HOUSTON, February 28 -- GHP Management, a subsidiary of G.H. Palmer Associates, recently awarded Asset Campus Housing with the management of their most recent student housing development.

The Lorenzo is a 2013-2014 mixed use student housing development located in Los Angeles, California. The property will be built in two phases: Phase 1 will be completed in fall 2013 with just under 2,000 beds, while Phase 2 will be completed in fall 2014 with an additional 1,658 beds. Upon completion, The Lorenzo will have a total of 913 units and 3,648 beds available to students in the greater Los Angeles area.

The site is located less than one mile away from the University of Southern California,  St. Mary’s College, LA Trade Tech, Exposition Park and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Further entertainment near The Lorenzo includes the renowned Staples Center, LA Live, the Music Center and the Disney Concert Hall. In addition, the site is directly adjacent to one of the 19 stations on the future Expo Line, which will be the first mass transit line to connect Downtown Los Angeles with the Westside.

Paving the way for all future student housing developments, The Lorenzo will offer an unparalleled variety of amenities available to residents. Community amenities will include: five libraries with computers and break out study rooms, a fully amenitized virtual gaming and arcade room featuring XBOX 360 and Wii, a theatre room with stadium seating and   karaoke features, a three story fitness facility complete with a climbing wall, a running track and an aerobic/dance fitness room. Outdoor features will include five rooftop sundecks with views of downtown, four resort style swimming pools with cabanas, three heated outdoor Jacuzzis, two indoor basketball courts with elevated joggings tracks circling each court, and a pro-style sand volleyball court. All apartments will be fully furnished with granite counter tops, brushed nickel hardware, stainless steel Whirlpool appliances, wood plank flooring in living and kitchen area and plush cut pile Berber carpet in bedrooms.  

Asset Campus Housing is proud to work with GHP Management in the lease-up of this new development and looks forward to introducing The Lorenzo as the premier student housing community in Los Angeles, California.

About Asset Campus Housing

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, ACH is an affiliate of Houston-based Asset Plus Companies, a third party property management firm specializing in real estate services for investors, developers, and owners. Asset Campus Housing manages a student housing portfolio of 65+ properties, exceeding 42,000 beds located throughout the United States. For additional information, please visit: www.assetcampus.com.

About G.H. Palmer Associates

G. H. Palmer Associates, established in 1975, is a diversified real estate company with an   aggressive commitment to the future of high-quality, investment grade real estate. The firm has been involved in a variety of properties as a general partner for acquisition of residential, commercial and industrial properties. To these partnerships, the company has contributed the creative and administrative leadership as well as the financial depth to assure each property’s successful operation and performance.

Hosting a Casino Night at a student housing community is a great way to get residents, staff and the local community excited and involved with your property. Most of our student housing properties host a Casino Night at the beginning of the spring semester (usually end of January/early February) and attract a wide range of guests including: residents, non-residents, prospective students, community members and ACH corporate team members.

Spending weeks ahead of time planning the event, our staff is responsible for hiring a third party Casino Party Rental Company to bring in the poker tables, poker chips and professional card dealers and requesting local vendors to donate prizes for our attendees during the Casino Night. In the past, we had one property collect over $5,000 in donated prizes! Other essential elements to consider when planning a successful Casino Night include: food & drinks – must have some delicious hand food & bubbly soft drinks at all time during the event, decorations – follow a generic Casino theme and delegate your most creative staff member(s) to be in charge of cost effectively turning your property into the Wynn Casino, and lastly promotion – you have got to sell this event to not only your residents, but also their friends and the entire University student body. Promoting this event will be easy if you have everything planned and organized; you will be able to let everyone know the prizes they could win, the games they can play (Roulette, Craps, Poker, Black Jack, etc.) and what they will be served! 

Our team at Gateway at Lubbock is hosting their annual Casino Night this coming Tuesday and has created a YouTube video to promote their event.  Watch their creative promotional video below:

+ Rachel Theriot | Senior Operational Manager, Student Housing

Joining Asset Campus Housing in 2012, Rachel brings a wealth of knowledge and hands-on experience in the student housing industry. She has led many facets of the industry including: residence life, leasing, marketing, on site management and training on multiple student housing facilities. Prior to joining ACH Rachel was with JPI and Greystar Management.

