CREJ

April 2020 — Property Management Quarterly — Page 15 www.crej.com Project Management bomadenver.org Design by Havey Productions Y ou’ve heard it before: Location, location, location. Such is said to be the most important ele- ment in the world of real estate investment. And yet, when it comes to tackling construction projects, it’s planning, communication and exe- cution that really take center stage. As a manager of commercial real estate, there inevitably will come a time when your responsibilities include overseeing, if not running, tenant improvement, or large capital projects. How you handle that start-to-finish process can make or break the success of not only the project, but also the rep- utation of the building and the future leasing decisions of existing tenants. While asset managers work to drive value for ownership by making deci- sions that ultimately will increase the net operating income of the property, the execution of such projects often falls to the property management team. If this is not handled properly, it can wipe out whatever well-inten- tioned value creation was to occur. In this sense, your job as a property manager is to effectively execute the desired capital, repositioning or tenant improvements with as little impact to the existing tenants as possible. When preparing to undertake a significant capital project or tenant improvement, the initial planning sequence is critical to the success of the project.The first part of that plan- ning process is assembling your team: your architect, engineer, general con- tractor, building engineer, operations vendors, security team and emer- gency response team all need to be approached. Depending on the size of the project, you may have a construc- tion manager, too. And even if you do, you’re responsible for your building and what occurs in it, or to it. Aside from the tenant impacts, a determination of who will be integral in the performance of the project, its completion and continued operation of the building is imperative. After ensuring the appropriate mem- bers of your team understand the project, as well as its objectives, impact and time frame, the next step is to start what ultimately will be a continuous chain of communications with your tenants. Some tenants inevitably will be more impacted than others and, in those instances, a more personal approach will be necessary. Of course, a dialogue and open communication with all tenants will help get the buy-in of the building.The process can start with a building email broadcast fol- lowed by an in-person visit from the management team to answer ques- tions, face-to-face, with each tenant. Renderings and other visual images on large remodels help show tenants that the end result will be worth the tempo- rary inconvenience they are experienc- ing. It also is important to continually provide updates on the project, along with pictures of any progress being made. And, depending on the size of the project, biweekly or monthly project updates should be provided; if necessary, daily check-ins of the most impacted tenants could, too, be neces- sary. In the end, having strong personal relationships with your tenants will help you in this process as they will provide valuable, critical feedback on the project that you otherwise might not hear from your contractors. Of course, dealing with unforeseen issues and delays is another challenge that will present itself when perform- ing major renovations on an occupied building. Having a plan in place and allowing for delays in the overall proj- ect schedule will help alleviate some of these concerns. However, even greater impactful issues can occur includ- ing, for example, the building’s main entrance being temporarily shut down, a restroom being taken offline or the elevator no longer working.These events propose significant impacts on your tenants, so a personal interaction and relationship with themwill help to, at least in the interim, smooth an issue. And despite being slightly more time consuming, taking that time to speak individually with each tenant helps to demonstrate to your tenants that you care and have concern on their behalf. Build these relationships with the rest of your management team. Have an assistant property manager? She should join you when talking to ten- ants. It is never a bad idea for your ten- ants to have multiple avenues of reach- ing the management team, and at least one secondary point of contact if you are unavailable. Moreover, be sure to celebrate the Managing construction in an occupied building David Myers Regional manager, Urban Renaissance Group LLC A lobby renovation, finished at the end of 2019, was completed by Urban Renaissance Group while the building remained occupied. Please see Myers, Page 23