accept a mission that some think is impossible: He's in the early stages of switching to a commission-based pay structure for the company's leasing agents. The mission will be a dangerous one, full of daunting unknowns, twists and turns at every corner...
Apartment building safety has improved steadily over the years, but those improvements–particularly regarding fires–have been won at the cost of many lost lives. "If you look at the fire code,, you can see [a number of] things that were put in place after major disasters, when people were more...
It was 5:20 a.m. on July 24, 2005, when CEO Bill Donges got the phone call: The Lane Co. condominium project under way in downtown Atlanta's bustling Atlantic Station community was on fire. The news got worse when the four-alarm fire spread to Lane's already-built Art Foundry community nearby.
When developer Geneva Holdings contacted Mark-Taylor Residential about design services for a new 342-unit apartment project in north Scottsdale, Ariz., Mark-Taylor president Dale Phillips saw an opportunity for more than just a few thousand dollars in consulting fees. Pushing his firm's fee-based...
If only FEMA prepared for a disaster as well as The Mitchell Co. While confusion and inactivity plagued the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, this diversified Gulf Coast multifamily company mobilized almost immediately to help its properties and communities.
Everyone has a story to share about Ron Ratner. One business associate recalls how Ratner stayed up nearly all night reviewing every single floor plan of a new property and reworking the plans until each one was absolutely perfect. Another colleague remembers how Ratner completely changed a...
With no traffic, it doesn't take long to get from the steep hills, cable cars, and ubiquitous fog of San Francisco to Palo Alto to visit Essex Property Trust. When you arrive, the pace at the office seems low-key, and ties are in short supply. So, in some respects, you could call Essex a California...
Four days. Two thousand-plus anxious students and all their frantic parents. 110 degrees. Twenty-five Place Properties' employees and 60 university staffers. Welcome to move-in week for students at Kennesaw State University, outside of Atlanta.
Some people catch the real estate bug early in life. Maybe their fathers or aunts or grandfathers were in the business. Or maybe they got a chance to work in construction or apartment management in college. For others, it's something they fall into after school or even further along in their...
A. David Lynd has aggressively pushed his management company onto Multifamily Executive's Top 50 list. With a strong culture and management platform, the company aims to keep picking up third-party contracts.
In today's PowerPoint world, the architect's presentation proved to be surprisingly low-tech. Instead of logging onto a laptop, he turned to a sheaf of transparencies, carefully placing each one on the slide projector. They deserved the care. With their faded black backgrounds and black-and-white...
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It would be the win-oriented group that attended the Multifamily Executive Conference last month, foregoing the roulette wheel and the blackjack tables in favor of hearing the latest trends and strategies in the apartment industry. After all, gambling is fun, but when it comes to the apartment...
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Who can live without the Web these days? I check the weather, look up phone numbers, research stories, and book entire business trips via the Internet, thanks to a few swipes of the mouse, a handful of clicks, and a long list of site-specific passwords. (So much for The Weather Channel, the Yellow...
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We often measure the worth of a multifamily firm by the financial value of its properties, but that calculation overlooks a key factor in any company's success: people. "'All of your real assets go home at night,'" says Lane Co. CEO Bill Donges, quoting a favorite business expert.
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I saw the successions of signs while I was on the road, just as their posters must have planned. But these real estate-related signs didn't capture my attention because of their glossy photos or glowing promises; they were notable for their stark and emotional appeal to those driving by. Homemade...
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If the apartment industry was a gambler, he (or she) wouldn't want to move from the table where he's playing at the moment–he's on a roll. After several tough years, public multifamily companies this spring reported rising rents, falling concessions, and condo-related gains in 2006's first quarter.
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When a person turns 75 years old, he has generally hit an age where slowing down–at least a little–has become more of a fact of life than a vacation indulgence. And as much as baby boomers (and, I'm sure, Gen Xers such as myself) want to deny it, such a milestone birthday also marks how the...
At $4.4 billion, AvalonBay Communities' development pipeline is the highest it's ever been in company history. Of that total, $1.4 billion is under construction and $2.98 billion is in the planning stages. How did the Alexandria, Va.-based apartment REIT make this happen? By buying in good times...
