May 22, 2023

Welcome to People and Properties, the Cohen-Esrey newsletter where we celebrate the successes of our team members and keep you informed about what is happening in the Cohen-Esrey world. If you have something you would like to share or an achievement that you would like to celebrate, please send it to Lee Harris at lharris@cohenesrey.com. If you are on a property, please print and distribute this newsletter to each member of your property team. You can also find People and Properties on KnowledgeNet. Click here to view previous editions.

CEAI Acquires the Trails at Bartram Park

Cohen-Esrey Apartment Investors (CEAI) has acquired the Trails at Bartram Park, a 323-unit market-rate apartment community in Jacksonville, FL. This is the second Florida acquisition for CEAI, the first being in North Port, FL. Built in 2007, the property features controlled-entry gate access, a lake with walking trails, door-to-door trash pickup, 24/7 package access, a car wash, business center, clubhouse, fitness center, grilling stations, lounge, resort-style swimming pool with jacuzzi, and a playground. Units have high-speed Internet access, washers and dryers, fire sprinklers, ceiling fans, ice makers, stainless steel appliances, and a security system. Additionally, units have nine-foot ceilings, a separate dining room, walk-in closets and screened-in balconies or patios. One-bedroom units are 845 and 908 square feet and rent for $1,358 to $1,515 per month. Two-bedroom units are 1,188 and 1,225 square feet and rent for $1,588 to $1,760 per month. Three-bedroom units are 1,499 square feet and rent for $1,978 to $2,088 per month. CEAI will be investing approximately $3.35 million in physical improvements including unit interior enhancements, amenity upgrades, and refreshing exterior features.

Bartram Park is one of the fastest growing areas in all of northeast Florida and is referred to as “Jacksonville’s Southern Gateway.” Upon completion, it will feature 9,700 residential units, one of the largest new home communities in Jacksonville. Over 2,000 acres, nearly half of the acreage of Bartram Park, has been set aside for the Julington-Durbin Creek Preserve. Bartram Park was created around the idea of providing a community where residents are able to work, shop, dine, and play – all with minimal commuting. Jacksonville was the number one metro in the nation for in-migration during 2021; the number five hottest job market in the U.S. (Q2 2022); the number eight metro for rent growth in the U.S. (Q2 2022); and the number 16 market in 2022 as the best place to retire in the country. Jacksonville has a metro population of 1.73 million located on the Atlantic Ocean in the northeast corner of Florida just a few miles south of the Georgia border.

Connie Riley (2012) Senior Deputy Managing Director will initially be overseeing the Trails at Bartram Park.

We welcome the following new team members to Cohen-Esrey and the Nexus 5 Group.

Bryana Paz – Preserve at Westover Hills, San Antonio, TX – Leasing Agent
Amos Ramos – Preserve at Westover Hills, San Antonio, TX – Maintenance Technician
Kristine Scheffler – Village on Main, Waunakee, WI – Assistant Property Manager
Amanda Zepeda – Jefferson on the Lake, Olathe, KS – Property Manager
Brennon Bailey – Jefferson on the Lake, Olathe, KS – Leasing Agent
Michael Rivers – Jefferson on the Lake, Olathe, KS – Lead Maintenance Technician
Juliette Balolane – Champion at Bluegrass, Lexington, KY – Leasing Agent
Tyrel Newton – Astoria Park, Amarillo, TX – Maintenance Technician
Susan Ruiz – Perry 81, Overland Park, KS – Leasing Agent
Whitney Marshall – Jefferson on the Lake, Olathe, KS – Leasing Agent
Italia Rodriguez – South Pointe, Dallas, TX – Leasing Agent
Nancy Avila – Hamptons at East Cobb, Marietta, GA – Assistant Property Manager
Alissa Laub – Nexus 5 Group – Project Coordinator

Meet The Maxwell Team

We’d like to introduce you to The Maxwell team in Kansas City, MO. L-R – Gerren Cooper (2023), Maintenance Technician, Chanda Lutz (2023), Property Manager, James Huss (2013), Regional Manager, Avrie Jones (2023), Leasing Agent, and Christian Meier, owner’s representative. This 103-unit market-rate property is managed by Cohen-Esrey Communities (CEC) for a third-party client.

May Day! May Day!

