A new year brought a lot of reshuffling throughout the multifamily business as established veterans made moves to what were, in many cases, smaller firms. Here’s a rundown of the transaction wire:
Bell Adds More Talent: The pipeline from Northern Virginia to Greensboro, N.C., stayed open as Bell Partners picked up another AvalonBay Communities (AVB) vet. After almost 12 years at Arlington, Va.–based AVB, most recently as vice president of marketing, customer service, and corporate communications, Kevin Thompson moved to Bell as senior vice president for marketing. Thompson will be responsible for conceptualizing and executing both corporate and property marketing strategies, including the direction of promotion and advertising, coordination with sites, and oversight of the marketing staff. The Greensboro-based apartment owner also added a vice president for risk management in Sean Rogers. Rogers spent the past five years at Richmond, Va.–based Brink's Co., the transportation and secured cash logistics company.
Davidoff Heads West: Donald Davidoff, who designed and implemented the industry-leading LRO (Lease Rent Options) revenue-management pricing system for the multifamily industry, left his post as senior vice president, strategic systems, at Englewood, Colo.–based Archstone to become senior vice president, pricing and marketing, at Portland, Ore.–based Holiday Retirement. Davidoff says the uncertainty surrounding the sale of Archstone had nothing to do with his decision. “The chance to come into senior independent living and build a pricing system from scratch and build e-commerce and rebuild the marketing capability was too enticing to pass up,” he says. “It was a painful decision. Leaving Archstone was not an easy thing to do.”
Ell Goes to Lennar: Randy Ell, former president of Summit Management Co. at Charlotte, N.C.–based Summit Properties, is back in the public-company realm after taking on the senior vice president of asset management role at Lennar Multifamily, part of Miami-based Lennar Homes. In between, Ell was at Vestavia Hills, Ala.–based Allegiant Residential; Waxhaw, N.C.–based Bonner Oaks Development; and Miami-based Fifteen Asset Management.
Lynd Jumps Full Force Into Development: Last year, San Antonio–based Lynd Cos. made its mark in the development industry in a big way by winning Multifamily Executive’s award for Apartment High-Rise of the Year, for EnV Chicago, and then selling the property for a nice profit. With the addition of Daniel Zunker as principal and president of Lynd's development division, Lynd Development Partners, the company looks ready to expand development further in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Colorado, as well as other locations in the Sunbelt region.
Zunker comes to Lynd after more than seven years as a partner at his prior firm, San Antonio–based Embrey Partners. He says the opportunity to lead and expand the development effort for Lynd compelled him to make the move.
Haefner to Head Cocke Finkelstein: After serving as executive director, multifamily management, at Newport News, Va.–based Drucker & Falk, former president/CIO at Atlanta-based Lane Co. Dan Haefner has become president of upstart Cocke Finkelstein, in Atlanta. The growing firm has more than 8,000 units under management in multifamily, single-family, and mobile homes. “It’s a great opportunity with a couple of guys in their mid-30s,” Haefner says. “In the last six years, they’ve accumulated this growing portfolio and developed a company.” Madison Adds a Veteran: Scott Gilpatrick has spent almost a quarter of a century working in the apartment business for top 50 players like Boston-based Berkshire Property Advisors and College Park, Md.–based Sawyer Realty Holdings. Now, he’s moving to Madison Apartment Group, the multifamily operating arm of Philadelphia-based BPG Properties, where he’ll serve as a divisional vice president. In that role, he’ll oversee the operations of 28 of Madison's communities, totaling more than 8,000 apartment homes, throughout the Southern United States.
