Table of Contents December 2005

FEATURES

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  First Class

  It's often said you learn your most valuable lessons from the most difficult times. That would be the case for Marshall Tycher, principal of Roseland Property Co. in Short Hills, N.J. As a regional partner for the Northeast Lincoln Property Co. in the early 1990s, he experienced the real estate...

   

Cover Story

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  Whole New Ball game

  This is no fake-out: Multifamily leaders expect 2006 to be a year of recovery for the industry. Are you thinking, I've taken that bet before and lost big? Weren't '04 and '05 supposed to be years of recovery? Well, huddle up: With the national vacancy rate falling, rents rising, and concessions...

   

FROM THE EDITOR

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  Behind the Numbers

  For anyone interested in the next big opportunity for multifamily firms, the statistics provided by demographers are staggering. Generation Y, also known as the echo boomers, accounts for only 7 percent of the U.S. population, but 21 percent of spending. Latinos will possess a trillion dollars of...

   

CORNER OFFICE

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  Opportunities for Optimism

  A very wise friend once told me that he often struggles with the decision to spend millions to proceed with developing a new apartment community. He says he has to convince himself that he is a genius for finding an opportunity that others did not take see. The fact of the matter is that it is...

   

NEWS + NUMBERS

Direct Reports

• New Course

  Earlier this year, Ron Terwilliger and his senior management team at Trammell Crow Residential in Atlanta had an experience that the multifamily leader never wants to repeat again. "We were on a two-hour conference call about a class action lawsuit in Florida over some bizarre judge's ruling about...

   

Regional

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  Secondary Spotlight

  With occupancy on the rise, concessions shrinking and supply tightening, multifamily owners finally began to breathe a little easier in 2005. Even better news is that these improvements are expected to continue through 2006. While all markets will benefit from this slow recovery, some U.S. cities...

   

PEOPLE + PLACES

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  Fall From Grace: Charles Kushner

  Defense attorney Ben Brafman estimates that the television show "Law and Order" has based its "ripped from the headlines" episodes on about 20 of his high-profile cases. So, when the show decided to loosely model an episode on New Jersey multifamily magnate Charles Kushner, the lawyer knew what to...

   

Apartment Life

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  Special Delivery

  Leaf through The Lanexchange, a Lane Co. publication, and you feel like you're reading a magazine, not an employee newsletter. There's a table of contents, lots of pictures, columns, departments, and small articles. And, it's all in a four-color package. In the past, the Lane publication had a...

   

Facelift

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  Major Rehab

  Just five years ago, wailing sirens and flashing police lights marked the scene of a massive drug bust at a dilapidated and crime-ridden apartment complex in Anderson, Calif. But that frightening scene is now just a distant memory, thanks to a dramatic turnaround initiated by the city. Today the...

   

Corporate Ladder

• Got Talent?

  Her title might bring to mind images of a theater company or a Broadway musical, but Sara Jo Light, United Dominion Realty Trust's new executive vice president and director of talent management, is all about real estate. Light comes to UDRT from The Taubman Co., where she was senior vice president...

   

SALES + SOLUTIONS

New Developments

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  Community Investment

  It was a strange request for landowners of 42 acres in Palm Beach County, Fla.–the country's 10th-priciest housing market. The owners weren't interested in making money. Instead, they wanted to sell the land for cheap to two Florida developers: Coconut Grove-based Housing Trust Group and Boca...

   

Done Deal

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  New Venture

  Bigger is not always better. If you don't believe that, just ask some REITs. While they have large caches of money to spend, they've had difficulty competing with private buyers over the past couple of years. So, a couple of these public apartment firms–Essex Property Trust in Palo Alto, Calif....

   

Tech Specs

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  Map Quest

  Vacations can lead to the most unexpected business decisions. Several years ago, while researching Hawaiian vacations online, Scott Taylor found a site with a feature that the others didn't have: an interactive map. This map not only showed where each cabana was located, but it also detailed...

   

PRODUCT STUDIO

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  Easy Update

  Need to upgrade kitchens in your apartment complex but don't want to fork over thousands of dollars for brand-new cabinets? You're in luck. Simple, decorative elements offer an easy way to spruce up a plain-Jane cabinet without breaking the bank.

   

LANDMARKS

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  Drake Tower

  At 32 stories tall, the Drake Tower was once the tallest building to grace the city of Brotherly Love. Elegant and regal, the building's architecture reveals a mix of Spanish Baroque and Art Deco influences.