Better to act than take on the risks of inaction. This was the theme of a recent GWA webinar, in which panelists discussed ways to minimize risk and future-proof a coworking or flexible workspace operation. “The biggest risk is the risk of not doing anything, of not reacting to the market,” said Dan Zakai, co-founder and CEO of Mindspace, a coworking space with locations in Europe and the U.S. By now, we see that the office experience as we knew it is being reimagined. Landlords need to pivot to a hospitality experience in order to safely and effectively welcome tenants and workers back. They need to provide amenities that workers don’t have at home, or offices will see low occupancy given that productivity levels did not drop from the couch, kitchen table or home office. According to Zakai, landlords will raise occupancy levels with coworking faster than with traditional long-term leases. One of the biggest challenges is whether to spend the initial cost on coworking, whether that is building out a new coworking space or transitioning a vacancy. Since landlords typically won’t operate the space, it makes choosing the right partner critical. Giovanni Palavicini, principal at Avison Young, believes one of the keys to success for operators is finding a niche. Much like hotels have seen the growth of boutique offerings, the coworking industry should head in the same direction. This was already a growing trend prior to the pandemic and could accelerate now. Picking the wrong operator with a business model unsuited for your location, or a poor deal structure could create significant risk. “I don’t like RFPs because an RFP allows anyone in the door,” Palavicini said. “Because at the end of the day, we want to figure out who we want...

The first annual CoreNet Corporate Real Estate Week was a success! The virtual international conference aims to “commemorate, educate, inform, and connect the world to all that our often under-recognized profession does to advance the economy.” More than 40 sessions offered insights and networking to commercial professionals globally. Three sessions educated attendees on the benefits of flexible workspaces and the tools available to manage them. The benefits of hybrid workspaces The “Hybrid Working and the Ubiquity of Space” session offered attendants the opportunity to explore best practices in hybrid work models. Panelists presented practical ways that landlords and employers can optimize hybrid work models by adopting flexible workplaces and customized software. Switzerland-based IWG CEO Fatima Koning and Gareth Haver, CEO for the Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Northern, Central and Eastern Europe regions shared what’s working for them: “The office is not in one place any longer—it is everywhere,” said Koning. She observed that flexibility and mobility rank high on tenant demands. Traditional office space is not obsolete, but employees want (and often need) the ability to work from different settings. This includes but is not limited to their homes. “Traditional models will no longer accommodate the workplace and workers of the future. The new standard of hybrid work promotes efficiency and connectivity, and technology is a big part of that. More advanced and empowered technology can enhance not only occupancy planning but also the overall work experience,” said Koning. While the pandemic expedited the adoption of remote work policies for many commercial companies, the trend towards remote work has been on the rise for years. Employees gain a better work-life balance, shorter commutes, and designated time for collaboration. Haver adds that employees aren’t the only ones to benefit from hybrid models. Employers gain: lower costs...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) heralds Yardi among Top Workplaces in Metro Atlanta. Yardi ranked 45th out of 3,268 nominated employers. It is described as “a large global software corporation with an unwavering focus on quality software and customer satisfaction.” To celebrate the achievement, Yardi Atlanta hosted a virtual watch party. Employees tuned in to watch the awards ceremony while enjoying their favorite snacks and beverages. Attendees also explored a virtual photobooth. They posted their pictures and testimonials to the Yardi Atlanta Confluence page. Learn more about Yardi as one of Atlanta’s Top Workplaces. Get to know Yardi Atlanta The Yardi Atlanta office is located in the suburb of Roswell, about 22 miles north of the city. The town offers an appealing mix of progressive eateries, historic buildings, parks and cultural events. RentCafe.com ranks Roswell among one of the most affluent neighborhoods for renters in metro Atlanta. The Atlanta office serves as home base for more than 370 of the company’s nearly 3,600 U.S. employees. Though most employees now work in remote environments, the office has managed to maintain a sense of camaraderie through virtual events. #YardiLove Valentine’s Day party, Halloween Week, and continued charitable outreach helps employees feel united while working apart. Corporate culture is just one of the reasons why Yardi Atlanta made the list as one of the top places to work in metro Atlanta. How AJC chooses top workplaces The 11th annual Top Workplaces list is a collaboration between The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and employment research and consulting firm Energage. To form the list, employees nominated 3,268 of their employers. Philadelphia-based Energage then narrowed the list to 244 companies, each of which agreed to participate in a no-cost program and survey. The short list of companies represents 56,160 workers in the metro Atlanta...

