CarterBlog

Georgia State Recognized For Best Dorms in the Country

By Malloy Peterson, vice president of marketing, Carter

ATLANTA (June 28, 2011) - Carter congratulates Georgia State University on being recognized by CampusSplash.com, a dorm review website, for having the best dorms in the country.

In addition to its overall best dorm ranking, Georgia State’s University Commons housing complex, where Carter served as the owner representative, ranked as the fourth best dorm in the country on the website’s “Dormy Awards.” Based on over 7,100 reviews, the University Commons received five stars in categories including location and convenience, quiet study environments and cleanliness.

Completed in September 2007, University Commons is a 2,000-bed student housing facility with a 1,000-car parking deck designed to meet the need of the university’s continued record-breaking enrollment. The university acquired a seven-acre site in Atlanta and through a competitive bid process, Carter was selected to serve as the owner’s representative to assist in the development of the $160 million facility.

During the project, Carter provided a full range of services, including programming, developer selection, financial analysis and design and construction management. Carter also managed the closeout and move-management process upon facility completion.

Congratulations to Georgia State University for having the top student housing facility in the country!

 

Wills Allen Receives SIOR Leadership Award

By: Wills Allen, broker at Carter

At the Georgia Chapter of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors’ (SIOR) 2010 Fall Leadership Breakfast, I was selected as one of three real estate professionals to be awarded the SIOR Scholarship Award. The scholarships are given to professionals currently enrolled in masters programs and were established to encourage graduate students contemplating or pursuing a career in commercial real estate brokerage.  Additionally, the chapter has established awards for licensed commercial real estate professionals who are contemplating application or pursuit of the SIOR designation.

It was an honor being recognized in front of 500-plus of the industry’s most reputable professionals, each of whom average of 20 years of industry experience, at the Loews Hotel in Midtown.

The annual leadership breakfast provides an opportunity for SIOR members to meet with industry leaders from all areas of real estate, while listening to an interesting and insightful speaker who raises funds for charity. This year’s keynote speaker, Mayor Kasim Reed, chose to donate the proceeds from this year’s event to Bright Futures, Centers of Hope and The Study Hall.

The SIOR scholarship positively promotes and represents the real estate industry and SIOR while helping to foster relationships amongst colleagues. SIOR is a very well respected society and demands the highest standards of its members and applicants of scholarships.

I was originally interested in pursuing my M.B.A. because I wanted to further develop my financial analysis skills and to broaden my education on the complexities of today’s business world.  An M.B.A. will round-out my skill set to the benefit of my clients. It is important to know that I am doing all I can to enhance and progress my career.

Carter has been especially supportive and helpful while I have pursed higher education. Successful mentorships have enabled me to efficiently execute at a high-level. Moving forward, I hope to lead by example, inspiring confidence that as a full-time commercial real estate broker and student, one can successfully balance his or her career and recognize immediate benefits from the application of new knowledge. 

I plan to use the visibility from this generous award as a way to extend my leadership skills from the workplace into the community. I am able to continue to support the Georgia Chapter of SIOR through employment at Carter, a community-focused company, which gives me the flexibility to volunteer my time to real estate organizations as well as philanthropic charities.

Finally, I'd like to thank the SIOR organization for this honorable, SIOR Leadership Scholarship.  Thank you for your generosity in supporting me in my pursuit of my M.B.A. 

Wills Allen has worked as a Licensed Industrial Broker at Carter since 2006. Prior to Carter, he worked as a Licensed Sales Associate at Prudential Montana Real Estate in Bozeman, Montana. Wills has closed over 100 transactions valued at over $21.3M in a 48-month period and is currently pursuing his M.B.A through Georgia State and will graduate from the J. Mack Robinson College of Business in December 2011. Wills was awarded Rookie of the Year 2007 and Carter Top Ten Producer 2009. In addition to joining ACBR’s Million Dollar Club, he also has a CCIM.

Carter’s Property and Facility Management Team Exceeds Expectations

By: Holly Hughes, executive vice president and chief administrative officer, Carter

Our Property and Facility Management team has a long track-record of excellent customer service. With more than 25 million square feet under management spread across 11 states, we help clients increase asset values and reduce costs. Our 350 associates deliver industry-leading management standards to each client.

