November 21, 2022

Welcome to People and Properties, the Cohen-Esrey newsletter where we celebrate the successes of our team members and keep you informed about what is happening in the Cohen-Esrey world. If you have something you would like to share or an achievement that you would like to celebrate, please send it to Lee Harris at lharris@cohenesrey.com. If you are on a property, please print and distribute this newsletter to each member of your property team. You can also find People and Properties on KnowledgeNet. Click here to view previous editions.

Net-Zero Energy Costs at Lexington Farms

Lexington Farms is a 32-unit affordable community located in Jerseyville, IL, managed by Cohen-Esrey Communities (CEC) for a third-party client. Each unit is a 1,426 square foot three-bedroom, two-bath single-family house that has an attached two-car garage, washer and dryer, and rents for $685 per month. But it gets better. Lexington Farms is a net-zero energy-efficient property. In the photo above you can see the two primary components – small residential wind turbines and solar panels. Amenities include a beautiful clubhouse, resident computer lab, playground, barbeque pit, and picnic tables.

Residents are thrilled with their ultra-low utility bills. The most savings occur between the months of April and October when there are more hours of sunshine and the solar panels are generating more power. The majority of the benefit comes from the solar panels with the wind turbines accounting for approximately 2%. The solar panels and wind turbines have been extremely beneficial for the residents at Lexington Farms in keeping their electricity cost low and consistent. Even with an 11% increase in electric delivery cost from Ameren Illinois this year, the residents have not seen much difference in their electric bill. Between the months of April and October when savings is at it’s highest most residents will see a bill for only the taxes and fees which amounts to around $30 - $40 per month. That is incredible for a 1,400 sqft home! Additionally, the solar panels and turbines have held up quite well over the past 11 years with minimal repairs needed. The residents are truly grateful for the way their electric bills have been so inexpensive in this inflationary environment.

Jerseyville is a small town of 8,300 people in western Illinois located 50 miles north of the St. Louis metro. In 1827, James Faulkner, a Pennsylvania native, and his family built a small framed structure that was named the "Little Red House," in the area that is now known as Jerseyville. The "Little Red House" served as the first stagecoach station, first tavern, first school, and first bank in the immediate area. By 1834, the small settlement that grew up around Faulkner's home, then known as Hickory Grove by its residents, was surveyed and platted by two immigrants from New Jersey, John Lott and Edward M. Daly. Lott and Daly's involvement marked the beginning of a proportionally large number of merchants, businessmen and settlers from New Jersey. A meeting was called in that same year at the "Little Red House" to vote for a town name, so a post office could be established. The name of Jerseyville was chosen to honor the native state of many of its inhabitants. In recent decades, Jerseyville has been a testing ground in the agricultural biotechnology field. Bayer (formerly Monsanto) owns and operates a facility located just south of the city, which in 1987, was the site of the world's very first biotechnology field trial – first with tomatoes and later that year with soybeans. The facility was also home to the first triple stacked corn trial in 1998, which later became a part of one of Monsanto's top-selling products. It was further expanded in 2008, and now consists of sixteen greenhouses and almost 300 acres of land for field testing.

Heather Sauerwein (2010), is the Property Manager and Nicole Collins-Watson (2022), is the Regional Manager. Heather also manages Brookshire Estates, another property located in Jerseyville. Paige Bohling (2022) is the Property Accountant, Garrett Cook (2022), is the Accounting Assistant, and Rodney Chmidling (2015), is the Accounts Payable Specialist.

We welcome the following new team members to Cohen-Esrey and the Nexus 5 Group.

Karl Peeler – Justin Place, Kansas City, MO – Make-Ready Technician
Todd Smith – Nexus 5 Group – Project Manager
Virginia Searcy – Jefferson on the Lake, Olathe, KSNC – Property Manager.
Kirsten Halcomb – Champion at Bluegrass, Lexington, KY – Property Manager

Meet the Northwoods Team

Meet the Northwoods team in Kansas City, MO. Kathryn Vick (2021), Property Manager

and Nicolas Hernandez (2004), Maintenance Technician.

Northwoods is a 101-unit affordable property that is owned by a partnership sponsored by Cohen-Esrey principals.

