@properties, Seneca Property & Asset Management Form Partnership To Offer Apartment Leasing and Management Services; First Assignment Is 850 Lake Shore Drive

@properties, the largest independent real estate brokerage firm in Illinois, and Seneca Property & Asset Management, a Chicago-based property management firm, recently formed a strategic partnership to offer multi-family owners and investors a full-service property management and leasing solution.

@properties will provide leasing services, while Seneca Property & Asset Management handles property management. Michael Golden and Thaddeus Wong, co-founders of @properties, and Tom Morabito, president of Seneca Property & Asset Management, will jointly oversee the venture.

The venture’s first assignment is 850 Lake Shore Drive, a 198-unit, Class A apartment community by Chicago-based Integrated Development Group and Washington, DC-based National Real Estate Advisors. Straddling two of Chicago’s most affluent downtown neighborhoods, the Gold Coast and Streeterville, 850 Lake Shore Drive involves the adaptive re-use and top-to-bottom renovation of the historic Lakeshore Athletic Club building, built in 1927. Monthly rents at the property range from $2,290 per month for a studio to $12,000 for a three-bedroom duplex apartment.

According to Golden, @properties has been involved in more than 4,000 apartment lease transactions each year since 2011. Seneca has a management portfolio of 1,500 apartments. The partnership provides fully integrated property management services, including marketing, leasing, on-site operations and financial management. Golden said @properties and Seneca are providing an alternative for merchant developers and multi-family investors who do not have in-house management or leasing operations.

“We saw a gap in the marketplace. Third-party management firms aren’t always equipped to efficiently handle large-scale lease-ups. We are because we have the marketing infrastructure in place, and we have unrivaled access to the brokerage community,” said Golden.

Meanwhile, Morabito says Seneca differentiates itself on service and the fact that, unlike many of its competitors, it poses no conflicts of interest, because it does not develop or own apartments.

The partnership gives either firm the flexibility to offer services independent of the other based on the client’s need. For example, @properties can provide lease-up for apartment owners who self-manage, and Seneca may tap property management staff to handle leasing once a community is fully stabilized.

“This market is deeper than you might expect. Owners are looking for alternatives because a lot of management firms view leasing as a necessary evil. When you put that function in the hands of a professional sales organization, they’re going to come at it with a whole different mentality,” said Morabito.

# # #

About @properties:

@properties is the No. 1 independent residential brokerage firm in Illinois and one of the top 20 residential brokers in the U.S. @properties has more than 1,500 licensed brokers in 17 offices throughout downtown Chicago, surrounding suburbs and southwest Michigan. For more information, visit www.atproperties.com.

About Seneca Property & Asset Management:

Chicago-based Seneca offers a wide variety of management and advisory services tailored individually to meet the property and asset management needs of its clients. Seneca has experience with all property classes including commercial (retail and office), multi-tenant residential and condominium associations. Seneca aggressively strives to reduce operating expenses and increase cash flow for its clients emphasizing performance excellence, professionalism, communication, personal service and attention to detail. Every management contract is approached with the sensitivity of a personal investment.