Willy Walker: One of the things that you talked about standardization in the sense of the experience from a client standpoint. Mon: 9am - 5pm. Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Cortland Partners is a global, multifamily real estate investment firm. 0:48 - Willy previews episodes to come. After digging into that a fair amount, we realized that there was really very little, you know as an industry, we pay very little respect to the folks who are turning wrenches if you will. Cortland South Mountain 7017 S Priest Dr, Tempe, AZ 85283 Visit Cortland South Mountain website ( 1) Special offer! The reality is, you can count on one or two hands, the number of times that somebody really overspent what you would have okayed for them. Internationally, we operate a build-to-rent (BTR) management and development platform in the UK. He has looked at other product types within housing, and his main aim in each market is to achieve the desired asset base and scale. The market today is as white hot as we've ever seen it Steven you know that very well. Since its founding in 2005 Cortland has expanded into a global, vertically integrated, multifamily real estate investment, development, and asset management company. There are 10,000 things that can go wrong, and again they will, and so what we felt strongly was to systemize that process to allow us to be able to have a lot of throughput. But the amount of value you created with your team by entrusting them with an unlimited checkbook to make people happy, you can't even put a value on that and that continues to this day. Today it's just a different type of fun because you can do more and do it better, because each thing is systemized so much better. 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. That part didn't take a lot to bite off on that it was largely just math. Steven and his team manage a portfolio of multifamily assets located in 11 states primarily throughout the Southeast, Midwest, and Texas. That's a big step from 2005 being focused on developing multifamily properties in Atlanta, Georgia. Get to know the Cortland businesses that build, design, and deliver the spaces we create. So, Steven first of all welcome and thank you for joining me. We could have never done that if we had done each of those with a host of external vendor relationships as opposed to a team internally that worked on everything. You had folks who lived in multifamily after college, the newly divorced, newly unemployed, newly moved to a new city, newly graduated, usually it was a short-term stint, it was a transitional period in most folks lives, and largely if you think about it most folks lived in an apartment until the very first point, they could afford not to. And like a lot of things that worked great until it didn't. Cortland Engaged Employer Overview 569 Reviews 120 Jobs 913 Salaries 80 Interviews 179 Benefits 91 Photos 164 Diversity + Add a Review Updated Feb 23, 2023 Find Reviews Clear All English Filter Found 548 of over 569 reviews Sort Popular Popular COVID-19 Related Highest Rating Lowest Rating Most Recent Oldest First 3.7 68 % We are looking at other product types within housing. Back when we got started really doing this heavy value add, no investor wanted to do it. From New York to Miami and beyond, we create places where residents feel equally at home and inspired. That team, by the way, is now about 40 people and we're still always struggling to stay current to keep up. 346-206-1014. 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. 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. Headquartered in Atlanta,we own and manage apartment communities across the US with regional offices in Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Greenwich, Houston, and Orlando. We're moving now into sensors and putting sensors in the equipment, so we can start to get proactive messaging when things are going to fail, instead of waiting until they fail. But thankfully there's so much opportunity, as you know, within multifamily in the markets we're in. Steven DeFrancis: We felt the brand was very important. Visit Website. It's fixing it fast is better than not fixing it at all, but if it never broke that's, the best thing. Forms. We felt then if that was the case, then the next piece was how could you build a system or a machine that could create a lot of throughput? 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. Frankly, historically, most people in the C suite of these businesses deign to get that operational stuff on their shoe. As you know, Willy, from your business you've done a great job with this. Sincerely, Mary S. Community Manager. Choose the option that best fits your needs below and then let us know how we can help. What's your view on the overall market right now as it relates to sort of supply and demand and where pricing is and the ability to continue to get the returns that Cortland has been so successful at producing? There are, of course, opportunities that Cortland could take to move into other asset classes within multifamily housing, or even different commercial real estate classes. Website. Technologies. We're here to help our residents, clients, and communities across the globe. Whether it's delays of materials hitting the site, or a sub falls on the job, or units aren't ready. When we were starved for capital and so making investments in real estate made a lot of sense. 51:39 - Will Cortlands main focus going forward be service or capital? 2:33 - He introduces his guest, Steven DeFrancis, CEO of Cortland. So to your point looking at all the ships on the board, we didn't make the ships move any faster, but at least we now had consistent information about when they were going to get to the port in LA or the port in Florida. It also made that team work together. 