Ten years ago this month, a Philadelphia-area publishing company launched a new magazine. It was designed for an underserved group of business leaders—owners and managers of apartment buildings. The magazine, as I'm sure you've guessed, was MULTIFAMILY EXECUTIVE. Its survival was never guaranteed. Publishing companies launch hundreds of magazines annually, many of which fail within three years. So making it to the 10-year milestone is cause for celebration.
Since we couldn't throw a party for all 25,000 of you (how could we ever find a mutually agreeable date?), we decided to do the next best thing: revisit the magazine itself and see how we could better serve you—our readers—as we enter our second decade. Much has changed in 10 years. Business has become faster. Multifamily companies are more professionally managed. Technology has brought opportunities and challenges.
But we didn't want to make these decisions in a vacuum. In the past six months, I've talked with many of you—by phone, in person, at a focus group—about MULTIFAMILY EXECUTIVE and the business issues you face today. The magazine you hold in your hands is a direct result of your feedback.
The most dramatic change, of course, is our new logo. It's vertical, with a structural look that resembles a mid-rise apartment building. And yes, it uses MFE, a shortened version of our full name. This allows us to dedicate more of our prime real estate to you: our cover subjects.
We've also strived for more reader-friendly navigation, especially on the table of contents. Arrows now point to the articles promoted on the cover. There are no more mystery photos: Each image on the table of contents now has a short caption and page number so you know the significance of the picture and where to find the story.
As you flip through the pages, you'll notice a number of redesigned departments: Product Studio, Corporate Ladder, New Developments, and Apartment Life. But you'll see some new ones too:
- Living History – a special 10th anniversary department, revisits past MULTIFAMILY EXECUTIVE cover subjects. Read the latest on Andrew Farkas, who graced MFE's first-ever cover.
- Conference Call – an edited conversation among multifamily executives on hot topics in business, property management, and more. (If you'd like to join one of these calls, please contact me at [email protected].)
- Facelift – an expanded version of our popular before-and-after coverage. When you spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually on renovations, you want to know you're making the right choices.
- Done Deal – which reveals the story behind a difficult transaction through a 360-degree format featuring interviews with key players.
- Tech Specs, which will provide regular technology coverage on everything from crime-mapping software to high-tech infrastructure.
- Executive Summary – the ultimate takeaway for busy multifamily leaders. At an editorial roundtable last summer, we heard how many people ripped out articles for their staff. “Couldn't you perforate it?” someone asked. We can't do that, but we can give you this one-page department to keep for yourself after you've circulated everything else to your employees.
As you can see, this has been a big project for us, and I am indebted to all the staff at Hanley Wood (MULTIFAMILY EXECUTIVE's parent company) that made it happen. Here's to another decade of success for the magazine and the multifamily industry.
