Design Structure
Monty Hoffman didn’t just invest in transitioning neighborhoods–he persuaded customers to follow him into these areas. Most people familiar with PN Hoffman agree that the firm’s quality product is the attraction. “He has very good taste in what he does, and he builds a very good building,” says Jon Gerstenfeld, owner of SJG Properties, a D.C.-based apartment owner and manager who partners with PN Hoffman.
While PN Hoffman’s designs are contemporary and compelling, they’re not simply done for aesthetic reasons–they’re based on form and function. For example, the company encountered a challenge when designing Metro, a condo building on P Street. In the initial design, condo owners in the back of the building would have found themselves staring directly across the alley into an apartment building. Based on the suggestion of a junior architect, the company rotated the back of the building 30 degrees so that windows now look down the alley, toward Dupont Circle, giving owners a better view and the building a distinct angled rear profile.
Such awareness of the building’s surroundings didn’t end with Metro’s exterior. The developer drew influence from the neighborhood for interior designs, too. “Church Street was historically a place for auto repair garages,” says Shawn Seaman, vice president of acquisitions and development for PN Hoffman. “For us, that meant providing exposed concrete ceilings. In the apartments, we had stained and polished concrete floors, which gave them a more industrial look.”
Exposed concrete was definitely something new for the conservative Washington market. “If you look at the quality of his product, it’s very modern and very cutting edge,” Denecke says. “As opposed to four white walls and beige carpeting, he’s gone for the exposed ceiling and exposed ductwork.”
Architects who work with PN Hoffman attest to the thought that Monty Hoffman and his colleagues put into the company’s buildings. “He cares about trying to develop a large concept throughout construction documents and see it through to the smaller details so that all of those smaller details enforce the big idea,” says Chris Morrison, principal with Washington-based Cunningham + Quill Architects, which has worked on a number of PN Hoffman properties.
In fact, small details may be most important to the CEO. Walk a unit with Hoffman, and he’s apt to point out the slick number panels beside the door, its space-saving kitchen cabinets, or even the door to the bedroom. The idea for the white, sliding barn door came about in one of the company’s design meetings. “It’s an industrial door product mounted sideways,” Seaman says.
Funky hardware and exposed concrete and ducts do present some construction challenges, though, especially when the subcontractors in your market aren’t accustomed to them. That’s why PN Hoffman has its own construction company: It’s easier for the company to control the quality of the product being built. Still, construction can be a hurdle. “For us, it’s hard to get the subs to understand that the plywood they’re walking on will give us a finished product,” says Dave Tapparo, senior vice president of operations for PN Hoffman. “They have to understand that will be in somebody’s unit. You can’t let them make any mistakes.”
Pulse of the Market
Designing and building appealing properties is one thing. But a real estate deal won’t be successful if those buildings don’t suit their target markets. “Monty is able to respond to what a particular area or market wants,” says Doug Firstenberg, a principal of Stonebridge Associates, a Bethesda, Md.-based developer that has partnered with PN Hoffman. “There isn’t a singular design style for the PN Hoffman projects that I see.”
That’s intentional. “They do a lot of market studies and analysis,” banker Denecke says. “They gather a lot of feedback through their Web site and interviews in the sales trailer.”
The centerpiece of PN Hoffman’s information-gathering missions? The Internet, which has helped the firm create a database with the names of 25,000 interested customers, which the company surveys regularly.
To encourage customers to take its surveys, PN Hoffman offers to put respondents on a preferred list for receiving information about a new project. “When we need information, we can get several thousand responses immediately,” Hoffman says. “We ask them about their preferences on finishes and size of units. We often will adjust our design based on the information we get.”
Case in point: The research showed that a number of people wanted to live downtown, but property prices of more than $500,000 per unit at many condo buildings were unaffordable for many Washingtonians. So, in PN Hoffman’s Alta project, the company decided to trim unit sizes so that they could sell for less–$300,000 to $500,000. “If we made units bigger, we had to charge more,” Hoffman says.
When PN Hoffman does do something to adjust its design, having stats to back up decisions make things easier. “They do a good job of selling it [a project] to the bank,” says Denecke. “They’ll tell us why it’s going to be selling at the price points it will sell it for and why it’s being built in such a way.”
PN Hoffman will even survey the members of their Internet database before they decide on a piece of dirt. “In some cases, we’ve gone to our customers and said we’re interested in getting their input to see if we’re building in a desirable area,” Monty Hoffman says. “If it is, we ask what kind of residences they would be looking for.”
