Blue Rock Partners

The Park at Vineridge in Altamonte Springs is representative of nearly 4,000 units owned and managed by Tampa-based Blue Rock Partners LLC.

TAMPA - While the collapsed single-family housing market continues to spread its pain indiscriminately across the rental apartment sector, one local operator said his company is relying on excellence in property management and customer service to stay ahead of the game.

Randy Ferreira, CPM, a principal partner in Blue Rock Partners LLC, said his company has been able to keep occupancy in most of its properties in the low-90% range. But he’ll admit it hasn’t been easy to keep the portfolio of nearly 4,000 units performing.

“Rental rates - as in most projects - are off the mark and are definitely being challenged. We’re having to do lots of creative things to keep our incomes leveled off. It’s a difficult market right now,” he said.

Trouble in the single-family housing market, Ferreira said, has had the effect of making things more difficult - not easier - for apartment operators.

“The housing market - as it continues to be challenged - is putting more houses in the market for rent. You would think it’s just the opposite. In fact, it’s just causing more rental property to go on the market just as cheap or cheaper than an apartment,” he said.

“But because we keep our properties so well maintained, and our focus is on customer service first, it has provided us with a bit of an edge. Our people are well trained. Obviously, the bottom line is important, but we get there through customer service.”

Ferreira and Principal Partner Reuven Oded founded Blue Rock in 2003. Ferreira was a former co-founder of Tampa-based Landmark Residential, while Oded previously served as COO of Canpro Investments, a large commercial real estate development and management company in Canada. Oded joined Landmark as an investor and came on board to oversee renovations. When Ferreira later sold Landmark, he and Oded decided to form their partnership.

Blue Rock holds most of its properties in the Tampa Bay area but also has two complexes in Winter Springs and Altamonte Springs. It also owns The Park at Bay Plaza business park and executive suites in Tampa.

Deerfield Beach-based Konover South LLC recently acquired a strategic stake in Blue Rock, purchasing the 390-unit Park at Dorchester, formerly Grand Rivage, and the 228-unit Park at Knightsbridge, formerly Hawthorne Place, both in Brandon. Konover South is an affiliate of The Simon Konover Company, West Hartford, Conn.

Oded and Simon Konover earlier developed a major hotel at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn. Ferreira said Blue Rock remains open to forming additional equity partnerships.

Blue Rock will continue to seek acquisition opportunities in both apartments and suburban offices, Ferreira said, applying the same management principles to both sectors. Doing so, he said, has enabled the company to keep its office occupancy 4% to 5% higher than the market.

“We try to mirror our operation on the residential side by providing very personal service to our tenants,” he said. “We try to get to know each on a first-name basis and focus on customer service - making it less of an office atmosphere and more of a community atmosphere. This has made us more successful when it comes time for them to renew.”

In the meantime, the emphasis will be on maintaining Blue Rock’s standards despite the market difficulties, Ferreira said.

“I think it’s going to be challenging for a while. We’re going to have a very challenging 2010. My opinion is late in 2010 we’ll see some relief coming,” he said.

“We saw the market changing early and began thinking through the process of responding. We’ve always managed and owned from a conservative position. We’ve conditioned ourselves early on to have ample reserves to weather a storm. That conservative approach is helping us now.

“We’re going forward with a similar plan of action - focusing on customer services, being more creative in marketing, and continuing our staff training. We constantly do marketing seminars and strategize on a property by property basis,” he said.

“And we have some trade secrets that have definitely helped us. Reuven and I have been through these markets previously. There’s no crystal ball. It’s just good solid management and focusing on customer service. Back to basics. That drives the bottom line.”