CBRE Launches New Property Management Service

Photo by Erdenebayar Tursuld via Unsplash

Global brokerage firm CBRE has announced it has launched CBRE Living, a new property management service for the multifamily sector that focuses on the resident experience at apartment communities.

According to the firm, CBRE Living will offer services to multifamily owners and operators that help streamline operations, reduce costs, enhance cash flow and promote a better experience for renters. The team will focus in particular on mid- and high-rise apartment communities and mixed-use properties that incorporate retail. The service will be available to owners of multifamily properties in the U.S.

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Tina West, Americas Multifamily Practice Leader, Property Management, CBRE. Image courtesy of CBRE

The new CBRE Living team will be led by Tina West, a 30-year veteran of the multifamily industry who joined the brokerage firm earlier this year as a managing director and multifamily practice leader for CBRE’s property management division.

CBRE Living will integrate existing services at the brokerage firm, including CBRE Host, a tech-enabled experience service, and Hana, CBRE’s flex-space platform, into their overall approach. 

West told Multi-Housing News that client demand led the firm to creating CBRE Living. 

“For us, it made sense because many of our investor clients have a diverse set of assets within their portfolio and have been asking us for years to provide the same level of exemplary service and management for their multifamily assets,” said West. “We can now offer one of the only fully integrated platforms that aligns communication, objectives, resources and ultimately drives greater values as we add to the bottom-line performance of our portfolios.”

West added that her team has been in discussions with potential clients “at a very furious pace.”

Shifting preferences

Even before the global pandemic hit, the multifamily industry had been taking a closer look at the resident experience and its importance to renters. For multifamily in particular, differentiating one community from the next was what some experts said was the key to creating a sense of place and keeping renters happy.

“You can build the same property 10 times in a row, the difference is the people and the service,” West told Multi-Housing News in September.

And as the COVID-19 crisis told hold across the country and the world, health and wellness features became more important than ever to the resident experience. Many industry leaders expect short-term and long-term changes in the way properties are designed and the kinds of features and amenities that will become standard to a community.