Founded nearly 30 years ago with a single client in its home state of Texas, J Street Cos. today manages properties for clients in the major multifamily and office hubs of Dallas-Fort Worth, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

Throughout its history of growth, the company has set itself apart from competitors by how it defines success.

Hollie Lawing, senior vice president of operations, said J Street is mindful of the same metrics as any other company of its type, such as the number of units, occupancy trends and square footage it manages. But J Street, while performing traditional roles like keeping properties in good condition and collecting rents, doesn’t view its relationships with clients in terms of dollars and cents alone, she said.

“Instead of being another third-party management company, we prefer to be in a third-party partnership with our client,” Lawing said. “We really want to be a part of their business strategy and plans and to be proactive when it comes to their site operations instead of being an on-site management team that is just there to be reactive.”

CEO Shea Byers said J Street’s approach is designed to address the needs of clients who might feel ill-served by other types of property managers. He said asset managers or owners often face a choice between hiring a national property management firm, where they will be one of many clients and might end up feeling like a number, or a small management company that lacks the resources to serve their needs.

Byers said this “missing middle” in property management is a niche that a firm like J Street can fill by acting as a boutique operation with the in-house resources its clients need as they grow their portfolios.

“Property management is a tough business, and it is too often perceived as a commodity service,” he said. “We understand this reality but aim to overcome it by earning trust and adding value for asset managers and owners.”

J Street stands out from the crowd by being operationally capable of handling office and multifamily management assignments anywhere in the country, Byers said. At the same time, it remains flexible, entrepreneurial, approachable and human — “because that’s what makes a partnership valuable,” he added.

Byers said he and his team often meet with potential clients who feel ill-served by conventional approaches to property management. Recently, a Dallas-based multifamily developer told him of their frustration with a large “name brand” property management company that demanded a large signing bonus as well as a sizable monthly management fee.

That is a big ask when property owners' budgets are tight and interest rates and construction costs remain high.

“We understand the reality that property owners and asset managers face,” Byers said. “J Street has always been entrepreneurial and willing to put in sweat equity to validate our partnership mantra.”

He said as J Street's relationship with the client increasingly resembles a partnership, communication and understanding of the client's preferences are enhanced, which drives long-term value and profits for the client.

Its hands-on approach also requires it to remain flexible to keep pace with clients’ evolving needs. One longtime customer, a high net worth private investor, notified J Street in the early days of the pandemic that he would be closing on two Class-A multifamily properties in the Chicago area in three weeks.

The client’s question: Could the firm take on management of the assets on short notice?

Byers said J Street quickly assembled an executive-level team to fly to Chicago to sort things out for the client. It found that one property was leased at 80% and the other at 89%. The J Street team thought it could do better.

“Because the apartment complexes were on the smaller side, we suspected the national firms weren’t paying attention and thus the properties were underleased,” Byers said.

J Street hired an entirely new management staff for the properties to address resident dissatisfaction and accelerate leasing. Within 90 days, both apartment buildings were more than 97% leased.

“This could have been an operational disaster because we had no resources, business or real estate license in Chicago at the time,” Byers said. “Our success there is a testament to our people and process and to our trusted, nearly 20-years-long partnership with the client.”

J Street Chief Operating Officer Tommy Wells said founder and Chairman Stan Ferenc set the pattern for the firm when he took on its first client 28 years ago.

“Stan believed in forging enduring client partnerships through a tailored management approach,” Wells said. “This is J Street’s culture and the one that brought us to the dance, and it has persisted through our seamless transition to the second generation of leadership at J Street.”

Mohammed Aliniazee, the longtime client who brought J Street into the Chicago market in 2020, said he appreciates that he can reach the firm’s key people with a single phone call. Byers said he wants every client to feel that way.

“Until AI can figure out how to fix a toilet that doesn’t flush, property management will remain a people business,” Byers said. “Tommy and I always say that if we do not have the time to personally meet with ownership at the property and to take their calls, then we have grown too large — and bigger isn’t always better in our business.”

This article was produced in collaboration between J Street Cos. and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

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