Online searches have become the favored route for seniors seeking a residential community. That’s why senior living community operators increasingly turn to search engine optimization (SEO) to help prospective residents find their properties. A powerful tool supporting that effort is RentCafe Reach Senior Living, an advanced online marketing services solution that enables execution of SEO plus pay-per-click advertising, social media posting and reputation management from a single platform. Yardi is spreading the word about this platform and the online marketing experts who support it with a new ebook, titled “4 Ways to Get Found Online.” The publication illustrates how RentCafe Reach Senior Living: Creates an exceptional online presence that fills vacancies. Increases traffic with optimized content that positions communities for maximum search visibility. Drives leads with impactful ad campaigns, managed by AdWords specialists. Keeps pace with Google’s algorithm changes. Formulates and executes a full marketing plan tailored to a community’s goals. Engages prospects with curated social media local content and boosted posts. Strengthens reputation control by monitoring and responding to online reviews. As the ebook says, “The right digital marketing strategy makes all the difference, but building out a plan – and sticking to it – takes dedicated resources, consistent research and lots of elbow grease.” Read it to discover how RentCafe Reach Senior Living makes the process much easier and...

The senior housing industry is taking steps to transitioning from the COVID-19 era with policies that emphasize safety and resident service. Nicole Moberg, COO of Atlanta-based Thrive Senior Living, offers insight into successfully marketing senior communities during and after the pandemic. Below are excerpts from her recent interview with Multi-Housing News. How has the outbreak impacted Thrive Senior Living communities? Moberg: From early on, we were one of the first senior living communities to prioritize testing—backing our belief that every resident and team member should be tested as often as possible for the safety of the residents as well as our community. We also developed the “Take Off to Thrive” marketing concept, with a 30-day new resident communication checklist. This served to minimize resident isolation and loneliness and even included an adapted red carpet “landing day/move-in” experience. We view our communities as the safest place to be [with our] proper training and education, personal protective equipment, disinfection procedures and aggressive COVID-19 testing programs. How have your marketing strategies changed? Moberg: We pivoted by creating COVID-19 sales strategies including altering our messaging to focus more on care and safety and how we can help people during challenging times. Digitally, we worked to bring on a chief storyteller who showed a behind-the-scenes look at Thrive culture, created a YouTube channel to share online content to increase awareness when families could not visit and increased online presence as we allocated more toward digital spend to drive more traffic to our website. We saw increased sales throughout the pandemic with safely executed event activity. What role does technology play in your marketing? Moberg: We sourced a new video app that allows us to send videos to prospects as a follow-up; a platform to enhance virtual tours; a “thank you”...

The demolition of a decrepit public housing project in Annapolis, Md., is making way for new memories and a brighter future for families. The project is six years in the making and will boost the quality and quantity of affordable housing in the city. New growth in Annapolis Yardi client Pennrose recently broke ground on the Newtowne 20 project. The redevelopment site will be home to 78 much-anticipated affordable housing units. Families can choose between one-, two- and three-bedroom floorplans. Most units will surround a central garden while others stack the perimeter. A 3,500-square-foot community center, basketball court and playground accentuate the property. “Through persistence and determination, we have reached a great milestone in the rebuilding of this great community,” said Melissa Maddox-Evans, Executive Director/CEO of the Housing Authority of The City of Annapolis during the virtual groundbreaking ceremony. “We thank all of our partners for their hard work and support as we move forward with the construction phase. We are glad our residents will be able to have this opportunity for a new start for themselves and their families.” Patrick Stewart, Regional Vice President at Pennrose said, “We’re excited to continue our partnership with HACA as we transform outdated public housing into a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood with high-quality affordable housing, community amenities and open green space.” He continued, “Today’s milestone brings us one step closer to completing this full-scale revitalization and welcoming residents back into their new, modern homes.” Neighborhood revitalization offers new opportunities to existing residents The site of Newtowne 20 is the former home of 810 Brooke Court, a public housing project constructed in 1971. After more than 50 years, the site is receiving a new lease on life with high-quality, energy efficient units. Existing residents of the neighborhood will benefit from...