In her current position as Senior Operational Manager, Rachel assists in improving distressed assets, trouble shooting and training staff on marketing, coordinating due diligence reports, and performing operational analytical work to help identify inefficiencies. 

+ Tami Hudson | Regional Supervisor, Multifamily

Tami Hudson brings 22 years of experience in the multifamily industry to her new role at Asset Plus Companies as a Regional Supervisor. Tami has expertise in multi-million dollar property renovations, value enhancements of Class B and C type properties, and quick turn-arounds on distressed properties. She works with her properties to develop and implement extensive marketing strategies and operational expense controls, which in return maximize revenue for property owners.

Prior to joining Asset Plus, Tami worked with Greystar, AIMCO, Greystone Asset Management, The Bethany Group and Investors Property Services.  As an active member in the Houston Apartment Association, Tami is currently working towards obtaining her “CAPS” Certified Apartment Property Supervisor designation.

This Friday we are featuring one of our student housing teams, Legends at Canyon, and how they are calling all of their residents, friends, and family members to make a difference for many others.

The team located in Canyon, Texas, came together in making a 6 minute video to promote our company's efforts to raise money for Charity Water.  Every staff member takes part in the video by stating facts and raising awareness to their community on why it is so important to help others receive clean drinking water.

The Legends at Canyon team has a goal to raise $5,000 by April 8th, 2012 - we believe this video will help them communicate the importance of their fundraising and wish them the best of luck!

Domain at Town Centre | Morgantown, West Virginia

Domain at Town Centre, a new student housing development near West Virginia University, held its Grand Opening on January 25, 2012. The onsite staff as well as many corporate team members facilitated in making the event a success. With over 200 people in attendance, the Domain was able to achieve 100% occupancy for the Fall 2012 Academic School Year. Setting a company record for how quickly a new lease-up has been able to fill—ACH began preleasing the Domain in September, 2011.

Campus Circle | Tallahassee, Florida

Campus Circle, a new student housing development near Florida State University, held its Grand Opening on January 18, 2012. Over 400 visitors enjoyed food from a local vendor, music from a local DJ and free take home photos from a photo booth during the event. The positive turnout increased the new development’s popularity amongst FSU students and assisted in placing Campus Circle ahead of the market while going into the spring leasing season.

The Houston Apartment Association held its first annual 5K Fun Run & Walk benefiting the Post-Traumatic Stress Foundation of America. Property managers, vendors, and their families showed up in the 30 degree weather on Saturday morning to support the cause.

Some of our own Asset Plus employees volunteered, walked, and competed in the 5K fun run race including Mark Lindley, Senior Vice President of Construction, Julie Clay, Financial Analyst for Asset Plus, and Tyler Johnson, Project Manager for Asset Campus Housing. Completing his 5K in 18 minutes and 47 seconds, Tyler Johnson brought home first place at the first annual HAA Fun Run! Congrats Tyler and thank you to everyone who came out to support the great cause!

If you have ever called the Asset Plus corporate office in Houston, Texas, you have had the pleasure of speaking with our receptionist, Eva Harris. Eva has been working here at Asset Plus for over 20 years. She has seen the company grow from 200 units to over 34,000+ units, she has been with the company during 4 different office building moves and she has delightfully directed the calls of thousands of residents to their intended audience.  

Around the office, Eva has received the nickname "Eva the Diva" because of her positive attitude, colorful outfits and mad dance skills. While many leave work and go to the gym or go home to have dinner with their families, Eva heads to the Toyota Center for the Houston Rockets games. 

Although she may love basketball, she loves dancing more.  Her passion for dance led to the success of her making the 2011-2012 Houston Rockets Space City Seniors.  Space City Seniors is a group of outgoing men and women who are physically fit and enthusiastic about the Houston Rockets!  We are so proud of Eva and wanted to share her accomplishments with the many of you who speak to her on a regular basis - enjoy her 70's Throwback routine featured below:

With Valentine’s Day rapidly approaching, it is nearly impossible to ignore all of the pink, red and heart shaped paraphernalia on sale at the grocery stores, convenient stores and shopping malls.  Even at our own apartment communities we focus our marketing themes around the infectious love themed holiday, i.e. “You will LOVE living here! We LOVE our residents!”

