After months of planning, apartment companies host grand opening events to unveil new communities, thank investors and attract prospective residents.
Investors, builders, public officials and residents gathered on a beautiful May afternoon in South Carolina for the grand opening of Somerset at Town Center, S.L. Nusbaum’s newest senior apartment community. The smell of barbecue greeted guests as they strolled past the newly carpeted community room to the buffet lunch presented under a canopy of white tents. Guests piled their plates with chicken, potato salad and baked beans and searched for a place to soak up the sun and dig in.
There was one problem: the owner’s assistant forgot to order tables.
Instead of enjoying lunch together, guests were scattered throughout the property, balancing plates on their laps--some on sofas in the community room, others in rocking chairs on the screened-in porch.
“It was not a very good set-up for a BBQ lunch,” admits Caroline Forehand, Marketing Director for apartment management and development firm S.L. Nusbaum, which manages 18,000 apartments in 112 communities. “The food line was a good distance away from the community room, especially for seniors. And if the weather had been bad, I’m not sure what we would have done. Sometimes, the most obvious things are the ones you forget.”
Hosting a grand opening can be an overwhelming project for any apartment community staff, but apartment developers say a well-planned party can be a great way to thank investors, celebrate the successful completion of the project, welcome community members and prospective residents, and attract media attention.
From the invitations to weather, catering and gift bags, the details make or break a grand opening. By planning ahead and utilizing all employees, communities can minimize stress and host an event that guests--not to mention residents--will remember long after the ribbon is cut.
Roll Out The Red Carpet
Before getting down to the finer details, marketing staff must choose a date and create a guest list. Most apartment marketing directors say that a grand opening should be planned around the mayor’s schedule, as he or she will be the focal point of the opening ceremony.
Local elected officials, businesses and churches should also be in attendance, says Jerry Winograd, President of Judwin Realty Group, a multifamily developer that operates 1,500 units in Houston. “Key number one is to get as many local people as possible involved to show residents and investors that your company is invested in the community,” he says. Community involvement was especially important when planning the grand opening for the Reserve at Bankside, a renovated B community in a distressed Houston neighborhood, Winograd says. “This property used to be an eye sore, so we invited people really tied to the neighborhood so they could see the improvements for themselves,” he explains.
Most grand openings are by invitation only and geared towards public officials and investors, though some communities offer special events for prospective residents (see “Party for Prospects,” p. 36). The number of guests will depend--like everything else--on the communities’ budget. Winograd says Judwin had an estimated budget of $5,000 for the Reserve at Bankside opening, but spent $6,000. Forehand says her company’s “A” communities are typically given $3,000 to $5,000 for each event, depending on the owner. Marketing teams should have a budget in mind from the beginning.
Once the date and guest list is set, planners should send invitations to the event at least a month in advance and follow up with a phone call and e-mail, according to Forehand. She says guests are more inclined to commit when an RSVP is required.
For the opening of Tanglewood in Elizabeth City, N.C., Forehand says her team relied on the local Chamber of Commerce, who sent invitations to all of its members and provided recommendations for local catering companies and vendors.
Other communities have taken advantage of electronic invitations. Jackie Morrison, Property Manager for apartment management company Riverstone Residential Group’s Elizabeth Square community, says her team sent free electronic invitations through Evite in lieu of traditional paper invitations for their $2,000 grand opening in North Carolina last May. “They were very easy to send and we even had the mayor’s e-mail,” Morrison says. “But it was amazing how many people did not respond to the Evite. We had a great turnout but we really had to follow up with a lot of people.” Morrison also invited a local TV station, which aired an interview with the mayor and one of Elizabeth Square’s owners on the evening news.
Back to Basics
Fancy gift bags, gourmet hors d’oeuvre and a well-known DJ all help to create a great grand opening, but often it’s the simplest things that are the most important--and overlooked.
At Somerset at Town Center’s grand opening, one employee was so focused on the food and entertainment that she neglected to rent enough trash cans, Forehand says. This oversight left guests piling their empty plates in overflowing trash cans from the leasing office and community room. “We actually had some of our staff, including myself, picking up people’s plates when they were finished,” she says.
Melissa Wyatt, Director of Marketing for Dranoff Properties, a Philadelphia-based multifamily developer that owns and manages 1,500 units, says she has forgotten things as simple as restroom signs. She encourages properties to create and distribute a to-do checklist, and assign specific employees to each task to ensure nothing is overlooked. “After each event, Dranoff creates a ‘lessons learned’ list to better prepare us for the next event,” Wyatt says. “Fortunately, I’ve done a few grand openings at this point and have a thorough checklist of all our needs. Because of this, we had all of the puzzle pieces in place for the March opening of 777 South Broad, a new property in Philadelphia.”
Despite months of planning and countless checklists, not all grand openings will be seamless. Forehand says last-minute glitches require calm and creativity, as she discovered while planning her first grand opening. “I worked really hard on the event but I forgot the table centerpieces,” she says. “Our corporate marketing manager ended up borrowing flower arrangements from a nearby hotel for a few hours.”
Winograd says the key is to have all hands on deck to solve the inevitable challenges of any large event. He suggests recruiting staff from other properties to work the grand opening, and says additional employees can help lead property tours.