With multiple communities each submitting up to 200 invoices every month, Linda Adams was shuffling a lot of paper. The accounting manager for Burlington, Mass.-based senior living provider Northbridge Companies spent much of her time digging up receipts or tracking down paper records across numerous decentralized offices. “When I had questions, I had to call another office for answers. They’d have to find the invoice, scan it and send it to me for review. It was very time consuming for all concerned, she recalls.” But now, solving a discrepancy at any property is easy thanks to Yardi PayScan, which is part of the Yardi Procure to Pay Suite, a single connected solution for supply procurement, invoice processing and vendor management. Yardi PayScan allows the accounting department to access invoices and check whether payments have cleared without having to pick up the phone to call another office. In other words, team members could self-serve, reducing internal dependencies and churn. But time savings wasn’t the only benefit. Yardi PayScan eliminates copying, mailing, and storing paper—and minimizes touch points that can lead to lost invoices and data entry errors. “There’s no need for us to use up valuable office space with paper invoices anymore when everything we need is available electronically. Once the tax returns are done, we can throw the documents out,” Adams says. “I can go back and look at invoices from 2012, and they’re right there. Plus, it really cuts down on all that lugging paper back and forth when I work from home.” Adams and the rest of the Northbridge Companies team also appreciate the versatility of Yardi PayScan. “You can make the approval process as intricate or as easy as you want, which I love,” says Adams, noting that custom workflows, flexible...

Yardi client Bozzuto recently announced its expansion into the west coast! With the right people and technology in place, Bozzuto positions itself for growth and success in the new frontier. Bozzuto: spring heralds growth for the property management company In 33 years, Bozzuto has grown into one of the largest property management companies in the United States. The company currently has a presence in 11 markets along the East Coast as well as a properties in Chicago and Milwaukee. In total, Bozzuto manages 85,000 apartments and 2.5 million square feet of retail space. Moving forward, the Greenbelt, Md.-based property management company is setting its sights on the Pacific Coast. Bozzuto’s first West Coast projects will take place in Washington and California. Read how the Bozzuto Group increased online prospect engagement with RentCafe. Expansion requires the right people and the right tools. The property management leader recently hired Heather Wallace as the managing director of Client Services. Wallace brings 20 years of experience in operations, acquisitions and development for real estate firms. She previously served as a senior executive with Sares Regis Group. Bozzuto Management Company president Stephanie L. Williams says, “The addition of Heather Wallace ensures that Bozzuto will continue to grow through thoughtful and strategic relationships.” Williams continues, “We hold ourselves to the highest standard of delivering the exact same extraordinary experience our customers have come to expect, across our portfolio.” For tools, Bozzuto relies on scalable property management technology by Yardi. Bozzuto + Yardi, growing together As a foundation for its sustainable growth, Bozzuto sought technological solutions that facilitated efficiency, innovation and scalability. Bozzuto turned to Yardi for property management, accounting, procurement, business intelligence, asset management and marketing solutions. Through nearly 20 fully-integrated products and 17 years, Yardi and Bozzuto have grown...

Many senior living community operators are finding creative new ways to broaden their residents’ entertainment and activity options. In fact, Forbes reported in November 2020, entertainment has emerged as a marketing differentiator. “Many [seniors] are sharpening their focus on independent-living communities that not only provide creature comforts and an aesthetically pleasing brick-and-mortar living environment, but hospitality-inspired entertainment, trips and outings enabling highly-sought connections. Saying, in effect, ‘Let us entertain you,’ is good business for senior living communities.” That’s why “savvy senior communities are emphasizing the delivery of socially focused programming to bring mature adults together in fun, entertaining and educational ways once they’re safely able to drop the masks and rub shoulders again.” Even before the lockdown, “many retirement communities [were] stepping up to the challenge and redefining what fun looks like,” according to Denver-based Spectrum Retirement Communities. “If you were used to hosting get-togethers with friends and family, there’s no reason for that to change after moving to a senior living community,” said Brad Kraus, the company’s president and chief executive officer. “Those of us in charge of planning entertainment need to focus on designing activities that are elevated, purposeful and the entire family can experience.” Spectrum once sponsored a nationwide gingerbread house design competition with residents, team members and family members. One community in Texas came up with 3-foot-tall creation made of 600 sugar cookies, six buckets of frosting and 30 pounds of candy. Another in Colorado created  Pike’s Peak facsimile. Spectrum residents have also participated in volunteer activities involving pet shelters, waste reduction programs and homeless support, among others, “Why not make it possible for residents to continue giving back to the community with their family by their side?” Kraus says. “It’s our job to create that possibility. We want to...

