One of the things we knew early on, if we were going to be best in class at creating a living experience and customer delight, what we had to do first was make this a best place to work. It is anchored in providing a beautiful yet affordable living environment and an enriched lifestyle to its residents. From New York to Miami and beyond, we create places where residents feel equally at home and inspired. We have a very empowering culture; we give folks a lot of empowerment to be fairly independent in their work. So, we then realized that a lot of the reason was there was just not really a protocol of supporting the facilities team as its own function outside of the property, the leasing side of the house. Steven and his team manage a portfolio of multifamily assets located in 11 states, primarily in the Southeast, Midwest, and Texas. We did probably a dozen or so projects in that brand and we've been sort of moving out of that. That part didn't take a lot to bite off on that it was largely just math. However, Steven hasnt considered expanding beyond housing. Willy Walker: So, I remember walking into your offices, I want to say it was probably around 2015 maybe 2016 and there was a projection up on the wall in the analyst bullpen that had ships literally on the Pacific Ocean where you could track the ships that were bringing across them materials that were going to go into Cortland buildings that you were rehabbing. I think if we're really going to outperform in the new environment of multifamily going forward, that's the part where you got to be best. Cortland has processes in place to provide a high level of standardization across its business; this allows, for instance, residents to count on a certain standard of fit and finish across properties, and property managers to easily transfer between locations. 42:08 - Willy and Steven talk about the market now and Cortlands strategy. Cortland is a National Multifamily Housing Council top 50 owner and manager, and was ranked as a top US brand by Reputation.com. Sincerely, Mary S. Community Manager. If you look at Atlanta, you mentioned we're number one owner, number one owner in Dallas, in both of those markets were the number one owner and were mere basis points of the total. Contact Information. 08/18/2021. Our goal is to deliver communities, experiences, and solutions beyond expectations down to the smallest details of our everyday interactions to the standards by which we live and build. As a result as an industry we didn't have a lot of investment in doing it better, we had a product, system and people, etc., but we did see that that clientele was likely going to be changing coming out of the GFC. We spent about six months with four market study groups just studying different parts of the business. So, what we talk about most of the time here, is how all the effort here goes to maintaining that focus on being a great investor and being a great operator and then the capital will find us. We are the dreamers, designers, and doers behind our living spaces and experiences, from the way we make our residents smile to the features we design and place in our homes. Steven explains Cortlands decision to invest in research into where the market was going as the recession continued, and about the companys pivot in terms of clientele and customer focus. Hopefully, he won't be too critical of my leadership style during our discussion in a couple weeks. And then, in the middle of September Im going to do my first live Walker Webcast interviewing with Eric Resnick CEO of KSL Partners to discuss the hospitality and leisure industries as KSL owns lots of hotels, resorts, and ski areas. Cabinets, counters, tile, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, flooring rob hooks, doorknobs, peep holes, you name it. Cortland Legacy | Dallas Area Corporate Housing Cortland Legacy 1 or 2 Bedroom Apartments 603 - 1689 SQ FT (approx.) We hope the information will help you find an . So, if you start by spending a little more on the product itself, which is pennies, I mean literally pennies in the stuff we're talking about. Most of all, we got great consistency so when we were promising delivery dates on these units, we had much lower volatility than what we had seen previously, doing a more traditional model. But thankfully there's so much opportunity, as you know, within multifamily in the markets we're in. Cortland is a National Multifamily Housing Council top 50 owner and manager and is ranked as the top us brand by reputation.com. At Cortland, you'll feel empowered to define your career path, take on new challenges, and make a difference. 