All Hail Mother Nature
Plan, plan, plan--and then let go. Heat waves, thunderstorms and snow showers won’t work around an event schedule, so it’s up to staff to plan for the worst. The rest is up to Mother Nature.
For Judwin’s Reserve at Bankside, a summer opening meant working with the oppressive Texas heat. Winograd says the 95-degree temperature was the toughest challenge when planning the July ceremony. Despite the heat, the grand opening was held outside under a tent, with fans and cold water available for the event’s 100 guests.
It was snow rather than heat that dictated the schedule for 777 South Broad’s opening in Pennsylvania. The event team waited until the end of March to hold their grand opening for nearly 350 guests and managed to dodge both snow and rain. Wyatt says rain is impossible to predict, but properties fortunate enough to avoid a downpour should take advantage of daylight savings time by extending evening events in the summer.
Forehand has had her fair share of weather scares while planning 17 grand openings, and says precipitation isn’t the only thing to worry about. “The wind was blowing so hard at one of our openings, it knocked the tent over right before we served lunch,” she says. “Many people were so cold they waited in their cars until the company came out and put up a new tent.”
Planning an outdoor event is risky, but developing a back-up plan will eliminate any last-minute weather disasters. Morrison says she planned to hold Elizabeth Square’s opening outside, but rain forced the 60 guests to eat under the community’s poolside cabanas. She advises onsite staff to consider planning an alternative indoor location.
Grab the Giant Scissors
There’s no formula for the perfect grand opening, but the majority do include three staples: talking, tasting and tours.
The opening ceremony is an excellent opportunity to introduce the community, thank all who contributed to the project, and provide media with great quotes. Ceremonies typically begin with opening remarks from the mayor and the builder. Some grand openings also feature guest speakers tied to the property’s mission or locale. Mark Vitner, Senior Economist at Wells Fargo, spoke at Elizabeth Square’s grand opening, while Philippe Cousteau Jr., grandson of famous ecologist Jacques Cousteau, praised the green initiatives of Bozzuto’s WestEnd25 apartments during the May opening in Washington, D.C.
Wielding a giant pair of scissors marks the end of the official ceremony, as property managers, public officials, investors and builders pose for the standard ribbon-cutting photograph. Most marketing directors say the speeches and ceremony should take no more than 20 minutes.
Inspiring words kick off the grand opening, but a real party is all about the food. Whether it’s gourmet hors d’oeuvre or Southern finger foods, the cuisine can convey the spirit and attitude of a new community.
WestEnd25’s grand opening had a menu to match the luxury of its penthouse suites. The three roof decks featured a “culinary tour” from local restaurants, with guests dining on everything from asparagus soup to lobster bisque and Belgian truffles. The party also offered crafted summer cocktails in addition to wine, champagne and beer.
S.L. Nusbaum took a more casual approach, serving up Virginia BBQ at its River House grand opening in May. The 250 guests also feasted on two cakes that featured a picture of the Norfolk, Va. community. Forehand says it’s always better to have too much food, so she inflates the guest list by 20 or 30 people when placing the catering order. “With River House’s grand opening, we only used one cake, but as our marketing assistant says, ‘If we didn’t have the second one, we would have needed it,’ ” Forehand says. “It’s always better to overestimate just in case.”
Judwin’s grand openings typically include a buffet lunch when guests arrive, Winograd says. The caterer, he adds, can send more of a message than the food itself. “For our grand opening at the Reserve at Bankside, we found a local caterer to show that we’re supporting the community,” he says.
Party planners also can support the community by hiring local bands and promoting local businesses. Forehand says guests at the River House, which overlooks the Lafayette River, were given access to the community’s kayaks and beach cruisers.
Communities traditionally provide informal tours of a model unit and the community common areas while guests are mingling. The property must be spotless, Wyatt says. “It’s the first impression people will have of the building so you have to make sure everything is perfect,” she explains.
No More Coffee Mugs!
When a grand opening event comes to a close, a new community has one final chance to leave a lasting impression. Gift bags can range from the simple to the sophisticated, and give guests a tangible reminder of all a property has to offer.
Some of S.L. Nusbaum’s gifts have proven more successful than others, Forehand says. She advises communities to avoid “overdone” coffee mugs and consider hip alternatives such as insulated beverage containers. The most popular gifts have been items as inexpensive as wine openers and hand-sanitizer key chains, Forehand says, but she adds that a company’s logo can be too tiny to read on some smaller items.
WestEnd25’s marketing team created gift bags that reflected both the grand opening’s Mojito cocktail theme and the community’s green standards. Each guest received a mint plant--one of the ingredients in a Mojito--and an eco-friendly bottle of water.
Pricier grand opening favors can pay off in the long run, says Forehand. “The best giveaway was at the Tanglewood grand opening in October where we handed out sweatshirts with the community logo on them,” she says. “It was a great marketing idea. People all over the city, including many council members, vendors and residents, were wearing the sweatshirts throughout the winter.”
Whether it’s the gift bag, the food, or the perfectly decorated setting, a properly planned opening party should leave guests with a grand impression.
Lauren Boston is NAA’s Staff Writer. She can be reached at lauren@naahq.org or call 703/797-0678.