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. But a lot of people at that time may have seen the demographic shifts coming, thought that the demographics behind multifamily were really strong, but didn't take the component parts that you just talked about as it relates to a focus on the customer experience. So, talk about a kick to the pride; I couldn't even pay them to represent us. As a top 50 apartment owner and operator, Cortland has a brand and reputation of success and customer service. Faqs. Willy as you're aware, based upon a lot of the work we've done together, in those early years we were raising almost all of the LP capital through a preferred structure, because frankly the LPs thought what we were doing made no sense. About Us. Steven DeFrancis: We do have a great capital team, Ned, you mentioned Chris Lennon. 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. Our ability in markets where we have 20 or 30 assets in a given market, the way SEO and search works just having everything branded with a similar name really helps drive search straight to our website and straight to our product, our locations. As you sit there and think about the next 10 years, what's more important to you; continuing to build on the capital formation side or continue to stick at, it's day-to-day operations and the blocking and tackling that actually brings the capital? 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 Apartment floorplans S1 $1,383 Studio | 1 ba | 530 sqft Unit 2181 - Available Apr 28 2023 A1 Pima $1,303 1 bd | 1 ba | 868 sqft 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. I do miss that piece. Find contact information for Cortland. They were all broken in some manner, and so, as you can imagine, they were extremely inconsistent from a product and location standpoint, and so you could not build a brand around this hodgepodge of assets. 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. Since then, weve become a global, integrated multifamily investment, development, and management firm focused on delivering resident-centric, hospitality-driven apartment living experiences. In part, the Cortland brand developed naturally through the companys consistency of assets; however, the company has also intentionally worked on its brand in order to create passion among human capital and help with marketing. Willy Walker: Thank you Susan and good morning everyone and welcome to another Walker Webcast. This is an overview of the Cortland Dallas campus or office location. Photos. What was the impact, going to be from the meltdown of a single-family mortgage crisis? A focus on stripping out costs to be vertically integrated to allow you to scale from 5,000 units up to today over 65,000 units. Steven DeFrancis: Well, we had a lot of learnings along the way. 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. Im assuming you had to get market returns for your LPs, but your GP return dragged as you were investing in the business. By 2011, we owned and managed 5,000 apartment homes and meaningfully accelerated our plans to build a company that could deliver unique value to both our residents and partners. I can thank Bruce Cohen for the time he spent advising us, putting that team together. Cortland Mallard Creek 500 Solano Dr Charlotte, NC 28262 1-3 Beds 1-2 Baths 740-1,454 sqft $1,455 - $2,118/mo Local Information Map Schools Shop & Eat Google -- mins to Commute Destination Description (704) 327-6476 Come Home to Cortland Mallard Creek We are one of the largest multifamily firms in the US, the Top Brand Performer for online reputation among property management companies. Check out . Please reach out to me directly at 214.496.0727, or email me at [email protected]. 22:17 - Steven comments on Cortlands approach to brand and recruitment. It took us a while to really start rolling out the brand. Visit Website. We believe that fostering sharing and inclusion of all ideas, lived experiences, and world views in the residential community can provide transformative learning experiences for our . 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. 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. Like most other groups in our industry, we went into the downturn, the great financial crisis and late 07, and we thought it would be fairly short lived. Resident Questions Email this Business. 2801 W. Logan. Cortland was founded in 2005 with a focus on multifamily development in Atlanta. And as I look at Cortland now a decade after you really started hitting this growth trajectory, for all of the incredible brand youve built, customer experience you've built, vertically integrated sourcing youve built, and the actual App rehab process, you've also created a capital formation machine that is, there are parallels to it like a Blackstone. So, Cortland decided to provide consistently high-quality living spaces at affordable costs. Please select one of the markets below to refine your search. Wed: 9am - 5pm. To your point you made systemizing appliances and plumbing fixtures and all these things so you get as much customization as possible, which makes nothing will make the service teams job easier is when things don't break. Cortland is the largest owner and operator in the cities of Atlanta and Dallas, as well as in the entire state of Texas. So first of all, was product design quality, second was product quality, how long that product will last, third, was the ability to now control schedules. Let's back up a little bit too when you founded Cortland in 2005 as a small development firm focused on in-town development in in Atlanta and then during the great financial crisis changing from being a local developer to focusing on acquiring and renovating communities across the country. Cortland competes beyond price to deliver exceptional value.Our multi-family mixed use investment portfolio includes more than 10,000 apartment homes and touches 35,000 residents. Not