2801 W. Logan. Tenant tried to remedy with on-site management **************************************** and off-site supervisor *************************************** The tenant currently has a 6 month lease (with 4 months remaining) and was offered a free transfer to relocate to another unit, however management now says it's contingent on a 13 month lease and a market increase on rent, to solve a ongoing noise complaint, which is pure greed and no regard for the tenants health and safety. We learned five or six years ago, we sort of realized that we weren't seeing the same passion, if you will, in our maintenance and facilities teams as we were seeing on the other, the leasing and operations side of the house. About Cortland Uptown Altamonte. And so, we researched really all things related to multifamily whether it was you know supply and demand in the markets that we were in at the time, the demographics market wise and nationally as it related to propensity to rent? Cortland Westshore 6207 S West Shore Blvd, Tampa, FL 33616 Visit Cortland Westshore website Apartment floorplans Aft $1,863 - $1,975 Studio | 1 ba | 593 sqft 2 units - Available now Angler $2,025 - $2,100 1 bd | 1 ba | 672 sqft 3 units - Available Mar 14 2023 Beam $2,105 - $2,160 1 bd | 1 ba | 726 sqft 3 units - Available now Beacon $2,110 - $2,335 A lot of the things we talked about today and the differences between us and maybe some of our competitors is, we really look at the business as a consumer facing operating business that happens to need capital as opposed to a capital business that happens to somewhere down the hall have some property operations. So, lot of room to grow in the business that we're doing. As you know, Willy, we started a brand for 55 plus which we call the Tiva a number of years ago. But also, to where all those teams now were working internally, that all know our expectations, our systems, our processes, and trust me we still made half the mistakes that the external groups would have made but at least we were doing it together. Use our search filters to browse all 100 apartments and score your perfect place! In this episode of Driven by Insight, Willy interviews Steven DeFrancis, the founder and CEO of Cortland. You've got a number of open-end funds so you're raising a lot of capital. Great leadership, innovation, and corporate culture. That allows us to underwrite a huge volume of potential opportunities, it's really inefficient. And it literally was sort of that silly like they met with one group who then pointed him to the next group with them lead the next group and after a couple of visits they realized that if we can get Darlas team to design these materials we just found the factories, we can go do this direct and cut out all the middlemen and a lot of the cost. Anyway, two things came out of that; one was just the sheer volume of under supply that we were going to be met with when the economy recovered or began to recover. 1-3 Br $1,434-$2,504 0.2 mi. So, we decided let's do this research and figure out where the markets going and that our significantly downsize point at that time, how might Cortland participate in whatever this recovery might look like? That team actually started whenNed joined us a number of years ago, but then as we really wanted to grow in the fund business, we talked to a number of groups, number of placement agents and really how we ended up building an internal team is all the placement agents we talked to were in complete agreement that there was no need for another multifamily manager. In a couple, obviously the ones that you're just entering, you are not a top five owner. Steven DeFrancis: We felt the brand was very important. Check out . It tends to grow on itself so once you start with a small nucleus of really high-quality people, they attract higher quality people who want to work with them. They thought it was nuts to spend that much money on a renovation of an existing project. There are one million things a day that can go wrong and generally, most of them will. BBB Business Profiles are subject to change at any time. 346-206-1014. So, we raised most of that capital in a preferred structure and we looked like geniuses at the end because the market went up so much, but we certainly didn't do it because we were smart. But it definitely has paid a lot of dividends in transfers within the system. Well guide you through the process. Cortland Corporate Headquarters and Office Locations. Nearby Apartments. But talk about two pieces of the equation as it relates to what it is to be on the team at Cortland. Learn more about Steven DeFrancis and connect with him on Twitterand LinkedIn. Steven DeFrancis: Well first, it's not about being top five or top 10, it's really about having the right asset base to operate with a scaled organization. So, we got a great price, we got great product, we got great finish. The market today is as white hot as we've ever seen it Steven you know that very well. This is an overview of the Cortland Dallas campus or office location. Willy Walker: Well, as I said at the top of our discussion, the partnership between W&D and Cortland has been a big part of our success over the last decade and Im deeply appreciative of it and Im also appreciative of you taking the time to join me today and talk about how you've made Cortland the success that it is today. 