“If you build it…” …creating a Property Management company from scratch.

For the past 5 months I’ve been building a (non-affiliated) Student Housing Property Management company from scratch in Orlando, FL serving UCF and Full Sail students. Going forward I’ll be using this space to relate some of the challenges and solutions we come across in that pursuit. I guess you need a few details to understand exactly what I’m about to get into…

The asset at focus is across the street from the University of Central Florida (Go Knights!) and houses about 400+ students in an off-campus, dormitory-style setting. The community is known as CVI-Orlando, or more formally: Collegiate Village Inn. It boasts; a 6000+ Sqft restaurant/dining hall which serves about 22,000 meals each week, weekly housekeeping service, and private 24hr shuttle to Full Sail University.

It also once housed Donovan McNabb when he played for UCF back in the late 90’s.

Cool, right? I’m excited already.

Upon arriving in October, I got to spend a few weeks with the departing Business Manager who had worked with the former partner/director for 11 years. It became clear immediately that this was an incredible opportunity. Every aspect needed updating and reworking in some way – some major overhauls, others just minor tweaks. In addition to the entire operational. marketing, and pricing overhaul we were about to undertake, the entire community was going to get a multi-million dollar face-lift. Every room, every common area, all the amenities – it all had to change, and change fast.

Two things were readily apparent: 1. The staff was dedicated to making CVI the best it could be. Many had been working here for some time and all were open to learning about industry standards and best practices. 2. The ownership cared deeply about rebuilding the community. With long ties to the property and the area, they’ve committed major dollars to setting new heights for UX (user experience) and fiscal returns.

I’ll update you regularly with pictures, policies, procedures, and the philosophies we’re employing to get the job done. If we succeed as planned, there is another CVI in Tallahassee that’s presently awaiting the same system. We’re building something great here and it’s going to be the start of something very big – both for the Residents and the staff alike.

I leave you with our new Mission Statement as it’s absolutely vital to everything we’re doing and everything I’m going to be talking about. Till next week!