Another Empowerment Story

By Alyssa Garza (2022), Property Manager, Loretto at Creekside

Alyssa Garza, (2022), is the Property Manager for Loretto at Creekside, a CEAI asset in San Antonio, TX. Here is what she has to say about her Empowerment:

Cohen-Esrey has Empowered Me to Thrive personally and professionally.

Since starting my journey with Cohen-Esrey I’ve gained knowledge from the CE family and valuable insights on how to expand my professional growth. Cohen-Esrey has allowed me to have a trustful workplace and has increased my motivation allowing me to be a successful leader. The CE Core Values have helped me improve my goals and ambitions to better succeed as a knowledgeable Property Manager. I have been provided with the tools and resources to help guide others to success. CE has shown me how Empowerment is a way to give team members greater responsibility to address the needs of residents and to enable them to make influential decisions. CE has provided me with all things that are important in business, management support, and great leadership. Working for Cohen-Esrey has been one of the greatest opportunities I’ve been given. I look forward to many more years of great partnership with such an amazing company.

Thank you, Cohen-Esrey, for providing me with the tools for greatness!

A Healthy Tip

By Jennifer Turner, SHRM-SCP (2018), Director of Human Resources

November being National Gratitude Month probably comes as no shock since Thanksgiving, a day of practicing gratitude, is one of November’s major holidays.

Since November is here, make sure you’re celebrating gratitude all month long, not just on Thanksgiving Day. There are so many ways to reflect on all we have – from gratitude journaling, to sending your loved one’s gratitude quotes and more!

Here are a few quotes to get the juices flowing:

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” Oprah Winfrey
“It is not happy people who are thankful. It is thankful people who are happy.” Unknown
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein
“As we express gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” John F. Kennedy
“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” Willie Nelson

The following are proven benefits to being grateful and worth getting in a habit of practicing daily!

Gratitude opens the door to more relationships.
Gratitude improves physical health.
Gratitude improves psychological health.
Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression.
Grateful people sleep better.
Gratitude improves self-esteem.
Gratitude increases mental strength.

A Two-Fer!

It’s great when something happens that delivers two of our Core Values. In this case, it’s Community Impact and Team Member Fulfillment. What happened? On November 3rd, 11 members of our Corporate Office team went to a Harvesters facility in Kansas City and packed FOUR TONS of produce. The group also collected food and monetary donations. The Harvesters Community Food Network provides food and related household products to more than 760 nonprofit agencies including emergency food pantries, community kitchens, homeless shelters, children’s homes, and others. Kudos to those team members in the photo below for giving their time and effort for such a worthy cause.

Seated (L-R): Eric Kirk (2011) Corporate Accounting Manager; Arley Hoskin (2022) Marketing and Ad Specialist; Haley Hite (2022), Fund Accountant; Emily Fletcher (2022) Property Accounting Assistant; and Leslie Whitney (2022) Property Accountant. Standing (L-R): Lisa Moore (2021), Draw Specialist; Lizzy Darby (2021) Level 1 Web Developer; Betsy Edge (2022) Corporate Accounting Assistant; Kurt Parrett (2008), Senior Property Accountant; Mark Fletcher (2008) Chief Technology Officer; and Brent Phillips (2021), Maintenance and Safety Director.

New Trainees . . . Maybe?

Congratulations to Robert Cyrus (2022), Lead Maintenance Technician at Tall Oaks in Conyers, GA, on the birth of Robert Oliver Cyrus IV, born November 1, 2022, at 6 pounds 8 ounces and 19” long. Big sister Raja is very proud!

Bellamy Mae Marie Armstrong joined the world on November 10, 2022. Bellamy is the daughter of Dee Krause (2022), Recruiter in the Corporate Office. She weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces and was 20.75” long. Mom and daughter are doing well!

Robert

Bellamy

A Tale of Two Investors

By Lydia Kinkade (2013), Managing Director – CEAI Funds and iiM, LLC

In 2016, Cohen-Esrey Apartment Investors (CEAI) launched its very first programmatic fund, CEAI Fund XXIII, LLC. This fund was designed to give Accredited Investors access to a portfolio of apartment investments in which they might not otherwise be able to invest. The Fund raised $13,750,000, invested in 13 properties, and has already sold eight of them, generating an eye-popping 19.69% annualized rate of return for the fund to-date. Subsequently, we raised $26,500,000 for CEAI Fund 24, which will include around 16 properties by the time it’s fully deployed. We have already launched CEAI Fund 25 and have raised just under $10,000,000 towards our $26,500,000 goal.