everybody can afford to move into a brand-new high-rise apartment. Speaking of life lessons, we have Bob Glazer renowned TED talk speaker and Acceleration Partner Founder joining us next week. We recently, by example rolled out a concept we call the Leasing Hub, which is instead of having leasing agents in every property who are fielding calls, inquiries from new customers, we centralize those folks. Because it just takes so many people to do it well. $1,200 - $2,050. By progressively cutting out middlemen, standardization became easier and costs lower. Cortland Build is a global, concept-to-completion construction delivery firm specializing in multifamily new build, commercial construction (amenities), and renovation. BBB reports on known marketplace practices. We felt that was important because we did a lot of research before we did this and learned that our brand actually stood for high degree of service, customer living experience, a lot earlier in the cycle than we had anticipated. So, thank you Steven, very much for taking the time. - 8/28/2019 Hey Hannah! The training that you've given them is sort of applicable across the Cortland platform. Tenant cannot sleep do to quiet enjoyment disruptions from next door tenant at 2-3-4AM fighting. In a market like Dallas or Atlanta or any of the markets were in, we don't need to be top one or five, but we'd like to have line of site to 4000 or 5000 plus units because it allows us to first, invest in better top notch human capital, because we have the scale to support it. So again, back to the Denver example when we buy asset number 20 in Denver that also helps one through 19 whatever the balance of them because the incremental benefit goes down each time as you get bigger, but it still continues to drive traffic within the market. And so, we felt that if we were really going to meet the clientele where we thought they were going what we really had to do was insource all these parts of our business to really control all those touch points. View jobs Senior Lifestyle Corporation Careers and Employment Work happiness Scores based on about 385 responses to Indeed's survey on work happiness About work happiness 55 Work Happiness Score We hope the information will help you find an . In general, I always feel appreciated, I always feel I can speak my mind, and I always feel like I am growing. What was it that you either saw as a macro market opportunity or something that you saw inside of Cortland that made you shift strategy? Get Directions. So, what we began to do is say okay let's take those learnings and really pivot the platform to focus on this new environment where the client or our customer needs to be at the center of everything we do. About Cortland Uptown Altamonte. Our Offices +1 (888) 525-8488 [email protected] USA Anacortes, WA 1012 Second Street Anacortes WA 98221 +1 (360) 293-8488 USA Houston, TX 10633 West Airport Blvd Ste 300 Stafford TX 77477 +1 (832) 833-8000 EU The Netherlands Galvanistraat 115 6716 AE Ede The Netherlands +31 682 101 602 270 S Watters Rd. And began to build that team, which has been a great add to the organization. 1-3 Br $1,434-$2,504 0.2 mi. 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. 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. However, Steven hasnt considered expanding beyond housing. Steven DeFrancis: Well, obviously there is an enormous amount of capital looking to get into multifamily which is driving down the CAP rate environment. BBB Business Profiles are subject to change at any time. 54:41 - What is the best and worst leading today versus earlier in the companys life? Then you have a much lower failure rate and then a better system of maintaining that product so you know when you have something that's been repaired three times for the same problem you're probably going to have an issue. Steven DeFrancis: I will never say Id rather leave here to go there, but I do miss the closeness. 08/18/2021. Neither one had ever been there, had no idea what they're getting into but we're going to go figure this out. Tue: 9am - 5pm. Steven DeFrancis: Well, Ill tell you how it started. BBB Business Profiles are provided solely to assist you in exercising your own best judgment. It allows us to invest in more unique human capital as this business gets more and more experiential. The Residence Life and Housing Office at SUNY Cortland is committed to providing safe, civil, and vibrant living communities in support of our academic mission. International Association of Better Business Bureaus. To this end, the company has developed a unique approach of internalizing the majority of its functions. 4:42 - What led Cortland to shift? And then on the broader question any thoughts about taking the model and expanding it out? | Cortland is a product-to-people . That to me, Steven, is sort of where the genius happened, and I just want to understand during that period of time what was it that you were seeing, what was the conviction that you had to invest in those two different areas? Customer Reviews are not used in the calculation of BBB Rating. You have all these vendors working on every project, and so, instead of having an assembly line of work, it's more like you're building each one on a bespoke basis with the project at the center and all of these vendors attached to it, like the petal to a flower. But Cortland really focused on that. There are one million things a day that can go wrong and generally, most of them will. 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. During the economic downturn in 2008, we decided to shift our focus from developing communities to acquiring and renovating existing multifamily communities all with a vision to challenge the conventions of the traditional multifamily industry through better living spaces and experiences. 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