Design-Build : Common Area
A Seamless, Full-Service Design & Renovation Process.
Expertly designed & licensed contractor executed renovations of Common Areas.
Redesigning overlooked and under-appreciated common areas, increasing property values/revenues, decreasing vacancies and time on the market.
- Lobby
- Hallway
- Stairway
- Rooftop
- Basement
- Laundry Room
- Lounges
- & Many More!
COLLAR creates confidence upon arrival. Initial emotions can have a rippling effect throughout a property.
Does a prospective owner/tenant envision themselves feeling comfortable, excited, safe; a general sense of “home” when they walk in?
Or is it a dated, dreary, “look over your shoulder”, type of environment?
Those initial thoughts can be a significant distraction from the intended focus - the apartments!
Story Time
Asset Type Scenarios
Frank's family owns a 19 unit multi-family rental property on the Upper East Side of Manhattan for 44+ years. The family has been pleased with performance over the years; primarily due to the property’s prime location providing low vacancy rates and a stable rent roll. However, in relation to the market, it’s an underperforming asset; neighborhood rents have substantially increased as new developments are built and an inflow of younger tenants have migrated to the neighborhood - Frank wants to capitalize. Just last year, the apartments underwent light updates, bathroom fixtures, stainless steel appliances, paint, etc. Frank assumes the family isn’t marketing correctly so he hires a new broker and increases the asking rents. After a few weeks and a handful of open houses, activity is great, people like the space but never put in an application, or more surprising, submit low ball offers. Finally Frank asks a potential tenant what they’re looking for in their next apartment. The property checks off most of the tenants wants, great location, stainless steel appliances, good layouts but falls short on a few variables he never considered... the emotion of walking into a bright, neat, ‘clean’ space. He recognizes the feeling upon entering the building doesn’t match the quality of apartments or location, taking away from the overall impression of how the property will be to live in. “Is the building clean?” “Is management staff attentive?” “Is it safe?”
Brittany has owned her modest 1-bedroom co-op in the West Village of Manhattan for about 6 years. At the time, Brittany was a first time homebuyer, willing to be flexible to get what she wanted; a fun neighborhood, a 1-bedroom and a financially stable building with low maintenance, within her $700,000 budget. She found what she was looking for but the trade off was the building was dated and a bit run down, well kept but certainly showing signs of age. 6 years later, now looking to sell, Brittany has realized other buyers aren’t as forgiving. She had updated her apartment beautifully but couldn’t get buyers past the buildings overall appearance. She spoke with her co-op board president to see if the other 8 owners would be interested in updating the lobby and hallways. After some conversation, they agreed it would be in their best interest to update the property. Brittany was excited, she might recoup her investment plus a profit. Unfortunately, after a few weeks of diligence, Brittany and the board grew impatient with obstacles of accomplishing the project. Architects gave a wide range of costs, contractors were hard to lockdown, design choices and opinions, etc. The owners were frustrated from the ordeal and decided to leave it as-is. Brittany unfortunately sold her beautiful 1-bedroom, West Village apartment for $712,000, $38,000 short of her total investment, 6 years prior.