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Success Stories
The Dutch Institutional Holding Company, Sarasota, Florida
Rod turned around sales at a 300-unit condominium complex, turning a five-year old problem into a success story.
A Dutch pension fund had invested today's equivalent of more than $200 million in a luxury high-rise project located on its own peninsula on the Sarasota waterfront. The project had opened right at the tail end of the previous boom. A bevy of problems, including leaky doors and windows, sinking docks, fire code violations, homeowner lawsuits, and bad marketing had all led to an almost complete halt in sales. The project had been up for five years, the investors had taken it back, and they had already tried to fix the problems not once or twice but three times.
Rod's biggest challenge was convincing the fund to invest money once again, and that he could fix the problems once and for all. The asset had become a recurring entry as a "problem" topic at the director meetings in Holland. Rod assembled a top flight team of engineers, lawyers, designers, marketing and management people, and carried out an "audit" that assessed both the true depth of the problems and the likely cost to solve them.
With top level backing, Rod moved ahead with the fix, which included rebuilding trust with existing homeowners. He installed a new marketing office, set about fixing both the code and cosmetic problems, and embarked on a lengthy negotiation process to get two of the world's leading curtain wall experts to agree on how to get the windows and doors to withstand hurricane force winds. This involved putting sections of the building through a wind tunnel test in Miami.
The results? First year sales of more than 75 units, and the sale of most of the remainder of the units by the end of the second year. A board happy to be getting money out of the project, not putting it in. And homeowners able to enjoy their retirement without worrying about problems in their home or the value of that home.