On May 1 – officially known as “May Day,” Gillian Beebe (2020), Property Manager at Marshalltown Senior Residences in Marshalltown, IA, and her darling children, delivered May baskets to the residents. At Marquette Hall in Dubuque, IA, Karri Landers (2022), Property Manager, delivered May Day bags to her residents (see photo). What a wonderful example of Customer Fulfillment!

Nexus 5 Client Expands

Smart Warehousing completed the first phase of their buildout in 2021, but quickly outgrew their 14,000 square feet of space and found themselves needing to expand. Fortunately, there was available square footage next to their current space in the downtown Overland Park, KS, Edison District Building and the company snapped up the opportunity to accommodate its growth. Once the lease was signed and drawings were finalized, the Nexus 5 Group began on constructing the new 5,786 square feet of space consisting of a new reception area featuring several unique design pieces and a large, stunning chandelier. Other elements included new casework, polished concrete, doors and hardware, flooring, painting, acoustical ceilings, fire sprinkler, HVAC, plumbing, and electrical.

Founded in 2001, Smart Warehousing is a warehousing and fulfillment company that operates as a direct extension of its clients’ teams and is committed to empowering brands to meet consumer demands. With dedicated account managers, state-of-the-art technology, and highly automated processes, Smart’s model is built to be a fully optimized solution that satisfies the fulfillment needs of merchants and sellers throughout the world.

With 34 warehouses, over 12 million square feet of warehouse space, and 12 markets, “our strategic network footprint puts us in everyone’s backyard.” Smart Warehousing’s information management system, SWIMS, provides a system of record for inventory, putting control and visibility in the hands of their clients.

Jessica Bell (2014), was the Senior Project Engineer; Buel McDonald (2019), was the Superintendent, and Brian Weber (2020), was the Project Manager, for the Nexus 5 team.

Mother’s Day Celebration

The team at Tower Village in St. Louis, MO, held a pre-Mother’s Day coffee (with donuts!) for the residents of this 98-unit community. Great delivery of Customer Fulfillment! Thanks to Latosha Devould (2023), Property Manager, and Wilmar Kemp (2020), Maintenance Technician, for making this happen.

The Revenue Growth Champions!

By Michele Rollo-Burns (2018), Director of Revenue

Each month we recognize communities that have realized stellar year-over-year (YOY) revenue growth. For the month of April 2023, here are the standouts with growth of 5% or more. Congratulations to each team for the progress made! Fifteen properties are on the list again this month!

Another Empowerment Story

By Sarah Cranford (2022), Regional Manager

Sarah Cranford (2022), is a Regional Manager for the Market-Rate Division of Cohen-Esrey Communities. Here is what she has to say about her Empowerment:

In December 2022, I walked into the conference room ready to present my property budgets to Lee Harris (1975), President and CEO, Ryan Huffman (2002), Chief Operating Officer, Jeanette Jayne (1996), Executive Vice-President and Managing Director, Marcie Teenor (2013), Chief Financial Officer, and a room full of other Cohen-Esrey leaders and team members. Knowing that I have a slight fear of presenting in front of groups of people, I had spent the days prior reviewing the information with Connie Riley (2012), Senior Deputy Managing Director (my supervisor,) and practicing the presentation. Thinking I was ready to go, I started to present my first budget, and the words that I had practiced the past couple of days would not come out of my mouth. Thank goodness that Connie was by my side and came to my rescue. She presented my budgets but looked to me for answers regarding my properties but still, I couldn’t speak. I knew all the answers – the words just wouldn’t come out. To say it was a painful experience is a huge understatement.

When I was finally finished, I was preparing myself for HR to come by my office in the next couple of days to tell me to pack up my things and wish me luck in the future. What actually happened left me in tears, and feeling not only Empowered, but that I was with a company that truly wanted me to be successful personally and professionally. Lee came in and sat down in my office and asked me if I knew what had happened that morning when I was trying to present. I explained that I knew presenting in front of groups made me nervous, but I had no idea it was going to be where I was unable to speak. After that conversation, Lee connected me with Jeanette, who has put her time and energy into finding me different resources to help with my fear of public speaking. Little did I know that one of the best resources was right next door to my office. Marilee Scheid (2019), Director of Learning and Development, met with me and gave me some great tools to help break through my fear a little at a time.

