February 2015 — Property Management Quarterly —
Page 11
based production company to create
a fire and life-safety video that is
specific to 1900. Mandarich has bud-
geted for a similar video to be made
for the Gates Building.
Once the building completes sev-
eral successful regular fire drills, she
has even more plans. “You’ve got to
mix it up, even with something as
simple as the annual fire drill,” she
said. She plans to eventually incor-
porate more complex drills at both
buildings, such as a blocked stair-
well or lobby, to ensure that every-
one is still reacting properly and not
just going through the motions. “I
would do more drills [in a year] if it
was more acceptable, but you can
really only get away with one.”
The safety of those in her build-
ings is Mandarich’s most important
professional priority. “I never want
anyone’s life to be in danger,” she
said. “If it’s not life or death, the rest
is just business.”
Why Plans Matter
“We property managers do so
much reprioritizing that I’m often
wondering, ‘Did I get enough
done?’,” she said. “We don’t get to
leave at night feeling like everything
is all done. And we don’t know
walking in what we’ll deal with that
day. I love that part about the job,
but it’s hard too. So it’s important to
make sure everyone is on the same
page with plans. Sometimes you
don’t get to start and finish a proj-
ect when you want.”
Property management is all about
having plans, she said, and she
has a plan for everything, includ-
ing sustainability, finances, her
team and the industry. She also has
construction/building plans and
project plans, which often depend
on the budget. Projects can include
the routine cosmetic updates she’s
working on now of carpet or light-
ing replacement to major struc-
tural endeavors, such as an outdoor
canopy her team built last summer.
“This job is so fun because there’s
so many different things you get to
do,” she said. “It’s fun to have differ-
ent little projects.”
Mandarich has been in the indus-
try for 15 years, after graduating
from the Franklin L. Burns School
of Real Estate and Construction
Management at the University of
Denver, following in her father’s and
grandfather’s footsteps. “I can confi-
dently exclaim, ‘Real estate is in my
blood,’” she said.
But Mandarich’s love for her
job started earlier than that. She
received her first dose of property
management from spending time
with her grandma, who owns a resi-
dential property management com-
pany. “As a 6-year-old child, I would
play property management in my
grandmother’s basement,” she said.
“She had a desk, business card Rolo-
dex and desk calendar, and I would
perform leasing tours of the rooms
in the house.”
Mandarich identifies other major
priorities, after everyone’s safety,
as maintaining a strong, positive
relationship with her building own-
ers, managing the individuals on
her team and managing deadlines,
especially relating to accounting.
“You can’t miss those accounting
deadlines because they’re a direct
reflection of your credibility,” she
said.
In order to keep the owners
happy, Mandarich follows this rule
of thumb: “Would I be comfortable
introducing my owner to this?” She
follows this rule very closely when
dealing with her vendors. “Your
vendors are an extension of you and
your team,” she said. “At the end of
the day, are they performing to a
level I’d be OK with my owner see-
ing?”
It’s also important to maintain
good relationships with her ten-
ants, which, in turn, makes owners
happy. During the Platinum LEED
certification process, Mandarich’s
team hosted a variety of creative
events to engage tenants and get
them excited for the process. “We
wanted to help them see that the
awards are for more than just build-
ing management,” she said.
An entire marketing plan was cre-
ated to get the tenants involved and
excited. During the survey week,
which was advertised with emails,
posters and announcements, Man-
darich also hired a small string
band to play in the lobby. “We want
to create a memorable moment,”
she said. “People remember the
way you make them feel, and we
want them to feel like management
cares.”
s
A poster used by Mandarich’s marketing team to engage tenants in the LEED certification process.
A site map of the Bentall Kennedy campus in the Union Station District.
Mandarich with her husband Mark, and
daughters Stana, 3, and Eva, 11 months.
When the Class A, 17-story,
400,000-square-foot commer-
cial office building received the
LEED Platinum recognition, it
reported:
• 60 percent of building occu-
pants use alternative transpor-
tation when commuting to and
from work.
• Water usage is reduced by
746,500 gallons per year from
code, a 37 percent use reduction.
• The building consumes less
energy–19 million kilo British
thermal units–than the average
office building of the same size.
This reduction is equivalent
to 4,872 metric tons of carbon
dioxide emissions.
• 91 percent of the electronics
purchases are Energy Star com-
plaint.
• 32 tons (58 percent of the
waste generated by the build-
ing annually) is diverted from
landfills.
• An Energy Star score of 94.
1900 Sixteenth St.
sustainability efforts
