The Shea Way
Shea Properties doesn’t build a lot—it only has about 7,500 units in its portfolio. But when the company decides to tackle a site, you can bet the project will stand miles apart from its competitors.
That’s because Shea isn’t afraid to be different, says Victoria Currens, a principal at Style Interior Design, an Irvine, Calif.-based interior design firm. She points to Trio, where Shea opted to design its leasing center and clubhouse in a soft Deco style reminiscent of the adjacent historical theater district, while many of the surrounding apartment complexes feature a trendy loft-style design. “Everybody in the area was doing this techy loft thing, and we went a whole different direction,” says Currens, who designed Trio’s common spaces. “They [Shea] want their project to stand out from everybody else’s.”
The developer’s creative approach extends to its on-site customer service practices. Each morning, all on-site employees gather for a five-minute briefing on move-ins, move-outs and other property-specific issues—an idea borrowed from the customer-centric Ritz Carlton hotel chain.
Shea also pays close attention to the smallest of details, like only using flat screen computers in leasing offices so monitors minimally affect the leasing agent’s contact with the prospect. And to give due credit to its janitorial staff, the company smartly refers to custodians as resident services technicians. “They are the ones that make the huge difference,” says Shea’s Gilmore. “They have the most interaction with the customer.”
These inventive strategies are paying off. Based on its resident satisfaction surveys, Shea won CEL & Associates’ national multifamily customer service award for excellence for the third year in a row. “They [Shea Properties] have a commitment to quality and service,” says Chris Lee, president and CEO of Los Angeles-based CEL & Associates, a national consulting company. “They take residents’ opinions and these performance metrics very seriously and respond to them.” Plus, each property develops an action plan to address any shortcomings noted in the resident surveys, Lee adds.
With Shea’s constant push for perfection, it’s no wonder that projects like City Lights are attracting the spotlight in the O.C.