THE CHALLENGEUrban American prides itself on running well-maintained, safe buildings and being a partner to each community where they operate. Their business is not only managing the day-to-day operations of their large multifamily building portfolio but also acquiring and bringing new properties in need of extensive repairs up to code. Compliance laws in NYC are ever-changing, and the sheer amount of compliance information, dates, and documents a portfolio of Urban American’s size generates requires a commitment to efficiency and accuracy.

Urban American owns and manages over 8,000 units of workforce housing in New York City. Their portfolio has 80 properties, over 90 elevator devices, and at any given time has 100 active work permits on file with the Department of Buildings for renovations and improvements. They are focused on creating a great living experience for their tenants, which on the building management side means timely and skilled responses to tenant issues, building equipment inspections, work permits for repairs, and more. Using manual processes to track and compile these types of compliance information is not only time-consuming, but also diverts critical resources away from improvement projects.

The UA portfolio generated a huge amount of compliance information that everyone from property managers to executives had a vested interest in seeing. Urban American needed a quick and accurate way to compile and share that information across their organization so they could devote themselves to their core business of servicing tenants. The challenge was in finding a product that provided high-level portfolio compliance analysis and acted as a workflow tool to help property managers and tenant services personnel efficiently track due dates, budgets and potential risk factors.

THE SOLUTIONUrban American’s leadership was looking for system that both continuously and automatically aggregated each property’s compliance data and analyzed that data, freeing their staff to focus on decision-making and priority-setting. They turned to SiteCompli for its constantly updated, intuitive software and exceptionally knowledgeable staff.

SiteCompli technology compiles compliance data from multiple City agencies, and proactively notifies everyone from the building super to top executives of relevant information in real time via email alerts. Building owners, managers, and staff can log-in to SiteCompli at any time to view a portfolio or individual property’s complaints, violations and hearings, as well as important upcoming due dates and reports. Additionally, the SiteCompli Client Services team is always available to answer tough compliance questions and offer solutions.

SiteCompli, upon consulting with Urban American executives, set up a custom-configured account structure to reflect the complexities of the UA portfolio. Each of the 40+ staff members’ email alerts and dashboards were tailored to reflect their role in compliance within the organization. SiteCompli set up recurring daily, weekly, and quarterly reports for delivering data to various team leaders throughout the organization. On-site training from SiteCompli’s Client Services team ensured that Urban American team members incorporated use of the software’s powerful features and its data into their day-to-day routine.

Urban American discovered that SiteCompli’s technology and team allowed them to run their portfolio more efficiently. Team communication via the Notes feature and email alerts streamlined check-ins on violation status and building projects. With the time that SiteCompli saved them, Urban American’s tenant services group was able to manage calls and issues instead of running down compliance data. Recurring reports meant that the right portfolio-wide, borough-wide, or building-wide information was always at their fingertips. With SiteCompli integrated into their business, Urban American saved time, improved efficiency, and saved money on compliance-related costs.

SiteCompli helped us reduce our violations and run a much more efficient and successful portfolio. SiteCompli is a best in class solution for us as owners and managers and keeps us ahead of our peers in providing good service to our properties and tenants.James Eisenberg Executive Vice President Urban American

“

”

URBAN AMERICAN

Multifamily building owner and manager Urban American tracks compliance and improves efficiency with “Best in Class Solution” SiteCompli

CASE STUDY

IMPACTS DEPARTMENT OF BUILDINGS Owners of buildings greater than six stories tall must have their buildings’ exterior walls inspected once every five years and file the inspection report with the Department of Buildings (DOB). Late filing or failure to file this report can result in fines from $250 per month to $1,000 per month issued by the DOB.

With alerts and inspection tracking from SiteCompli, Urban American was able to reduce DOB violations related to facades by 50%.

DEFAULTS The Environment Control Board adjudicates the vast majority of violations written by City agencies, including the Departments of Sanitation, Health, and Environmental Protection, and the Fire Department. Missing an ECB hearing results in a default penalty being issued, often amounting to over five times the face value of the original violation.

As soon as a violation requiring a hearing is issued, SiteCompli automatically sends a series of reminders so that no ECB hearing slips through the cracks. Since Urban American partnered with SiteCompli, their total number of defaults fell by 51%. The staff knows about hearings well in advance, can plan for appearances, and Urban American saves money by not paying costly default fines.

HOUSING COMPLAINTS Tenant complaints made through the City’s 311 system are handled by the Housing Preservation Department (HPD), and if not handled can become expensive HPD violations. Beyond that, the City can perform repairs to buildings as part of their Emergency Repair Program (ERP) and then invoice the building owner for the costs.

SiteCompli data is updated in real time whenever a complaint is made to the City. Urban American property managers can now see what is going on in each of their properties, quickly and efficiently dealing with any HPD complaints before they turn into violations, or become ERP charges. Since incorporating SiteCompli into their business, Urban American has cut the likelihood in half of a tenant complaint turning into a violation. They have reduced ERP charges by 15% overall because they are getting to complaints before they become violating conditions. With SiteCompli, tenant issues are dealt with faster, buildings are safer, and Urban American has reduced costs and risk.

ABOUT SITECOMPLI

SiteCompli’s breakthrough technology automatically and continuously aggregates critical data on violations, complaints, inspections, fines, hearings, jobs and permits for real estate owners and managers throughout New York City. SiteCompli tracks and analyzes compliance issues from the City’s key agencies including the DOB, ECB, HPD, DEP, DSNY, FDNY, among others, providing clients a digital view of all of their compliance data. SiteCompli clients save time, money, and can now navigate the increasingly complex and high stakes NYC regulatory environment.Founded in 2008 by Jason Griffith and Ross Goldenberg, SiteCompli monitors the portfolios of leading residential and commercial owners and managers in New York including FirstService Residential, Midboro Management, Ditmas Management, Douglas Elliman Property Management, Langsam Property Services, Jack Resnick & Sons, CBRE, Vornado Realty Trust, Tishman Speyer, L&L Holding Company, Brookfield Properties, The Durst Organization and many, many others.

www.sitecompli.com

1.800.564.1152

THE RESULTSJames Eisenberg, Executive Vice President of Urban American, explains: “Our core business involves purchasing properties that are already buried in violations before we even walk in. We see real value in removing those violations and upgrading the buildings’ systems to enhance the living experience for our residents and clamp down on runaway property expenses. One of the largest and hardest to handle cost centers for any building operator in this city is municipal compliance because of the various agencies that use one archaic system after the next. Add on the compliance mess you are already trying to clean up for the prior owner and the whole thing can slide out from under you very quickly. With SiteCompli, our organization can track what compliance issues are occurring and focus on how to fix them quickly, freeing up time and resources to get the real hard work done to improve the property.”

“In a very short amount of time,” Eisenberg adds, “SiteCompli helped us reduce our violations and run a much more efficient and successful portfolio. SiteCompli is a best in class solution for us as owners and managers and keeps us ahead of our peers in providing good service to our properties and tenants. SiteCompli also keeps us at the forefront of innovation for our industry and has become an invaluable part of our platform.”

“SiteCompli has not only proven its ROI to be demonstrable,” Eisenberg says, “It’s off the charts.”

SITECOMPLI CASE STUDY: URBAN AMERICAN