April 2006 Table of Contents

When Jefferson Parish finally allowed A. David Lynd to visit Laurel Gardens, his 60-unit property in Metairie, La., one week after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, he didn't know what to expect. He found rain-soaked units, debris on his grounds, sheetrock damage, and, perhaps most shocking, 39 of his residents still living in their units. "We tried to get them out," says Lynd, COO of The Lynd Co., an apartment manager and owner based in San Antonio, Texas. "There was no water and no electricity. There was nothing, and these people were still living there." Read more

At 23, Lacy Lynch's career is already on the fast track: She's training manager for Sares-Regis Group's multifamily property management division, where she has worked for a year an a half. Her job, she says, allows her to express her individuality and creativity. It puts her on a career path that quickly moves her into positions of greater responsibility and larger paychecks. Read more

Not so long ago, Washington's 14th Street corridor was not a place you'd want to take the family during a summer vacation to the nation's capital. But the landscape around 14th Street has changed considerably. One of the most influential factors: the potential that Monty Hoffman, CEO of PN Hoffman, a D.C.-based apartment and condo developer, saw in the area. Read more

In so many ways, real estate constitutes the ultimate local business. Based on the ground beneath our feet, whether we're standing in Washington or Phoenix, Chicago or Orlando, real estate serves the people who are rooted in those cities and suburbs. They know the fastest roads to take to work, the ideal fields for their softball leagues, and the coolest neighborhoods for shopping, dining, and renting. So do the best multifamily acquisition and development specialists, who prove the value of their knowledge over and over again through smart deals that give their firms the hottest properties on the block. Read more

After a tough 2004, multifamily REITs landed at the top of their game last year. Just ask Ric Campo, CEO and chairman of the board of Camden Property Trust. "2005 was an awesome year for our company and for REITs," he says. "2005 was clearly the year that REITs turned the corner from an operational standpoint." And Campo has the numbers to prove it: The company experienced a 3.5 percent same-property NOI growth in 2005–its first positive NOI growth in three years. Read more

Angry, escalating voices. Children crying. Glass breaking. Gun shots. These are sounds nobody likes to hear from the apartment next door. Read more

The West Hotel, a 105-unit single-room occupancy property in San Francisco's Tenderloin District, may be one of the best examples of a successful renovation that almost wasn't. Read more

Don't try to tell John E. Smith that he can't do something–he'll prove you wrong. Years ago, someone warned the young man that he'd "never amount to anything" if he didn't attend college. So much for that prediction. "That person unwittingly ignited my drive and set me up for success by the challenge," says Smith, who in January was promoted to chief investment officer and senior vice president of Home Properties, a public apartment REIT based in Rochester, N.Y. And his educational background? Twenty-five years in commercial brokerage. Read more

Twin Cities renters shopping for new housing are heading to the mall. The former Apache Plaza shopping mall in St. Anthony, Minn., is being redeveloped into a thriving mixed-use development just across the Mississippi River from the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The project includes a mixed-income apartment community developed by Dominium Development & Acquisition of Plymouth, Minn. Read more

It should be easier than ever to run your client's property, given the deluge of Web-based property management software that's come to market in recent years. The problem is, somebody's still got to pay for it, and owners aren't always eager to open their corporate wallets. While a number of executives have recognized the value of Web-based solutions' efficiency and productivity gains, others are hesitant to invest in expensive technology that makes your job easier. After all, they're paying you to do something, right? Read more

More and more appliance manufacturers aren't afraid to think small–and for good reason. Mini-sized appliances are in high demand as developers and architects outfit a growing number of smaller apartments and condos. Read more

In the mid-19th century, the Lowertown area of St. Paul, Minn., was just another quiet, sleepy residential neighborhood. But the arrival of the railroad changed the face and energy of the city. By the early 1900s, Lowertown had become a bustling commercial hub, with merchants and brokers eagerly looking for jobs and a place to earn a good buck. In 1905, a classic revival structure known as the St. Paul Rubber Co. was erected in the heart of Lowertown. Read more

Managing multifamily renovation projects is like trying to rub your head and chew gum at the same time. Apartment owners and managers not only have to handle construction and renovation work and keep things on schedule; they also have to juggle residents while they're at it. Read more

If Curtis R. Kemeny has learned one thing in his years as a multifamily manager and developer, it's that first impressions matter. "When someone drives up to a piece of property, an essential set of visuals washes over them," says the president of Boston Residential Group, whose family has been developing properties in downtown Boston and its western suburbs for three generations. "That first impression is the most important. The way a property is maintained and organized–the exterior of the buildings, the landscaping, the driveways–those things hit people all at once to form an impression before they open the front door. You either turn them off or turn them on with that first impression." Read more

Renters-by-choice who live at The Metropolitan, a practically new but recently renovated property in Arlington, Va., don't hope for high-end stainless steel kitchen appliances and fashionable granite countertops. They expect them. Read more

Rehabbing a multifamily property frequently includes deciding whether or not to replace the HVAC equipment–and with what. It's a big decision, and one that has become more difficult lately, thanks to evolving technologies and volatile energy prices. Read more

Multifamily owners and developers across the nation are responding to the growing appetite for nature-inspired elements, installing products made from natural materials or those that mimic them. Read more

Today, condos at Grove Street Flats, an elegant building on Minneapolis's Nicollet Island, sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. And why not? The lovingly restored 1877 structure sits footsteps away from downtown Minneapolis and the reviving Mississippi waterfront, where a newfound interest in the city's history (Pillsbury flour, anyone?) has finally resulted in the redevelopment of long-vacant mill buildings and more. Read more

Before its $1.9 million rehab, Springhouse Apartments was trapped in the world of blah. Built in the 1980s, the complex and its dull gray exteriors looked tired and weary, despite its Northern California location, just inland from San Francisco Bay. Interior water damage hardly added to its allure. Read more

Renovations today are no longer just about updating tired, frayed apartment units with new carpet and a coat of white paint. From the adaptive reuse of shuttered hotels and functionally obsolete office buildings to condo conversions of both older and newer apartment stock, developers are doing their best to give multifamily units warmth, luxury, and a sense of space. Read more

Paul Daneshrad could hear the excitement in his friend's voice. His friend, a physician and investor, was calling to tell Daneshrad about the new, tumbled-marble bathrooms he was installing at one of his properties. When the subject of cost came up, the doctor said the improvements were running him about $4,000 per unit. "My question back to him was, 'Well, how much more are you going to get in rent?'" says Daneshrad, CEO of StarPoint Properties in Beverly Hills, Calif. "He answered, 'I'm not really sure, but I just love the way it looks.'" Read more

Bathrooms in Essex Property Trust apartments have style and staying power. Read more

Not quite sure it's time to freshen up your clubhouse? Take a hint from your residents. All of last year, only one resident at the 351-unit Village Park of Auburn Hills rented out the property's drab, 1980s country-style clubhouse for a social event. Read more

It takes a lot to build affordable, energy-efficient apartments on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, but Mary Spink, the executive director of the Lower East Side People's Mutual Housing Association, knows it's worth the effort. Read more