Greenbelt, Md.–based Bozzuto Management Co. opened 23 new apartment buildings in 2016, a year that also saw the firm expand into new markets in South Florida, Boston, Atlanta, and Chicago even as it brings additional marquee, Class A communities, like The Hecht Warehouse and The Hepburn, on line in its hometown, Washington, D.C., area turf. Just don’t ask firm president Stephanie Williams to name a favorite.
“You spend so much time in development that you fall in love with all of them for different reasons,” says Williams. “Whether they’re in emerging neighborhoods [or] established neighborhoods. The team’s ability to bring those properties to life is part of these incredibly unique stories and the ‘why’ behind the asset.”
Hyperlocal isn’t new for Bozzuto, which will pass 60,000 units under management this year. The firm is one of a growing number of management organizations adept at curating a neighborhood’s identity at the property level and supporting it with an overdose of renter-friendly accoutrements. “Our communities serve a psychographic, rather than a demographic,” Williams says. “[Our residents] could be 25 to 65 [years old], but they’re typically well-heeled, well-educated residents who find a lot of value in our heavy service culture. They’re civic minded, they love localized neighborhoods, and they love homegrown.”
Greensboro, N.C.–based Bell Partners itself added 10,000 new units under management in 2016, including 5,000 Washington, D.C., units signed from a single owner (though the firm lost units overall for the year). As one of the country’s largest value-add renovation firms, Bell’s competitiveness with new developments at the local level has been a property-by-property exercise in constant improvement. “As we say internally, ‘Status quo is not in our DNA,’ ” says Bell Partners CEO Jon Bell. “We’re well positioned for the future, but with the amount of new construction recently, we’re competing more with new developments, not only for residents, but also employees. To consistently provide a hassle-free living experience requires an asset-specific, tailored approach.”
Gleaning deeper customer intelligence to inform the local approach has Bozzuto investing this year in a customer relationship management system similar to Salesforce that will help identify and predict renter preferences and proclivities from Baltimore to Boston.
“We’ve got all kinds of new stuff coming out we don’t want our competition to know about,” says Williams half-jokingly. “That’s been one of the industry’s headwinds. A lot of healthy competition out there at both the national and the regional levels. It holds us accountable to raise the bar from a service perspective and, as always, remain hyperfocused on the customer experience.”
| Rank (2017) | Rank (2016) | Company Name (P) = Public |
Units Managed (as of Jan. 1, 2017) |
% change 2016 to 2017 | Corporate Officer |
HQ City |
HQ State |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Greystar Real Estate Partners | 415634 | 0% | Robert A. Faith | Charleston | SC |
| 2 | 2 | Lincoln Property Co. | 184167 | 11% | Tim Byrne | Dallas | TX |
| 3 | 3 | Pinnacle Property Management Services | 172000 | 28% | Rick L. Graf | Dallas | TX |
| 4 | 6 | FPI Management | 103839 | 6% | Dennis Treadaway | Folsom | CA |
| 5 | 5 | WinnCompanies | 100669 | 2% | Gilbert Winn | Boston | MA |
| 6 | 9 | MAA (P) | 99393 | 25% | H. Eric Bolton Jr. | Memphis | TN |
| 7 | 7 | Alliance Residential Co | 99364 | 13% | Bruce Ward and V. Jay Hiemenz | Phoenix | AZ |
| 8 | 8 | Apartment Management Consultants | 86364 | 8% | Brenda Barrett | Cottonwood Heights | UT |