201 Jobs. You can then attract higher quality folks. My team is showing your team, your team has underwritten, I think Altman said to me in the last three years, the acquisitions team at Cortland is underwritten something over 2,500 assets. Steven DeFrancis: Well, Ill tell you how it started. Steven DeFrancis: Yes, it's been extremely helpful, and, in fact, since the pandemic, started March last year, we have delivered about 7,500 units to date. We all had one agenda. We knew the first thing we needed to do was go build a team of really top-notch players that were passionate about working here, passionate about what we were doing here, felt like they were invested in and really enjoyed working together as a team every day. I find it to be very interesting because a lot of people who get in the acquisition rehab space, who raise money from third parties, they focus on their returns to their investors, and then there is also their own returns and they end up putting a lot of money into their own back pocket in those early days rather than reinvesting in the company. Willy Walker: You talked about brand and the customer experience. Work really well for a few jobs and then all of a sudden, the stuff was delivering more and more slowly and then that guy disappeared. So after a while of fighting that battle, we finally decided to you know we hired Darla Dylan who was working for one of the companies that we had hired on third party basis and Ill never forget; we were like okay Darla is coming in she's going to do all of our interior design hundred percent of it we're going to have it no problem. Printer Friendly View Address: 420 W Slaughter Ln Austin, TX, 78748-1692 United States . As the conversation gets underway, Willy looks back to the founding of Cortland as a small development firm focused locally on Atlanta, noting that the company shifted its approach during the financial crisis of the 2000s. Steven DeFrancis: Well, we had a lot of learnings along the way. So, part of it is the intellect testing, that's more of the straightforward part, and part of it is the personality and making sure that we're getting folks with the right personality to meet the job that they're going to do. Whether it was marketing or sales or pest control or landscaping all these services you could buy on a per unit basis, but at the end of the day it was really efficient from an execution standpoint, but it was really inefficient from a customer service standpoint, because now effectively, you were handing over that relationship with your customers to this whole cadre of third-party vendors, which inevitably, as you can imagine, just lead to really poor service and poor execution. Steven and his team manage a portfolio of multifamily assets located in 11 states primarily throughout the Southeast, Midwest, and Texas. Hiring. So, it's really two pieces; it's maintaining that ability to be the best to your customer, but also the ability to create the infrastructure to process a lot of throughput, and whether it's development or acquisitions or value add renovations, the whole process of creating product before you then manage and operate the product. But there are few who've been able to create the capital formation capabilities that you have at Cortland. Listings. Cortland Locations. Competitors. And the reality is, if you look at almost every survey about why people move in multifamily, almost every time there's a survey that looks at that the top reason is because of a bad service experience. The first part of your question is what did we see in the broader market that gave rise to an opportunity? (36) Military Housing (0) Corporate Housing (0) Move-In Date More Save Search Sort Beds. Cortland Red Mountain has rental units ranging from 804-1295 sq ft starting at $1515. Houston, Texas Office. While discussions, like the one I had last week with Matt Kelly of JBG Smith and with Steven today are primarily focused on the commercial real estate industry; the discussion with Kerr on culture and leadership is applicable across industries and contain lots of life lessons. So, having built the capital infrastructure to get capital that we then have control over at the same time of building the execution infrastructure to perform for that capital. Thu: 9am - 5pm. On the latest Walker Webcast, CEO Steven DeFrancis joined us to discuss his strategic approach to systemization, his focus on building a stellar team, and his approach to growth. To everyone who listened in today, I hope you enjoyed our discussion and I look forward to seeing everyone back next Wednesday on another version of the Walker Webcast. And began to build that team, which has been a great add to the organization. What we've learned is, the value you get out of being scaled in a market, you can't beat it in any other way, centralized services, etc. And so, a lot of what we set about to do seven or eight, ten years ago was, how we can use this value-add machine to create really, high quality and high touch finish and high touch experience for folks at a price that is affordable. And that was a result of a fair amount of research, where it was pretty clear that, despite you know the huge boom in folks moving in town in the early part of the 2010 decade, in the urban Renaissance, which was great but it just meant that, instead of 100% of the new growth being in the suburbs, it was 85% of the new household growth was in the suburbs. Within 50 Miles of Cortland 5550. What did Steven and his colleagues see, Willy wonders, that led to the shift? Our Company Our Company Our Story . Then all the investment you put into that lead, your associate is like well, thank you very much for your interest, but we cant help you and call us next year when you need an apartment again. So, it barely moved the needle to go from really low grade to really high grade. On the recruiting side we begin early in the cycle building a process around testing the applicants that we were hiring, such as, personality profiling, intellect