Since then, I have had the opportunity to put myself in a few different situations to speak publicly, including the annual Cohen-Esrey Leadership Conference. I have been able to put some of the tools into action, which makes me feel Empowered and that I am really improving myself. I am so appreciative to everyone that has gone out of their way to help me through this.

Core Value of the Month

Commitment in Action

There are countless examples of Commitment throughout the company every day. One of the 2022 winners of the Core Value Award for Commitment is Mark Denk (2021), Maintenance Technician at Andover Park in Kansas City, MO. Between April 1 and May 9, Andover Park had 22 survey responses for maintenance tickets. Seventeen surveys scored a perfect 10; two scored a nine; one scored an eight, and two scored a seven. On most surveys, residents specifically referenced Mark for his quality of service.

He is someone that the residents can count on to complete their request correctly the first time and not have to go back. He always has a smile on his face and takes the time to say “hello” to the residents and interact with them. The property has received numerous NPS surveys that specifically mention Mark and his outstanding service. Just a few of the comments are, “Mark is hands down the best maintenance guy we have ever had. He truly cares about his job and goes above and beyond.” “Mark is always very respectful and goes the extra mile to help!” “10 stars all the time! Mark is excellent at his job and is very knowledgeable about all aspects of any repair or maintenance job that I have requested.”

Mark’s Commitment to doing the job well shows in the scoring of resident responses, and his attitude towards the work and residents. Even through staffing challenges he never gave in or gave up, remained Committed, and it has certainly paid off. The NPS for Andover Park is +64 and the property has remained on the Leaderboard for 12 consecutive months. Thanks Mark, for delivering Customer Fulfillment through your Commitment.

And Another Example of Commitment . .

By Kristina Viera (2017), CEC Deputy Managing Director

Alisha Brooks (2017), CEC Operations Support Manager was assigned to go to Eastwood in Wellington, KS, to help with recertifications to get funds for the June HUD voucher. She drove six hours out of a total sense of Commitment and desire to help others and arrived to save the day! Alisha surprised me with a whopping $39,000 on the June voucher and set the Property Manager up to continue and be successful. This was astounding as the last two months the vouchers had only been around $8,000.

This is only one example of the kind of Commitment we see from Alisha. In fact, she won the Commitment Award for 2022 at the Annual Conference in April.

She has adjusted schedule to head to a deployment on a Sunday, so that progress can be made on day one, giving more time for that assignment to be able to make more progress than expected. Following an assignment, she will always reach out to the team as a follow-up to see if there are additional needs or support.

Whether it is assisting with properties, residents, owners, or team members, her goal is always to leave you better than you were found. Thank you, Alisha, for being a great example of Commitment!

Scammers, Scammers, and More Scammers

By Mark Fletcher (2008), Chief Technology Officer

With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the bad guys have devised yet another technique to scam companies using a newer AI tech called Voice Impersonation. While we have not encountered this scam at Cohen-Esrey yet, it is starting to become a more frequent scamming technique.

How the scam works:

The bad guys use AI to make their voice sound like a leader in our company.
The bad guys call (or possibly leave a voice message) purporting to be the CEO, Managing Director, or other leaders.
The bad guys then instruct team members to transfer funds, cut checks, or reveal bank account or other confidential information.
Because the bad guys sound like who they purport to be, team members then follow the instructions and transfer the funds (or whatever).

How to spot the scam?

Start with common sense: is the caller behaving or speaking out of character even though their voice sounds the same?
Next, look at the request. Is it abnormal or out of process? Ask yourself: “Is it normal for Lee to call and ask me to mail him $1,000 in gift cards? Is it normal for Bob to call and ask me to transfer funds out of the blue?”
Ask the caller to verify some information first. Things like: “What corner of the building is your office located?” or “What color is your car?”
Check the caller’s number against our records. Is the caller’s number different than Lee’s cell phone number?
Ask the caller to send you an email as documentation. This would then require the scammer to have control of the leader’s email address as well.
Call the leader back using Teams or Zoom - or go by their office if they are local so you can validate the request in person.

Now that you have spotted the scam, what next?

Never confront the scammer, challenge them, or berate them. This might encourage them to go to greater lengths to hurt our company. Instead, simply hang up. Most scammers will recognize that the jig is up and move on to the next potential victim.
Never call the scammer back.
Take careful note of the phone number they called from and report the incident to: (1) IT and (2) the person they were impersonating.