| 9 | 4 | Equity Residential (P) | 78023 | -29% | David J. Neithercut | Chicago | IL |
| 10 | 10 | AvalonBay Communities (P) | 74049 | 0% | Timothy J. Naughton | Arlington | VA |
| 11 | 18 | Hunt/LEDIC Realty Co. Associates | 68466 | 27% | Chris Hunt and Pierce Ledbetter | El Paso | TX |
| 12 | 11 | BH Management | 67877 | -2% | Harry Bookey | Des Moines | IA |
| 13 | 12 | Edward Rose Building Enterprise | 61508 | 2% | Warren Rose | Bloomfield Hills | MI |
| 14 | 20 | Bozzuto | 58727 | 9% | Toby Bozzuto | Greenbelt | MD |
| 15 | 13 | Bell Partners | 58478 | -3% | Steven D. Bell and Jonathan D. Bell | Greensboro | NC |
| 16 | 16 | Essex Property Trust (P) | 58162 | 1% | Michael J. Schall | San Mateo | CA |
| 17 | The Irvine Co. | 58100 | 2% | Chaz Mueller | Newport Beach | CA | |
| 18 | 17 | Asset Plus Cos. | 57674 | 2% | Michael S. McGrath | Houston | TX |
| 19 | 21 | The Michaels Organization | 52830 | 1% | John J. O'Donnell | Marlton | NJ |
| 20 | 15 | Camden Property Trust (P) | 52793 | -12% | Richard J. Campo | Houston | TX |
| 21 | 40 | Milestone Management | 52340 | 62% | Steve Lamberti | Dallas | TX |
| 22 | 22 | The ConAm Group of Cos. | 51573 | -1% | Rob Singh | San Diego | CA |
| 23 | 23 | UDR (P) | 51129 | 1% | Thomas W. Toomey | Highlands Ranch | CO |
| 24 | 24 | Balfour Beatty Communities | 50445 | 2% | Christopher Williams | Malvern | PA |
| 25 | 14 | Fairfield Residential Co. | 47922 | -20% | Gregory R. Pinkalla | San Diego | CA |
| 26 | 19 | Aimco (P) | 47100 | -12% | Terry Considine | Denver | CO |
| 27 | 26 | Weidner Apartment Homes | 46218 | 5% | Jack O'Connor | Kirkland | WA |
| 28 | 28 | Village Green | 45000 | 5% | Diane Batayeh | Detroit | MI |
| 29 | 29 | American Campus Communities (P) | 44320 | 2% | Bill Bayless | Austin | TX |
| 30 | 31 | US Residential | 42928 | 7% | Stephanie Brock | Dallas | TX |
| 31 | 27 | Westdale Real Estate Investment & Management | 41902 | -3% | Joseph G. Beard | Dallas | TX |
| 32 | 41 | Cortland Partners | 39322 | 22% | Steven DeFrancis | Atlanta | GA |
| 33 | 30 | GoldOller Real Estate Cos. | 39273 | -4% | Richard Oller | Philadelphia | PA |
| 34 | 35 | RAM Partners | 38449 | 11% | Bill Leseman | Atlanta | GA |
| 35 | 34 | Steadfast Cos. | 36686 | 5% | Christopher Hilbert | Irvine | CA |
| 36 | 48 | Monarch Investment & Management Group | 35955 | 26% | Bob Nicolls | Franktown | CO |
| 37 | 38 | Morgan Properties | 35929 | 11% | Mitchell L. Morgan | King of Prussia | PA |
| 38 | 50 | Pegasus Residential | 35854 | 30% | Lindy D. Ware | Alpharetta | GA |
| 39 | 36 | Capstone Real Estate Services | 35721 | 4% | James W. Berkey | Austin | TX |
| 40 | United Apartment Group | 34037 | 18% | Carrie Girgus and Tim Settles | San Antonio | TX | |
| 41 | 45 | ZRS Management | 33573 | 10% | Steve Buck | Orlando | FL |
| 42 | 37 | The Lynd Co. | 32754 | -4% | Michael J. Lynd Jr. | San Antonio | TX |
| 43 | 43 | Gables Residential | 32520 | 3% | Sue Ansel | Atlanta | GA |
| 44 | 44 | Kettler and Kettler Management | 32002 | 4% | Bob Kettler | McLean | VA |
| 45 | McCormack Baron Management (formerly McCormack Baron Ragan) | 31971 | 9% | Timothy Zaleski | St. Louis | MO | |
| 46 | Avenue5 Residential | 31858 | 71% | Walt Smith | Seattle | WA | |
| 47 | 39 | The John Stewart Co. | 31401 | -3% | Jack D. Gardner | San Francisco | CA |
| 48 | 46 | Edgewood Management Corp. | 31293 | 6% | Cindy Sanquist | Gaithersburg | MD |
| 49 | 42 | Bridge Investment Group Partners | 30139 | -5% | Danuel R. Stanger | Salt Lake City | UT |
| 50 | JMG Realty | 30121 | 36% | Karlton Jackson | Atlanta | GA |
