Prism Capital Partners strengthens vertical integration to support multifamily pipeline

Ed Cohen

In-house property services reflect an owner’s approach

Nutley, NJ — Prism Capital Partners is well known within the New Jersey development arena for its award-winning multifamily properties, including ground-up infill redevelopment and adaptive re-use of turn-of-the-century industrial buildings. Its three flagship luxury rental communities – The Nell in Dunellen, Avenue & Green in Woodbridge and Edison Lofts in West Orange – all maintain occupancy levels above 97%.

This is, of course, a testament to the strength of the regional market. But more so, it reflects Prism’s thoughtful site selection and design approach, and product that responds to the wants and needs of today’s renters. As Prism’s multifamily development pipeline continues to build, with anticipated growth of approximately 1,500 new units over the next several years, the firm is looking to the future.

To that end, the company over the past three years has developed a customized residential leasing and management platform, and staffed up with an impressive group of property management and leasing specialists under the direction of long-time team member Jon Hoff, president of Prism Property Services. In turn, Prism has taken property management and leasing for its multifamily portfolio in house, complementing its established commercial property management services and Prism Construction Management division.

“This level of vertical integration is atypical for a mid-size, privately held developer,” noted Prism Capital Partners’ Ed Cohen, principal partner. “Our motive was a desire to instill an owner’s approach to customer service and enhance the overall quality of our assets. That means being a top-notch provider of management services to our own portfolio.”

Cohen added that Prism is no stranger to asset management, having successfully managed its commercial real estate portfolio, including highly complex facilities work, throughout the company’s 23-year history. Yet he acknowledges that residential real estate carries a very different group of operational variables.

“This is a different world, from communication and tenant relations, to shorter leasing cycles and per-unit pricing that changes continually, to vast distinctions between commercial and multifamily accounting,” Cohen said. “Developing our residential platform required a deep dive, new knowledge, and the adoption of leading systems and software. The result is a credit to Jon and our talented team.”

The augmented in-house capabilities carry benefits beyond resident satisfaction and retention; they solidify quality assurance across Prism’s multifamily portfolio. “A real estate owner’s lens is different than a third-party manager’s lens when it comes to achieving key performance indicators,” Cohen said. “We are continually looking to enhance the value of an asset, which is good for the bottom line and invaluable when it comes to investor and partner relationships.”

This focus and foresight will be mirrored in future multifamily design, development, management and leasing. Prism’s diversified portfolio also includes distinctive office, R&D, education, retail and industrial properties. The firm buys income-producing assets and undervalued properties, and implements value-added development and redevelopment initiatives. Prism embraces projects with strong potential for creating value on both short- and long-term bases. It prides itself on its role of developing sensitively, sensibly and smartly, and its projects regularly set Smart Growth benchmarks.

Prism invests with institutional and private capital sources that rely on the company’s ability to identify and realize the highest value potential in real estate endeavors of all sizes. To date, the company, with its capital partners, has invested more than $1 billion in 20 projects totaling over 5 million square feet.