HOMESTEAD HAPPENINGS
Ben Franklin Kick-Off
The 2022 Ben Franklin kick-off has begun! Last year's winners, the team at Georgetown Apartments, threw a fiesta for the Homestead America team and Home Office Judges. This year's Ben Franklin Judging will take place June 15th - June 16th. Judges will be announced in the coming weeks and we look forward to seeing all of the hard work at your communities.
Homestead Companies Plants Trees
As a team, we planted 223 trees with One Tree Planted, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to global reforestation. Leading up to Earth Day last week, our on-site teams worked hard to sign leases and restore our landscape around the world. For every lease signed and engagement on our LinkedIn campaign, we planted 1 tree in a forest in need.
By acting on our core value of “grow it” (literally), we were able to aid in reforestation, create habitats for biodiversity, and make a positive impact. Not only did our partnership with One Tree Planted allow us to come together as a team to grow a forest, but it also encouraged positive growth as a company.
Company-Wide Step Challenge
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2022 STEP CHALLENGE WINNER, PATRICK SWOPE!
He rocked the challenge by taking 632,172 total steps! He had an average of 30,103 steps/day, far surpassing the 12K steps/day goal. Awesome job, Patrick!
Special shoutouts to our other tier winners who worked hard to achieve their step goals:
Tier 3 (252,000+ Total steps):
Patrick Swope
Emily Mellinger
Jeremiah Orta
Travis Hallman
Tim Kalb
Brian Stopper
Lorrie Bitner
Tier 2 (210,000 – 251,999 Total steps):
Greg Burchwell
Dearold Sealey
Tier 1 (168,000– 209,999 Total steps):
Rey Orellana
Jennifer Radcliffe
Lindsey Scott
Cory Ratai
Mindy Henson
Mount Fuji Adventure Challenge Winner - Emily Mellinger
Mount Kilimanjaro Adventure Challenge - Patrick Swope
Biggest Cheerleader Award - Penny Ritz
Thank you to everyone who participated and competed in our Company-Wide Step Challenge!
HU April Champ Chain Winner: Travis Hallman
Join us in congratulating our April "Kicker" Champ, the team member who was supercritical in helping overcome a major challenge our team faced this month: Travis Hallman, Maintenance Technician at SkyGarden in Charleston, South Carolina!
"It was a crazy month at SkyGarden! We had several major leaks at the property, and Travis showed extreme dedication, working through a really stressful and chaotic situation. Trave came in after hours, and stayed late without ever complaining, working to resolve the issue while juggling resident questions. He is a very consistent worker and deserves to be recognized for protecting the Homestead! He is an essential worker here at SkyGarden, and deserves the Champ Chain recognition ." - Team nomination by Joe Jurcak, Kaitlyn Griffin, Isabella Busk, and Jack Kerley
Travis, we are so grateful for your dedication to the property, and the way you stepped up as a leader helping our team through a major challenge. Your mindset of "protecting the Homestead" is such a perfect reflection of our core value "Own It," and key to delivering on our mission of providing the best resident life experience possible.
Employee Spotlight: Audrey Mitchell
Name: Audrey Mitchell
Job Title: General Manager
Community: The Heights
How long have you been with Homestead? 2 months
What were you doing before Homestead? General Manager with Aspen Heights
Where are you originally from? Teague, Texas
What are your favorite hobbies? Drinking anything caffeinated, working out, and decorating my house
What would you most likely tell your 13 old self? In 10 years you'll be happily married, have a son, and be living a beautiful life. Don't stress about the phase of life you are in now.
If you could have coffee with three people, dead or alive, who would it be? My dad, any of the Kardashians, and Shea McGee
Who is the most famous person you have ever met? Pat Green
What is your dream vacation? Australia
What is the one THING, you can't live without? Coffee
What is your proudest moment at Homestead? As of today, getting Employee Spotlight of the month
What is on your retirement bucket list? Travel with my husband
Dearold Sealey, River Park, 5 years
Kiki Baez, The View, 2 years
Matt Canterbury, Home Office, 2 years
Kosha Clark, Helix, 4 years
Eve Detter, Home Office, 3 years
Tucker Gillespie, UV, 3 years
Kaitlyn Griffin, SkyGarden, 4 years
Victoria Hicks, College Station, 4 years
Sam Hume, Home Office, 3 years
Tim Kalb,, Home Office, 6 years
Janice Kirby, UV, 4 years
Gary Martin, Miamisburg – HSL, 1 year
Rae McKenne, Olde Towne, 15 years
Emma Mendez, College Station, 2 years
Jeremiah Orta, 2818 College Station, 2 years
Jose Roman, College Station, 1 year
Mack Rosevear, 2818 College Station, 1 year
Sarah Scott, Harlow, 1 year
Marcy Vazquez, Appian Way, 2 years
In The News: Homestead Cos. Continues to Grow in Senior Living and Student Housing
Homestead Cos. wants to break ground on at least four senior housing projects a year, every year, for the next 8 to 10 years, said Matt Canterbury, President of Development at the Columbus firm.