Carter helps clients minimize their impact on the environment while realizing significant cost savings. We manage more than 5.5 million square feet of Energy Star Designated buildings and have benchmarked our entire eligible 25 million square-foot portfolio for Energy Star certification, which will result in a 30 percent decrease in energy consumption by 2012.

Each year we hire a third party performance management consulting company to administer a customer satisfaction survey throughout our portfolio. Scores below 100 percent do not meet the customers’ expectations; whereas scores above 100 percent exceed customers’ expectations. In 2010, Carter’s portfolio-wide customer satisfaction average is 115 percent. Our highest score was 123 percent which is significantly above the national benchmark of 109 percent. Further, every year for almost the last decade, Carter’s satisfaction ratings have exceeded the norm.

As executive vice president for Carter’s Property and Facility Management group, Holly is responsible for all property management operations for third party clients as well as for Carter-owned real estate. Under her leadership, Carter’s Property and Facility Management business has increased 72 percent. Overall, customer satisfaction rates hover over 99% and numerous programs and tools have been developed to ensure superior management services. As chief administrative officer, Holly provides leadership to Carter’s Human Resource, Risk Management, Insurance and Charitable Giving programs. Holly joined Carter in 1997. Prior to her promotion to vice president in 2000 and executive vice president in 2005, Holly managed various properties and facilities totaling more than three million square feet.

Carter Awards Deal of the Month for September to Top Brokers

By: Elizabeth Jinks

Carter just awarded our Deal of the Month honors for September to two brokers and their marketing teams for two diverse, but equally successful office and industrial deals.

The September Deal of the Month for was awarded to Kirk Diamond, senior vice president, and Trish Croom, marketing assistant, for the office lease renewal and expansion of Georgia’s Own Credit Union. Carter's team worked quickly to help the financial institution determine that signing a new 10-year lease and staying at Campanile at 1155 Peachtree in Midtown Atlanta was its best option.

This deal was made even more interesting because ownership of the building changed hands in September as Dewberry Capital purchased the building from Wells Fargo. Campanile is shown in the photo at right.

The second September Deal of the Month was awarded to Senior Vice President Charles Holloway and his marketing assistant Cheryl Dervan for the sale of 6448 Best Friend Road in Norcross.

Charles represented seller Sterling Industries in the sale of the 226,000 square-foot industrial building to Atlanta's Selig Enterprises. The buyer bought the building as an investment deal, and already has a tenant set to move in early next year.

As Director of Research, Elizabeth manages the staff, daily operations and vendor relationships for the group and provides her clients with a link to all of Carter’s many research resources. As author of all of Carter’s proprietary research publications, market overview sections of offer memorandums, third party quarterly reporting, and market forecasting, Elizabeth has an in-depth knowledge of the commercial real estate market, resources, and analytic skills to add value to any project. 

Carter Ranked No. 1 on Atlanta Business Chronicle's Top Commercial Developers List

By: Tony Wilbert, WNS PR

Carter was ranked the No. 1 office developer on the Top Commercial Developers list in Atlanta Business Chronicle. Companies are ranked by the number of square feet developed, ranking Carter at the top with 1,064,900 square feet. The list appeared in the Sept. 3 issue of the paper.

Earlier this year, National Real Estate Investor ranked Carter as the No. 4 office developer in the country with more than 3.5 million square feet of office space developed or under construction.

Consistently ranked Atlanta's top office developer, Carter has held the top spot six of the past eight years. These rankings are a testament to Carter’s successful development platform. As a result of developing more than 80 million square feet throughout the country, Carter has the experience and knowledge to handle any development needs of its investors.

There are many exciting things happening at Carter which will continue to position the company to exceed the expectations of its clients and the commercial real estate community. Carter's diverse service offerings and key strategic alliances will allow the company to deliver on behalf of its clients for many years to come.

Congratulations to WNS client, Carter, for being recognized by two elite media outlets with these prestigious awards.