Preparing for what may be ahead of us, I've been thinking about how we adapted and adjusted to previous downturns, in 2008, and during covid in 2020.

And I quickly thought about one of my favorite buildings we've leased up and now manage, which came online during the initial surge of Covid in spring/summer 2020, when most of the multifamily and leasing market was getting crushed.

One Chestnut Place is a gorgeous hi-rise in Quincy Center (Quincy's tallest building).

But with so much uncertainty and 140 apartments to lease-up, we had to get creative and pivot quickly.

Here's a snapshot of what we did:

➡️ We went from hard-hat and model unit tours to live virtual presentations with our leasing team. We created a brand-new leasing playbook that we still use today.

➡️ We completely revamped the property website, messaging, and advertising, on the fly.

➡️ We shot videos of all available layouts and of the views to make renting remotely as easy as possible.

➡️ We stayed in constant communication with both the developer and general contractor to ensure safety protocols were being met and all of our timelines and goals were aligned.

We bucked all trends and market forces to achieve 50% pre-leased before occupancy and over 75% leased within 3 months of opening! And had strong continued leasing momentum to fill the building on target with initial pro formas (planned before covid).

This was a bright, shining example of adaptability and great teamwork (including a fantastic developer who made it their mission to deliver an incredible product) - and was a major success for new development marketing & lease-up in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic 2020.

More importantly, it was another confidence booster that we at CHARLESGATE can handle just about anything the market can throw at us.

Our experience throughout the long great recession aftermath post 2008, and through the shock recession (and rapid recovery) of covid, has given us many lessons that we practice in our business today and serve us well in good times and tough times.

That critical experience is very difficult to get unless you've lived it. It wasn't easy either time, but I'm glad we did, and can now use that experience to better guide and advise clients over the next couple of years as the economy slows again.

❓Has your property management or new development marketing and sales partner survived and thrived through previous economic down-cycles?

Might be time to lean on someone who has.