Over lunch yesterday afternoon, a few Asset Plus employees discussed their favorite Valentine’s Day memories ranging from dinner at Perry’s Steakhouse to ordering in and watching a movie. On the contrary to all of the feel good memories, there were definitely some discomforting Valentine’s Day memories that we had all either heard of or experienced firsthand. While debating which was worse, being dumped in person on Valentine’s Day or via a text message, one employee brought up the scenario of being broken up with via Facebook. Have you ever known this to happen to any of your friends or co-workers?

College students reported sending an average of 96 texts per day and 106 minutes on Facebook per day according to Dr. Rey Junco’s research in “Social Media in Higher Education.” A simple status change from “In a Relationship” to “Single” broadcasts in real time to your entire network of friends and online followers that you are now on the market. Our society works, plays and communicates on social networks like Facebook regularly, is it so out of the norm to be broken up with via Facebook and a simple status change these days?

In relationship to the property management business, we sometimes see apartment renters thinking it is completely fine to publicly “change the status” of their lease agreement via a Facebook notice. We have seen residents simply post a comment on the property’s Facebook Fan Page saying they plan to move out or “please take this is as my 30 day notice.”  However, unlike Facebook relationships where you can change your status instantly online, you cannot do this kind of cancelation for a lease agreement. 

All residents must give advanced written notice of their move-out date according Section 37 of the Texas Apartment Association lease agreement. You legally cannot accept a move-out notice from a resident via Facebook.  Here is a copy of the TAA Move-Out Notice Requirements:

37. MOVE-OUT NOTICE.   Before moving out, you must give our representative advance written move-out notice as provided below. Your move-out notice will not release you from liability for the full term of the Lease Contract or renewal term. You will still be liable for the entire Lease Contract term if you move out early (paragraph 22) except under paragraphs 10, 16, 22, 23 or 31.

• We must receive advance written notice of your move-out date. The advance notice must be at least the number of days of notice required in paragraph 3 or in special provisions—even if the Lease Contract has become a month-to-month lease. If a moveout notice is received on the first, it will suffice for move-out on the last day of the month of intended move-out, provided that all other requirements below are met.

• Your move-out notice must be in writing. Oral move-out notice will not be accepted and will not terminate your Lease Contract.

• Your move-out notice must not terminate the Lease Contract sooner than the end of the Lease Contract term or renewal period.

• If we require you to give us more than 30 days written notice to move-out before the end of the lease term, we will give you a written reminder not less than 5 days nor more than 90 days before your deadline for giving us your written move-out.  If we fail to provide a reminder notice, 30 days written notice to move out is required.

If you are not located in Texas, we advise you to check with your local apartment association and verify what deems a legitimate notice to move-out. Hopefully you will not encounter too many residents notifying you of move-out via Facebook, but in the off chance that you do, you will be fully prepared!

We are proud to announce our most recent multifamily management assignments in Houston, Texas!  

 Casa Miranda

Casa Miranda Apartments and Cypress Ridge Apartments joined our portfolio in January of 2011 and have increased our presence in the Houston market with the addition of 580 units.

 Cypress Ridge

Casa Miranda is located near Beltway 8 and Highway 59, while Cypress Ridge is located near Interstate 45 and the Sam Houston Tollway.  Both properties offer a variety of one, two, and three bedroom apartment homes along with multiple community amenities.

The Heights at Tallahassee, a student housing property located near Florida State University, often receives questions from their residents on what it is like to be a community assistant. The staff told us that they wanted to be able to provide feedback to their residents through examples, so they have created a series of YouTube videos called “True Life - I’m a Heights CA”.

Our community assistants attend university full time and serve various roles on a day to day basis; leasing agent, bookkeeper, mail-sorter, outreach marketer, community liaison and maintenance assistant. With their ability to manage all of these tasks while maintaining a positive attitude, these young adults are true role models for their peers as well as their corporate team members. We applaud all of our student workers and look forward to learning more about what it is like to be an onsite CA through the series: “True Life – I’m a Heights CA”.