It is incredibly disappointing that we must go to these lengths to protect ourselves. By using common sense, verification, and a healthy amount of reasonable paranoia, we can protect ourselves against these new threats.

The Cities of Cohen-Esrey

To date we have featured St. Louis, Topeka, KS, Springfield and Joplin, MO, in our series on the Cities of Cohen-Esrey. In this issue we’ll focus on Wichita, KS. Cohen-Esrey has operated 15 apartment communities in Wichita totaling 2,251 units, plus a 514,000 square foot of office space including the Bank of America Center. Clients for these properties have included LNR Properties, Travelers Insurance, AIMCO Capital, Commerce Bank, Simpson Housing, Midland Loan Services, Pennsylvania Mutual Life, and several private partnerships. The largest apartment property was the 496-unit Sundance Apartments (photo). Principals of Cohen-Esrey and a long-time client, Sterling Equities, owned the 216-unit Pelican Point Apartments in Wichita for several years. A forerunner entity to the Cohen-Esrey Development Group (CEDG) also developed two affordable properties in the Wichita area.

Wichita, located in south central Kansas, is approximately 48 miles north of the Oklahoma border on Interstate 35. It began as a trading post on the Chisholm Trail in the 1860s and was incorporated as a city in 1870. It became a destination for cattle drives traveling north from Texas to Kansas railroads, earning it the nickname “Cowtown.” Wyatt Earp served as a police officer in Wichita before going to Dodge City. In the 1920s and 1930s, businessmen and aeronautical engineers established aircraft manufacturing companies in Wichita including Beechcraft, Cessna, and Stearman Aircraft. The city became an aircraft production hub known as "The Air Capital of the World.” Textron Aviation, Learjet, Airbus, and Boeing/Spirit AeroSystems continue to operate design and manufacturing facilities in Wichita, and the city remains a major center of the American aircraft industry. Several airports located within the city of Wichita include McConnell Air Force Base, Colonel James Jabara Airport, and Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport, the largest airport in Kansas.

As an industrial hub, Wichita, with a metro population of 650,000, is a regional center of culture, media, and trade. It hosts several universities, large museums, theaters, parks, shopping centers, and entertainment venues, most notably Intrust Bank Arena and Century II Performing Arts & Convention Center. The city's Old Cowtown Museum maintains historical artifacts and exhibits the city's early history. Wichita State University is the third-largest post-secondary institution in the state. Wichita is the birthplace of Pizza Hut and White Castle restaurants, and sporting goods and camping-gear retailer Coleman started in the city in the early 1900s. Koch Industries and Cargill, the two largest privately held companies in the U.S., both operate headquarters facilities in Wichita. Besides, aircraft manufacturing and cattle, Wichita is also well known for its oil and gas industries.

Transformational Construction!

Construction continues at several Cohen-Esrey Development Group (CEDG) future communities.

Sinclair Flats in Mankato, MN, is really taking shape.

Restoration of the historic lobby is nearly complete at the Lofts at the Grim in Texarkana, TX.

Elevator shaft construction at the Loma Vista Lofts in San Antonio, TX

Even wet weather doesn’t stop construction at the Trails at Lehow in Englewood, CO.

Concrete being poured for the underground parking garage at Panorama Heights in Colorado Springs, CO.

NPS Leaderboards

The three NPS Leaderboards have been updated as of May 19, 2023, and the leaders remained the same as the prior month. In the 50-Units or Less category The Summit at Osage (Osage Beach, MO) leads with a score of +96.77. In the Properties 51 to 120-Units category, Orchard View (Farmington, MO) remains in the top spot with an NPS of +96.97. And in the Properties of More than 120-Units category, The Boulevard (Springfield, IL), continues its stranglehold on first place, with an NPS of +93.14. There are 37 properties on Leaderboards, and we now celebrate having FIVE properties on the Leaderboards with an NPS of +90 or higher.

We continue to recognize those properties with a Maintenance Survey NPS that is equal to or exceeds our Overall NPS of +39. To qualify a property must have surveys from the equivalent of 40% of its units or more. We continue to emphasize the importance of providing improved maintenance service to deliver Customer Fulfillment. There are 20 properties this month, the same as the previous month.

Maintenance Ticket Surveys