A little-known fact during all this investor interest is that iiM, LLC, an entity launched within Cohen-Esrey in 2013, has a direct tie to our CEAI investor base. Over the years, 23 investors affiliated with iiM have invested a total of $9,125,000 into our various CEAI funds and bridge note programs. That is no small number! In fact, across all the iiM portfolio companies (which consist of early-stage companies in the agriculture, animal health and human health industries), $6,050,000 has been invested by 45 investors. What that means is that a subset of iiM investors have invested far more money into CEAI compared to the entirety of the money that all iiM investors have invested into iiM companies. We are proud to have earned the trust of so many iiM investors and are thrilled to have so much crossover between our two investor groups.

A Conversation with Lee Harris

This is the final installment in conversations with members of the Executive Leadership Team. Today it’s my turn. Since I write People & Properties, I’m not going to follow the same format as the other ELT members because it would be weird to interview myself. Instead, I’ll simply provide some bullet points.

Early Beginnings – I grew up in Manhattan, KS in the 1950s and 1960s. My father was a bacteriology professor at Kansas State University and my mother was a homemaker. Since I was in the 8th grade I wanted to be a real estate developer. I attended K-State and obtained a real estate license while in college. I sold a few houses and did a small development deal during my time at K-State but knew early on that I didn’t want to sell houses – development was going to be in my future.
A Babe in the Woods – I joined Robert E. Esrey and Company in June 1975, fresh out of K-State where I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. Bob Esrey (1970) was a young whippersnapper back then (and I was basically, a babe in the woods) and needed a Property Manager for the 234-unit Park South Apartments in Topeka, KS. I was all of 21 years-old at the time and had never even lived in an apartment complex. I had swam in a pool before but had no idea how to operate both an indoor and an outdoor pool (which Park South had). Bob was my direct supervisor and his training was pretty much “here’s your desk, here’s your phone, lots of luck, you’re on your own.” Of course he denies this but he’s old now and doesn’t remember very well.😊 I struggled mightily for the first few months and pounded the pavement looking for a “better” job. Thankfully in 1975 the economy was in the toilet and there were no other jobs to be found. I finally buckled down and told myself that I just needed to figure out what the heck I was doing. After changing my attitude, things smoothed out significantly for me.
Growing the Company – Bob promoted me in 1976 to a Regional Manager position and I moved to Kansas City in early 1977. Back then we were scrappy and 100% focused on growing the business. I can remember spending a New Year’s Eve at the office preparing a proposal for a significant third-party property management assignment that needed to be in the client’s hands by January 2 (we did win the assignment). There were many times where I would come to the office at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning to get a headstart on the day and would run into another individual (who eventually became a partner as did I) heading home to get a few hours of sleep. Bob never demanded that we do this, but it’s just what was needed to build the business into what it has become today.
Family – I began dating my wife, Barb, while we were in high school. We got married in early 1974 when we were both in college – that’s back when you had to wait nine months to prove to everyone you didn’t have to get married. We waited seven years to have children. Crystal came in 1981 and Charity in 1984. As busy as we were at work, I’m pleased to say that I never missed a soccer game, school play, or any other activity involving our daughters. We are blessed with three grandchildren including Dalton (16) who is Crystal’s son, and Atlas (9) and Astraea (7) who belong to Charity. This past summer, Barb and I came to grips with the fact that we’ve been together for 51 years, and in January 2023 we’ll celebrate our 49th wedding anniversary.
Spare Time – It’s hard to say that I have much “spare” time. Barb and I have been active with the K-State Foundation for many years and sponsor a couple of scholarship programs there. I have been a mentor in the Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program since 2005 and am Vice Chair of the Johnson County Airport Commission on which I have served for the past ten years. We split time between homes in Leawood, KS, and Naples, FL, and enjoy traveling together and with friends.
My Future – Health permitting, I have no plans to retire. At some point in the next few years I will make room for other senior members of our firm to play an even greater role in the leadership of Cohen-Esrey. I cannot imagine not being associated with this organization which has been a part of my life since 1975.
Forever Grateful – I want to express my eternal gratitude to Bob Esrey who took a chance on me at the beginning of my career and allowed me to pursue a multitude of opportunities in the many years since then. He has been an amazing partner and a steadfast friend. I also want to say a heartfelt thank you to Jeanette Jayne (1996) Executive Vice-President and Managing Director, who has been a terrific partner and my right arm since she joined the company more than 26 years ago. What an incredible ride it has been for all of us!

