Korman Means Quality Outside the Greater Philadelphia area, the Korman name might not mean much. But in this submarket, the Korman name goes hand-in-hand with quality housing. The Kormans have been in business since 1919, and have large master-planned developments in several markets, from single-family homes and retail to multifamily housing and hotels.
Now, with the fourth generation at the helm the company has spunoff into three separate management companies – Korman Residential Properties Inc., Korman Communities Inc. and Korman Commercial Properties Inc. – so that each segment of the family has the chance to control its own destiny, says John Korman, president of Korman Residential. Leading Korman Residential is John Korman; James Korman, executive vice president; and Carolyn Korman Jacobs, director of marketing.
Controlling their own destiny meant expanding the third-party management services and the extended-stay component of Korman Residential; Korman Communities spent more time on multifamily development opportunities, and Korman Commercial took advantage of the retail market.
“One of the major reasons for the spin-off was so we could each go and take advantage of different opportunities,” explains John Korman. While all three companies have taken different approaches to growth, they each retain ownership in the properties owned by the company before the 1996 split. And Korman Services, a fourth division, provides centralized services such as tax accounting to the other three companies. In addition, Korman Residential and Korman Communities benefit from group purchasing programs. They combine their name and size to get the best deals on supplies and services.
The companies also benefit from the reputation that their fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers built. “The benefits of our name have been passed from generation to generation. … Our generation is now buying, building, doing all sorts of things as an extension of the three generations before us,” says John Korman. “We are very fortunate in the sense that we have a brand name which makes us somewhat unique in this market. When you’ve been in business for a long time, your name is very important.”