That's just one piece of a multi-pronged growth strategy for Homestead, which is also gearing up to break ground on Lusso, an 8-acre multifamily development set to occupy one of the last blighted spots in Italian Village. The firm is also active in the student housing market, with plans to grow to 15,000 student beds in its portfolio by 2024.
The firm recently completed an active senior project in Grove City, and last August, broke ground on a community near Blacklick. Another is on the way near Dayton in Miami Township, joining an existing community in Beavercreek.
Homestead's senior division is also working on two projects in southeast Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, Indiana.
"We're realizing more and more who our resident is and who we are going for," Canterbury said. The firm offers "more of a blue-collar, affordable and attainable product" than some of the luxury options on the market, he said.
Canterbury said the baby boomer generation is increasingly moving into this type of housing. By 2030, the senior living industry expects about 10 million baby boomers to be housed in independent living, he said.
"Seniors want to stay in their communities," Canterbury said. "They're invested in them, they volunteer in them. And this type of housing allows a different segment of the market to do that."
Laura Formica, who previously led the student housing division before being promoted to President of Homestead Living, said the company's strategy on the student side is to buy property that is poorly managed or has a lot of deferred maintenance and turn it around. The company had 8,700 beds in 2020 and is on track to have about 10,000 before this year is over, she said.
In 2021, Homestead sold three student living properties in Lubbock, Texas, Charlottesville, Virginia, and one in Tucson, Arizona; which allowed the company to then acquire three properties in College Station, Texas.
Homestead is now at 3,300 beds in the College Station market, Formica said, their biggest presence in the country. Homestead U has 2,800 student beds in Columbus and 1,400 beds in Athens, Ohio, for comparison.
The Homestead U division is also working on its first development. The company is building a 300-bed student housing development near the University of Kentucky.
Formica said having "tribal knowledge," like what challenges the building faced during development or leasing, on a project allows it to run well when it is completed.
In The News: Hayden Park Breaks Ground in Huber Heights, OH
HUBER HEIGHTS — Yet another housing development is breaking ground in Huber Heights, the region’s fastest-growing suburb, with a retail development planned next door.
Hayden Park, which will include 192 apartment units within six buildings, will be constructed at 5599 Huber Road, off of Old Troy Pike at a location south of I-70 and north of Taylorsville Road.
“The goal is to serve an underserved community as it pertains to multi-family housing,” said Matt Canterbury, President of Development at Homestead Companies, the company leading the project. “This property is primed to serve not only residents of Huber Heights, but those that commute to the greater Dayton area.”
Construction on the $30 million project will begin this week and is anticipated to be completed within 15 months, according to Canterbury, but rentals will begin to become available within a year with pre-leasing options being offered as early as October of this year.
“We anticipate a lot of our renters are going to be young professionals or even established professionals that want the proximity to the freeway to get to and from work in Dayton, Springfield, or even Columbus,” Canterbury said.
Hayden Park will consist of mostly two-bedroom units, with about 40% to be one-bedroom apartments. The one-bedroom units will be around 700 square feet for rent at about $1,100, and the two-bedrooms will be around 1,100 square feet at a price of $1,400 per month.
“We’re going to open in phases,” he said. “We’ll have six apartment buildings on-site and one community clubhouse. The clubhouse, along with three of the buildings, will open in 12 months, then the other three buildings will lag just a little bit behind.”
Retail, Road Development
The Hayden Park project will be developed on an eight-acre parcel of land, and is one of two projects taking place in the immediate area. Just south is a parcel set to be developed as a retail complex by Broad Reach Retail Partners, according to Huber Heights City Manager Bryan Chodkowski, who provided preliminary information about this project. Broad Reach will tear down the former Swan Lake apartment buildings that are currently on the property.
In connection to the project, Broad Reach and the city will also work on road improvements, including the widening of Old Troy Pike, to limit traffic congestion in the area of the projects.
“We’re looking to reconfigure some new driveways, put in a new traffic signal, and add another northbound lane from Taylorsville to the highway, which will improve traffic flow through there,” Chodkowski said.
Broad Reach did not immediately respond to questions about details of their development plans.
Homestead is also spearheading another development project a few miles away at the former Marian Meadows Shopping Center, located in the 6100 block of Brandt Pike, just north of Fishburg Road.
That $40 million project will include construction of 192 market-rate apartment units and a 133-unit senior housing development. Construction is set to begin this year, with a completion goal of October 2024.
In The News: Homestead U Expands in College Station
College Station, Texas — Homestead U has acquired Aspen Heights College Station, a 797-bed student housing property located near Texas A&M University in College Station. The community was acquired with Columbus Pacific and its affiliates for an undisclosed price. The property offers cottage-style units with bed-to-bath parity across 27 acres. “This most recent acquisition reinforces our strong belief in the power of the Texas A&M University educational system, and in the state of Texas overall,” says Laura Formica, president of Homestead U. “College Station, Texas, is one of the top collegiate markets in the country and continues to enjoy unparalleled enrollment growth, evidenced by its largest freshmen class in history for fall 2021.”