Yardi Aspire gives senior living community operators the tools to train their staffs in everything from software skills and compliance to company policies and career development. The system’s convenient on-demand course content and documents help teams work more productively and efficiently. What training topics can be covered through Aspire? Everything from clinical skills, safety, new employee orientation and health records compliance to leadership, time management, software applications and more. As an added benefit, users seeking to customize training can build their own content and add pre-built videos. Equally important, users can create, maintain and administer courses without adding IT resources. The system also accommodates courses from other learning management systems while offering convenient esignature and employee survey capabilities as well as collection functionality for other types of surveys. “Aspire projects energy, forward focus and confidence. When employees feel those emotions at work, they are positioned to gain career skills and make a difference in their organizations. That’s exactly what Aspire brings to our clients through its broad scope of features,” says Terri Dowen, senior vice president of sales for Yardi. Learn more about how Aspire can pave the way for better community management for residents, operators and family...

As a company grows, it can be challenging to maintain a personal connection with the communities that it serves. When two international chains and a national housing provider behave like good neighbors, communities take note. CVS, Walgreens and EAH Housing have teamed up to provide in-house immunizations for seniors and other vulnerable groups. Rapid changes in senior living communities Seniors have faced unique challenges during the pandemic. To protect vulnerable residents, senior housing providers were required to cancel conventional family visits, group excursions and most daily outings. With ample creativity, staff members helped seniors thrive during quarantine. But undoubtedly, seniors missed time with their families and trips outside of the community. Additionally, seniors had to embrace technology in new ways. Seniors are a tech savvy bunch, and technology adaptation comes with health benefits. The new approach to health care, however, replaced many in-person office visits with telehealth options. Seniors again found themselves on unfamiliar terrain. The COVID-19 vaccine could save lives. It would also provide a safe way for seniors to resume a somewhat normal lifestyle. But with cases on the rise, venturing outside of their communities to access the vaccine posed risks of its own. Senior housing providers such as EAH Housing sought means to bring vaccinations to residents. CVS, Walgreens, and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) answered the call. Walgreens and CVS answer the call to serve seniors Yardi client and affordable housing provider EAH Housing recently announced that residents are receiving Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccinations. The initiative is part of an immunization clinic provided by Walgreens and CVS. Residents and staff of Reflections at Barbara Ann in North Hollywood were among the first recipients of the vaccine in January. This month, the site completes the second dose of the program. Reflections...

Knowing what not to do is as important as understanding what should be done. That’s a key takeaway from a new Yardi ebook designed to help senior living communities market their offerings effectively. “8 Do’s & Don’ts for Senior Living Community Websites” offers tips for sprucing up digital curb appeal, maximizing the impact of a website’s most visited pages and more. The list of “dos” includes showing multiple views of a floor plan, helping prospects identify the unit that meets their needs and boosting traffic by sharing images on social media. The “don’ts” address rising above a bad user experience, avoiding inferior photography, not expecting photos to speak for themselves and resisting the impulse to mimic competitors. Looking for new ways to use your marketing website to make your senior living community both more visible and more appealing to prospective residents? Read the ebook for all the do’s and don’ts of getting those prospects to your page and into your...