testing to try to build a team of high performing individuals. Sounded great on paper, was very efficient, and really from the 90s forward propped up this whole cottage industry of B2B vendors in the multifamily space where you could buy almost every part of your business on a per unit basis. He is a member of the Buckhead Coalition and serves on the board of the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership. Mon: 9am - 5pm. I have witnesses to confirm these actions. Most of the places where Ive made mistakes are when I tried to do something that wasn't housing. But one of the things that you did Steven, is you brought on amazing talent in Ned and in David and others to really create this capital formation function inside of Cortland. Answer Question. That was a bit of a change for us, and I think a lot of folks in multifamily over this cycle. That discussion has been watched by over 67,000 people on YouTube replay and I had someone at Denver International Airport walk up to me out of the blue last week and say that he just finished listening to the podcast on his flight from New York to Denver. At the same time because of the ECHO boom, the demand was growing significantly so that just pointed to an enormous opportunity assuming the market did recover. In general, I always feel appreciated, I always feel I can speak my mind, and I always feel like I am growing. See All 79 interviews. Willy Walker: As you think back over the last decade, take yourself back to 2010, the amount of scale that you've created, which is the along with scale success, the decisions you get to make today are very different decisions you made a decade ago. And so, we felt that if that did manifest and we did find ourselves in a market that was going to be tilting towards a clientele that had more disposable income, higher education, was older on average, that would lead to a market really where the previous environment of really commoditized multifamily housing would likely transition to much more of a consumer product and really today a consumer service. I can thank Bruce Cohen for the time he spent advising us, putting that team together. So, clay and a wonderful gentleman on his team named Walter Hudson got on a plane and flew to China to find our missing cabinets and counters at the time. Im assuming you had to get market returns for your LPs, but your GP return dragged as you were investing in the business. We are Bainbridge We manage, develop, and invest in apartment communities that are complete experiences, where people are free to pursue better lives. Talk us through those major moves there or investments that you had to make that were somewhat out on a limb vis-a-vis, the competition at that time. And then, use a good strong local team that can take that data and take what they know about what's going on in every part of their market, every day, it just allows us to be better at choosing where to lean into what we're offering versus throwing a dart at a board and hoping that this deal works. Cortland sets a new standard for better apartment living in Europe. So, talking about engaging interaction discussions it's a true pleasure for me to have my friend and amazing CEO Steven DeFrancis joining us today. Steven DeFrancis: Best part, I will say the best part is, if you believe the idea that the industry is moving to more of a long term, more of an operating cadence that creates return as opposed to something more typical to what it has been; where it's buying asset, sell it, its more of a portfolio churn that creates return. Because of the challenge of getting really good design talent on a third-party basis early in the cycle and again that's because early in the cycle we were buying and renovating assets that were all foreclosures and many of those assets we paid sub $15,000 a unit. Fill out the form or view our office locations and phone numbers to get in contact with us today. Ive seen the numbers as it relates to how you've been able to build the Cortland brand. The company employs more than 2,000 associates and owns and manages over 65,000 units today with a current acquisition pipeline that will push that number over 70,000 by the end of the year. What you just talked through Steven was how you had this longer-term focus and continued to plow money back into creating the team and insourcing a lot of those activities that you could have bought from third party vendors at a much cheaper cost to the GP but at the same time, you had this long-term vision of creating the Cortland that you've actually created. 3424 Peachtree Rd NE Ste 300. It must be really fun these days to sit down with LPs who are basically throwing money at you. I can't even remember a single story where we were like oh, my goodness, I can't believe we let them do that look and what they did. I can think of many stories where they did the right thing for the right reason because they were empowered to go do it through decisions and checkbook. How could you grow the business in a way that you wouldn't fall victim of growing too fast and then, while also maintaining that ability to really be best in class from a customer experience standpoint? 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Overview of the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership is as white hot as we 've ever it...