"Hard work made fun by good people"

CASE STUDIES:

Case Study: Property Management
Two office buildings, One Lee Park West built in 1964 and Oakwood Tower built in 1971, both located in the Uptown area of Dallas were in foreclosure in late 2010. Occupancy had fallen in just two years from 96 percent to roughly 40 percent. A new owner in conjunction with Dominus Commercial purchased the properties from the lender.

The Dominus team faced an extraordinary amount of deferred maintenance issues. The properties had been red-tagged by the city of Dallas, which threatened to close the buildings entirely due to multiple fire/life and safety issues, electrical and plumbing problems, lighting deficiencies and a host of other problems.

The Dominus team kept the buildings open with 24-hour security and immediately replaced more than 2,000 florescent tubes, rewired more than 200 light fixtures in the parking garages, rewired the fire/life/safety system and elevators, updated emergency contact numbers and replaced the fire alarm system.

They also met with the 70 remaining tenants to explain the Dominus approach to management, keeping them informed of ongoing improvements to the property, and to listen and respond to their concerns in a timely manner.

Within the first 100 days of taking the property management and leasing assignment, Dominus increased occupancy approximately 75 percent in one of the two buildings, and only one tenant has relocated. Many of the remaining tenants have expressed their appreciation to the team and either renewed or expressed their intent to renew. One of those is PaperCity magazine, which has leased space in One Lee Park West for 12 years.

“Steve LaMure and his team at Dominus were given a sow’s ear, and they’re doing their very best to turn it into a silk purse,” said Editor Rob Brinkley. “Dominus has been, by far, the nicest and most responsive managers. They’ve set the bar much higher now for service, attentiveness and understanding.”

A perfect example of the Dominus philosophy of service came during the 2011 ice storm. When Dominus’ management team couldn’t get to the office and the engineering staff couldn’t get to some of the properties because of heavy ice and snow, company president Steve LaMure loaded the back of his four-wheel drive vehicle with sand and salt and delivered it to the buildings himself. He spread the mixture around the buildings to provide surer footing for tenants. Larry Reyes, another Dominus team member, provided security patrols.

Every property managed by Dominus Commercial receives the same high-level, hands-on service. No task is too large and, from the top down, no member of the Dominus team considers any task to be below their dignity.