The momentum to ban smoking in both public and private locales is growing at lightning speed. Each year, more cities and counties across the country prohibit smoking at restaurants and bars. Just a few months ago, hotel giant Marriot International became 100 percent smoke-free. And now, an...
Chicago has faced a bit of criticism for its groundbreaking and controversial plan to tear down its collection of dated and dangerous high-rise public housing properties and replace them with lower-density, mixed-income housing built by private developers.
More than a year after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, questions and confusion still reign in rebuilding plans for the city. A key sticking point: a HUD redevelopment program intended to remake public housing in the Big Easy.
Is your apartment community prepared in the event of a terrorist attack? That question is top of mind in the real estate community as next month marks the fifth anniversary of the tragic events of Sept. 11. While it's difficult to discuss the possibility of future attacks, the anniversary...
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First, there was Archstone-Smith, a REIT in Englewood, Colo. Then it was AvalonBay Communities, a REIT in Alexandria, Va., and Bozzuto and Associates, an apartment owner in Greenbelt, Md. But on April 27, the nonprofit Equal Rights Center (ERC) filed suit against its biggest apartment owner to...
Trammell Crow Residential's property insurance this year cost about 60 percent more than last year–and that's one of the success stories. Companies with portfolios that include properties in places such as Florida and the Gulf Coast (hurricane risk), California (earthquake risk), and central...
Imagine losing half of your employees every year to turnover. For many multifamily companies, that's a stark reality, according to the National Multi Housing Council. Even worse, the relationship was probably doomed from the start. Researchers at Harvard Business School found that more than 75...
If you've read any newspapers or business journals in formerly hot condo markets across the country, you'll know that condo developers, converters, investors, and the real estate agents selling these properties probably aren't too happy. Sales have slowed and values are stagnant.
More than 10 million Americans fall victim to identity thieves each year, the Federal Trade Commission estimates, a number that has apartment firm owners and managers searching for ways to prevent identity theft from troubling their businesses and their residents.
It's often the small details that matter most to renters. Dave Woodward of Laramar Communities discovered just that when one of his San Francisco properties started to see leases drop. The reason: The multicultural resident base was dissatisfied with the property's cable television offering due to...
In the little town of Bethlehem sits a newly redeveloped 4.5-acre mixed-use property with a 65-year history inescapable from the Pennsylvania steel town's industrial roots. The building formerly served as the Johnson Machinery Shop for the Bethlehem Steel Co., once the second-largest steel...
Ah, the 1920s. Back then, The Florida qualified as one of the grandest structures in Lakeland, Fla. With its bell tower and Spanish Revival-style architecture, the 180-room hotel stood out at the center of downtown. It entertained famous guests such as inventor Thomas Edison and architect Frank...
Gambling brings a lot of people to Las Vegas, but Atherton-Newport, an Irvine, Calif.-based real estate firm, came to town last August sure that it couldn't lose with its purchase and remodeling of the Villas at Desert Pointe.
No one was more excited to see The Octagon's debut than the 80-plus-year-old alumnae of the Metropolitan Hospital School of Nursing. The 1941 through 1958 graduates recently gathered at the site of their former school in Roosevelt Island, N.Y., to see its transformation into a 500-unit mixed-income...
From the outside, the 26-story Skyline Towers looks identical to the 1950s and '60s stock of towering high-rises that surround this Northern Virginia apartment community. But on the inside, this project is anything but just one of the pack, thanks to an extreme makeover which masterfully gave this...
The glitz and glamour of the 1920s come roaring back to life as soon as you step into the grand lobby of The Carling, an apartment community in Jacksonville, Fla. A sparkling array of fully restored terrazzo floors, marble staircases, grand Palladian windows, and a coffered ceiling recapture the...
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Christine Burnett was a business software trainer at Pinnacle, an American Management Services company, when she was asked to be part of a 20-person team tasked with creating a comprehensive, corporate-wide training program. The group spent two months talking, planning, debating, and developing the...
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For Dick Banks, accepting the position of president and COO of Mercy Housing in Denver was like a homecoming. His first-ever job in the multifamily industry was as an apartment salesman for CB Commercial in Denver's Capitol Hill neighborhood, and his new role with Mercy has brought him back to...
