Outside Influences

Not any more. Village Green hires recent college grads who, then, participate in a six- to 12-month training program, where they get a taste of leasing, property management, risk management, maintenance, and more. “They are well-trained and flexible so as we have growth opportunities, we have a bench of people we can promote,” says Quay.

POP CULTURE Who would have thought a ZIP code could say so much?

Move over, “Beverly Hills, 90210.” There’s a new hot ZIP code: Atlantic Station, 30363. Atlanta’s trendy live/work/play community was awarded its own unique ZIP, and the project’s developer intends to make these five digits as memorable as the old stomping ground of Brandon and Brenda Walsh. Atlantic Station’s marketing campaign casts the development as an address that’s unparalleled in the city. The numbers 30363 are splashed across the Web site and other marketing materials with hip images of people and places.

“The idea of creating our own ZIP code was about identifying a truly authentic address that is such a dynamic, unique, and fun place to live that you could really picture the next hot hour-long show on Fox being ‘Atlantic Station 30363,’ like ‘Beverly Hills, 90210,’” says Brian Leary, vice president of design and development for Atlantic Station.

PERFECT PARTNERS Leary doesn’t just turn to pop culture for marketing techniques; he uses the entertainment industry as a barometer of success for his projects. For the past fifty years, the American Dream was defined as owning a suburban house with a two-car garage and white picket fence—as shown on a variety of television shows like “Happy Days” and “Family Ties,” he says. Now more people are flocking to a place in the city, thanks to the popularity of shows like “Seinfeld,” “Friends,” and “Sex in the City.” Case in point: Atlantic Station is filling up fast, with nearly 2,000 units occupied. (It’s expected to house nearly 10,000 people over the next 10 years.)

SIX SIGMA Take a scientific approach to your business.

Lane Co. has two employees with black belts—but don’t expect them to break out with Jackie Chan moves anytime soon. They hold black belts in Six Sigma, a data-driven approach typically used in the manufacturing industry for eliminating defects in a process. ( The concept became widely recognized with Jack Welch’s implementation at General Electric, demonstrating that such a process could work outside the production line.) Taking a cue from Six Sigma, multifamily firms are looking closely at process control systems.

Lane Co. is already seeing big results. The Atlanta-based company mapped out its process for delivering monthly financials to its properties’ owners. “I spent a lot of time in [the] property accounting [department] and learned how they produce the financial statement,” says Elizabeth Pickworth, Lane’s director of project management who was Six Sigma-trained at Georgia Tech. “I put together a huge process map of what that looked like.” The mapping process, which includes both human and computer analysis, revealed several inefficiencies and redundancies in the company’s current procedure, allowing Lane to reduce the time it takes to deliver the reports to owners from 20 days to eight or nine days.

Berkshire Property Advisors, the operating arm of Boston-based The Berkshire Group, turned to the Six Sigma concept to maximize its return on investment through value-add real estate. “To create the value and exit appropriately and systematically, you’ve got to create an organization that is much like an assembly line,” says Frank Apeseche, CEO of The Berkshire Group.

Berkshire’s “assembly line” includes all the key people involved in the rehab process, from the acquisition team to property manager, who look at a potential acquisition together to determine if it’s a solid choice. This model derives from the Japanese variation on the car assembly line, where workers would walk down the line together, explains Apeseche. “We are trying to break down isolated silos and put together integrated teams to think about assets.”