Congratulations to Nicholas Hense!

Congratulations to Nicholas Hense (2021) on his recent promotion. Nicholas was hired a little over a year ago to serve as a Venture Associate for Innovation in Motion (iiM), Cohen-Esrey’s venture capital unit. Nicholas has recently been promoted to a Principal of iiM. He has proven to be a valuable team member in many ways including ensuring our deal flow pipeline is always full by reviewing hundreds of companies, helping facilitate due diligence on four new portfolio companies (plus at least two more this year and others in which we did not invest) and three follow-on investments. Nicholas also expanded the iiM network of co-investors and partners and has done an outstanding job of not only creating our pitch book for an iiM fund but also providing perspective on our investment thesis, fund terms, and fundraising strategy. Behind the scenes, he has helped us refine our internal processes and maintained many different types of records that are critical to our business.

This promotion reflects his performance and is also indicative of an elevation of his roles and accountabilities within the company. We are thrilled to have him as part of our team and look forward to his continued contributions! Job well done, Nicholas!

Customer Fulfillment for the Kiddos

Shanee Howard (2021), Leasing Agent at Forest Glen in Kansas City, KS, has organized an ongoing monthly story time event for the kiddos in collaboration with the Turner School District. Representatives from the district come out once a month and do crafts, games, and read a story. The kids also get to keep their copy of the book. Way to go Shanee! Great Customer Fulfillment for the kids and their parents!

Rapid Success

How about this for RAPID SUCCESS? The Lofts at Ventura in San Antonio, TX, received its Certificate of Occupancy (signifying completion of construction) for a 30-units building on October 19, 2021, and for the other 170-unit building on April 28, 2022. 100% occupancy was achieved on the smaller building in a matter of weeks, and for the larger building in early November 2022 – the lease-up of 170 affordable units developed by the Cohen-Esrey Development Group (CEDG) was completed in less than seven months! Congratulations to Stephanie Jones (2021), Property Manager, and her team for such an amazingly fast lease-up!

And then there is the Village on Main in Waunakee, WI, a suburb of the capital city of Madison. This 50-unit affordable property also developed by CEDG received its Certificate of Occupancy on August 31, 2022. Now, less than three months later, the property is 78% leased and 66% occupied. Another terrific lease-up effort, thanks to Amanda Ashley (2022), Property Manager and Alexis Bachus (2022), Assistant Property Manager. This team will also be handling the lease-up and management of The Landing at 818 in Sun Prairie, WI, which is expected to open in the next few weeks. We’re sure they will work the same magic at this property as well!

Lots of Dirt, Wall Panels, and a Parking Lot

The Lofts at Creekview in San Antonio, TX, is a big hole in the ground right now.

Footings are being poured for the Trails at Lehow in Englewood, CO.

The parking lot has been paved at The Landing at 818 in Sun Prairie, WI.

Site preparation is almost finished at the Loma Vista Lofts in San Antonio, TX.

Wall panels have arrived at the Sinclair Flats in Mankato, MN and we’re going vertical!

NPS Leaderboards

The three NPS Leaderboards have been updated as of November 18, 2022, and the Leaderboards continue to remain the same as October In the 50-Units or Less category Clay Hall (Enid, OK) maintained the lead with an outstanding NPS of +91.11. In the Properties 51 to 120-Units category, Eileen’s Place (Kansas City, KS) kept its lead with an NPS of +75.00. And in the Properties of More than 120-Units category, The Boulevard (Springfield, IL), continues to outpace all properties with an NPS of +92.31! There are 32 properties on a Leaderboard – one more than last month.

We continue to recognize those properties with a Maintenance Survey NPS that is equal to or exceeds our Overall NPS of +34. To qualify a property must have surveys from the equivalent of 40% of its units or more. We continue to emphasize the importance of providing improved maintenance service to deliver Customer Fulfillment. There are 22 properties this month – an increase over last month. As we head toward the end of the year, let’s make an extra effort to deliver the Customer Fulfillment Core Value and WOW our customers.

Maintenance Ticket Surveys