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By his own testimony, Rob Orme started at the bottom of the multifamily industry–cleaning toilets as an apartment community maintenance man. Ah, but how far he?s come: Today, Orme is the regional director for the new Phoenix office of Humphreys and Partners Architects. Previously a principal...
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From Kevin Doyle's perspective, online opportunities are among the most important in the multifamily business these days. So it makes sense that in May, he was named senior vice president and general manager of Apartments.com, a Chicago-based firm that provides Internet-based apartment searches and...
Cynthia Y. Thompson is banking on her past to enhance her future. With nearly three decades of experience in the regional banking industry, she brought her human resources expertise to Mid-America Apartment Communities in May, when she was named the company's senior vice president and director of...
Just when it looked like Michael May had tried almost everything during his 23 years at Freddie Mac, a golden opportunity fell into his lap as the Next Great Challenge: He was named senior vice president, multifamily sourcing for the financing giant, marking his first official foray into the...
"If it's not fun, then why do it?" That philosophy, credited to Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, has been a guiding principle for Melissa Levesque Smith, who spent summer vacations from college as a tour guide at the ice cream factory. It's working for her: In March 2006, she was promoted to...
It's not in Hollywood, but Arc Development promises that Solaria, its new 65-condominium project, will have its residents seeing stars.
Rural is where it's at if you're considering affordable housing projects, according to Simpson Housing Solutions, which is using federal tax credits to build affordable apartments throughout California.
It's the kind of response a developer dreams of: The Weldon, a 17-unit condominium complex under construction in Wilmington, N.C., saw its pre-sells snapped up fast and for about $100,000 more per unit than expected.
Even with its unusual challenges–namely, building a part-rental, part-for-sale housing development for both seniors and foster children on 47 acres of wetlands–Pam Goodman, president of Boston-based Beacon Communities Development, just couldn't say no.
For 60 years, the 0.62-acre site off a busy road in the Bronx was a Shell gas station. Soon it will house hundreds of people in a seven-story, 120,000-square-foot apartment building with a Staples store on the ground level.Woodmere, N.Y.-based Arker Cos. started construction on the$27 million...
After beating out bidders from across the country, Ross Development and Investment and others are helping the city of Rockville, Md., turn its 30-year-old downtown redevelopment failure into a $320 million success.
Imagine marketing condominiums with the promise of nearly tax-free living–no property tax and almost no state and local income tax. Sounds like an undeniably sweet deal for the developer and buyers alike, no?
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That screeching noise you're hearing is coming from Florida. It's the sound of a once white-hot apartment sales market grinding to a halt.
Unfortunately for multifamily buyers today, apartment properties in good locations remain difficult to find at yields that work. So, if you really want to own something in a top market, you may have to take a second look at something you wouldn't have considered before. Case in point: land leases.
With interest rates rising and cap rates stable, the well-funded institutional owners and public apartment firms have returned to the buying arena as leverage buyers find themselves financially pressured and pushed to the side.
Former Hollywood resident Darin Beebower remembers when Tinseltown wasn't on the A-list. "When I'd get home from work, guys would be asking me if I wanted to buy drugs," recalls the multifamily division director for Los Angeles-based Madison Partners, a full-service commercial brokerage. "You were...
Jim Hurley, portfolio manager for the California State Teachers' Retirement System, known as CalSTRS and one of the largest pension funds in the country, seems anxious. With cap rates below 4 in some markets (an indicator of high apartment prices) and interest rates rising, CalSTRS and other...
At a 2004 meeting, San Jose city officials and consulting attorneys were mulling how to pay for 13 planned developments that would provide 2,000 units of affordable housing. Then Julie Cooper, the city's deputy director of finance, posed a question: Why couldn't the San Jose Redevelopment Agency...
Observers say that kind of short, hip production style is exactly what a good podcast, or any Internet presentation, should entail. "You don't want to make your audience download too much," says Ross. "Podcasting is a short cut, a quick shot. Everything about it is abbreviated. And that's the way...
Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. prides itself on meeting its clients' needs. That's especially true when it comes to supplying timely portfolio information on the properties it manages for third-party investor clients. In fact, Lincoln will often give institutional owners access to its property...
We know how you feel. When it comes to broadband Internet connectivity at your properties, ever-changing technology can leave your head spinning, while draining your wallet. First, you had to hard-wire your buildings to keep up in the amenity race. But much of that effort seemed pointless when DSL...
When United Dominion Realty Trust started automating the purchasing and invoicing for maintenance supplies in 2003, the Richmond, Va.-based REIT projected that it would save about $152,000 in the first year, after paying to deploy the technology. Even though it conducted a detailed ROI analysis...
On a business trip to Indianapolis in February 2001, Mark Gorman stayed in one of his company's model apartments. Each night, as he finished up work or answered e-mails in the adjacent leasing office, he noticed prospects strolling up to the doors and checking to see if the office was still open.
Floors offer more benefits than meet the eye
Sure, you need to floor residents with sparkling hardwoods and plush carpeting. But in the mad dash to find the best-looking product, don't forget that what's underneath the pretty floor is just as critical to the success of an apartment or condo community.
Sam Switzenbaum has a pretty good idea about who makes the decisions when it comes to choosing an apartment or condo, so he keeps gender in mind when picking the style of cabinets that go into his buildings. "First of all, women make a significant percentage of the decisions when it comes to...
For years, compact fluorescent lighting has gotten a bad rap, with a reputation for its harsh white color and ever-annoying buzzing sounds and flickering motions. But these once-true characteristics are history, thanks to new technologies and savvy manufacturers who are designing better products.
Anyone who has attended the International Builders' Show knows that the number of innovative building materials on the market is almost limitless. So how do multifamily builders, developers, and designers go about picking something new? Choosing building materials is often a high-stakes decision...
Do you associate a bathroom grab bar with grandma? Think again. These bars are making their way into conventional multifamily communities as developers realize that everyone can use a little more support.
Whether it's GQ or Vogue magazine, the message is almost always the same: Accessories make the look. That's also a good way to see how decks, fencing, and railings function on a multifamily building. They're the accessories, the little extras that can take a project from good to great.
Forget subtlety. If you want your project to get noticed, you've got to think big. Lane Co. sure did. Its condo project in Atlanta isn't even completely built, but the building in mixed-use Atlantic Station already is the talk of the town, thanks to a bold signage and advertising campaign. A huge...
After nearly a century as an iron castings plant in Wisconsin, the C.A. Lawton Co. General Machine and Foundry Shop faced demolition in the early 1990s. And then, just three weeks before the wrecking ball was scheduled for duty, came a reprieve.
The Los Altos Apartments has had its fair share of Hollywood glitz and glamour. Built in Los Angeles in 1925 as a co-op–and later used as a luxury apartment and hotel–Los Altos boasted a star-studded residential roster with the likes of Clara Bow, Bette Davis, Mae West, Douglas Fairbanks, and...
Memphis' Central Station was once the heart of the city, serving as the main passenger rail hub for the region. With so much activity streaming in and out, the station quickly became the economic pulse of Memphis, fueling the construction of hotels, retail stores, and restaurants nearby. Built in...
For years after its 1927 opening, the El Cortez apartment hotel dominated San Diego's downtown cityscape, rising more than 300 feet atop the 175-foot-high Cortez Hill. The building also stood out for its unusual three-tiered shape, reminiscent of a traditional wedding cake. That impression was only...
Montclair Lofts, located in the heart of Miami Beach's famous South Beach, is a fusion of old and new. The original building was a post-war apartment structure, but it was transformed into a larger condominium complex by local architectural firm Oppenheim Architecture + Design, which surrounded it...
The turn of the 20th century was a time of progress and prosperity for the City of Brotherly Love. Manufacturing plants blossomed and mass transit was in full swing. Philadelphia's famed Broad Street bustled with activity of all sorts, most notably automobile manufacturing. The street became known...
The historic Post Wilson Building offers Dallas a little slice of Paris. Opened as the Wilson Building in 1904, it features hints of Paris' legendary Grand Opera House, with its Second Empire-style architecture and arched windows. According to the Dallas Historical Society, the building was named...