Table of Contents March 2006

FEATURES

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  Going With the Flow

  Sometimes too much of a good thing can be, well, too much. "This is as difficult an investment climate as I've ever seen," says David Schwartz, managing member of real estate investment firm Waterton Associates in Chicago.

   
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  Centers of Attention

  Some are strictly educational, while others are all business. Some offer exercise classes or after-school crafts; others promise wine cellars and cyber cafés. Despite the differences between these community centers and the multifamily properties they serve, one thing is the same: This newest...

   

Cover Story

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  Public Victory

  After eight years of leading a big-city public housing agency, Carl Greene knows what it's like to walk down the long, dark halls of a public housing project. He knows how far living conditions can deteriorate and how unbelievably long it can take to get a window or a toilet fixed. Most of all, he...

   

FROM THE EDITOR

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  Price War

  Imagine, for a minute, that you're a small apartment REIT. You own and operate about 13,000 apartments in 38 communities, primarily in the Mid-Atlantic. For the nine months ended in September 2005 (the most recent figures available), you generated nearly $98 million in total rental revenues and...

   

CORNER OFFICE

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  Power play

  It's getting dangerous in the telecommunications arena as telecom companies try to preserve their existing markets and scramble for possession of voice, video and data market share in apartments. For some combatants, it's a chance to score new goals. For others, it's like playing sudden-death...

   

NEWS + NUMBERS

Direct Reports

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  High Stakes

  It looks like Ivana Trump may have failed in her valiant attempt to outdo The Donald. Last summer she announced plans to build the tallest condominium tower in Las Vegas, which was expected to soar 20 stories higher than her ex-husband's latest Vegas development. Now the yet-to-be-built property is...

   

PEOPLE + PLACES

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  Officer Training: Future Leaders

  Everyone frets about hiring and retaining leasing consultants. With industry turnover rates as high as 70 percent in that position, who wouldn't worry? But smart apartment executives also know to spend time and money at the middle of their organizational charts, where their next generation of...

   

Apartment Life

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  Creative thinking

  Excitement filled the offices of Village Green last summer. The company, an apartment owner and operator based in Farmington Hills, Mich., had placed a two-bedroom apartment for rent on eBay, and it seemed like everyone in the office was constantly online to see what the unit was bringing. For...

   

Corporate Ladder

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  Responsibility Matters

  As a young accountant in Minneapolis, Jon Segner and his colleagues quickly got some straight talk on career development from the partner-in-charge at KPMG Peat Marwick. "He told us we have two choices: We can sit back and let other people make choices about where our careers are going to go, or we...

   

SALES + SOLUTIONS

New Developments

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  Growing Faith

  Becoming homeless just may be the best thing that ever happened to the 40-year-old Palo Alto Jewish Community Center. After losing its 20-year lease in 2000, the center's leaders gathered their resources and community support to put together a $200 million plan to build a 135,000-square-foot...

   

Done Deal

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  Striking It Rich?

  Call it the post-Katrina effect. When Camden Property Trust recently decided to adjust its Houston portfolio by selling a few of its older properties, it encountered a level of interest it hadn't seen in years. "Instead of seven or eight offers, you're getting 14 or 15 offers," says Ric Campo...

   

Tech Specs

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  Closing the Loop

  From integrated customer service hotlines to online databases, the Internet is helping many apartment companies bring greater accountability to their customer service initiatives.

   

PRODUCT STUDIO

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  Counter Intelligence

  When it comes to countertop materials, the one-size-fits-all concept does not apply to multifamily builders and renovators faced with a host of choices. Installation cost is a prime concern, of course, but maintenance and customer preferences also factor into the decision. The trick is to straddle...

   

LANDMARKS

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  Grand Lowry Lofts

  In its former life, the Grand Lowry Lofts in Denver housed military officers and a former U.S. president. The structure still possesses a hint of its military past, with its all-brick exteriors and ornamental cement wall engravings.