Alan Shamah, Shamah Properties

We consolidated our corporate offices in a state-of-the-art facility in Edison New Jersey that is more accessable to our properties in New Jersey and New York City and consolidates all of our senior management under one roof. What was your most notable project, deal, transaction or personal achievement in 2014? We entered the Manhattan market for the first time with the $13.5 million purchase of 672 Saint Nicholas Ave, a 48-unit six-story elevator building in Hamilton Heights. While we own and manage over 20 properties comprising 1,500 rental units in Brooklyn neighborhoods like Flatbush, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights and New Jersey, the purchase of this Manhattan building is exciting because it opens up a new market for us to develop. What are you looking forward to accomplishing in 2015? We plan to look to expand our portfolio in Manhattan to have a critical mass of apartments with a company satellite office there to enhance tenant services to the highest standards. We will also expand our "tenant centric philosophy" offering our many tenants open lines of communication with management. Our "Meet and Greet" tenant/management program gives tenants and management a chance to meet informally at our many apartment communities and we learn things we would not know unless we lived at the property. In addition to a regular company "tenant hot line," the company also introduced a "tenant survey" that tracks how quickly repairs are accomplished.