Industrial real estate continues to see strong rent growth and high demand, driven by pandemic-prompted online shopping trends. Industrial rents averaged $6.44 per square foot in January, a 5.1% increase over the last 12 months, according to a new CommercialEdge Industrial National Report. Even as vaccinations ramp up and more people return to more normal-looking lives, demand for industrial is expected to stay strong. New leases signed in 2020 often included premium pricing, with the average rental rate for new leases signed in the last 12 months at $7.50 per square foot. The average vacancy rate was 6.0%. Continued demand for industrial space will sustain rent growth and drive vacancy rates lower. “We expect that demand will continue to increase even if e-commerce does not match its blistering 2020 growth rate. E-commerce has a continued role to play, and last year likely signaled a structural shift in consumer preferences more than temporary changes in behavior. Retail as we knew it has changed, and in its place warehousing and distribution have increased in importance,” say analysts. An improving global economy, ramped up trade volume and inventory replenishment for retailers will be additional drivers. Sector investment activity is healthy and growing as well. The fourth quarter of 2020 now has the highest sales volume of any quarter since Yardi Matrix began collecting industrial data, with $11.9 billion of sales completed. Properties fetched an average price per square foot of $100, an 18.2% increase year-over-year. Find more trend and data insights in the latest national industrial report from CommercialEdge. CommercialEdge provides extensive property data that includes transaction, ownership and debt information, offering nationwide coverage across all commercial real estate asset types. Use the platform to uncover vital market data and get insights with the latest lease and...

Lindsey Hacker is the CFO of Tampa, Fla.-based Validus Senior Living, which manages facilities for independent living, assisted living and memory care in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. Hacker joined Validus in 2017. Here she offers insight into the twin challenges of providing exceptional care while innovating. The following is excerpted from an interview published in Multi-Housing News. How have you been ensuring the safety of residents and staff since the onset of the health crisis? What changes do you expect to be temporary and what is here to stay? Hacker: Like most of the world, our entire operating model needed to shift very quickly to ensure the safety of our residents and teams. Mask usage, hand hygiene, social distancing and personal protective equipment are now second nature. We screen all associates and any vendors or visitors and take their temperatures prior to allowing entrance to the building. Our cleaning process and solutions changed to using nontoxic chemicals against COVID-19 and performing more frequent cleaning. We added ultraviolet light technology, which is not common in assisted living. These UV light cabinets give our teams the ability to sanitize and disinfect items in less than 5 minutes—perfect for high-touch items like keys, phones, eyewear and our iCare technology devices. I think the pandemic has made us have a stronger focus on all aspects of infection prevention, so although we are hopeful we will not have to remain 6 feet apart, many of the other precautions will remain. Now that vaccines have become available, how is Validus approaching the vaccination process? Hacker: We are approaching it with education, positive reinforcement and role modeling. For our residents, we are seeing very high participation rates, which is very encouraging and not completely surprising since this generation saw polio...

The Housing Authority of the County of Kern, headquartered in Bakersfield, Calif., will implement Yardi’s Rent Relief cloud-based software to support its Emergency Rental Assistance program. As an administrator of federal stimulus funds directed towards helping households and landlords recover from the economic impacts of COVID-19, Kern expects to disburse millions in funds over the coming months. The emergency rental assistance program is designed to prevent loss of housing by supplementing rent payment for households impacted by the pandemic and by helping landlords keep current with mortgage payments. Kern County weighed the merits of several software providers before selecting Yardi. “Centralizing emergency rental assistance onto an end-to-end, single platform that tracks everything from initial application to executing payments will make us more efficient and enable us to operate with complete transparency. Yardi has a documented history of processing millions of monthly financial transactions as well as creating cloud-based interfaces for end users and housing staff. I expect Rent Relief will leverage that experience for the benefit of our community and staff,” said Stephen Pelz, executive director of the Kern County Housing Authority. Rent Relief powered by Yardi is a new solution that leverages decades of technology development and client support. Rent Relief offers portals for households to submit applications for assistance including easy upload of supporting documentation. Kern County housing staff will be able to log on to view and process applications, disburse funds to renters and landlords and easily produce the data for state and federal oversight offices. “Yardi is committed to help agencies keep renters housed as we endure the pandemic. We have nearly four decades of experience developing this type of full-service technology,” said Chris Voss, vice president of affordable housing at Yardi. Learn more by visiting RentRelief.com or attend an upcoming webinar. State and local...