Easton Yards Learnings, Part 1: The Project
For all Easton Yards photos, visit https://www.eastonyards.com/#PHOTOS
Easton Yards is a large redevelopment project that took place between 2020 and 2022, involving the renovation of a dilapidated silk factory located at 457 W. Lincoln Street in Easton. In this two-part series, we cover the background of the redevelopment project and how Jennifer de Jesus and the De Jesus team became a critical component to the success of the project.
In the second article in the series, we’ll cover the key takeaways from the Easton Yards project. Here are additional links and articles covering Easton Yards:
The beginnings of Easton Yards and how we helped
In the very beginning, Jennifer helped a developer looking for a redevelopment project locate the abandoned mill and purchase it. They then took to the city for approvals to convert the mill into a luxury residential housing complex. Upon receiving approvals for the redevelopment project, environmentals were completed on the old mill and then the project was sold to a mutual client to finish the construction. The current owners used Jen and her team to consult and bring the property to its final completion. Jen and her team stepped back in to lease the units prior to the completion of construction and now are managing the property.
In April 2021, Jen and her team along with the owners put the final details of the luxury units together and started planning for the leasing season. By June 2021, Jen’s property management company started fully marketing the property.
Heavily involved in the redevelopment of the city, Easton’s Mayor Sal Panto, had frequented Easton Yards from start to finish. Panto, having lived in the South Side his whole life, could recall a time when his neighbors used to work at that factory. Across the street stood another abandoned factory, attracting loitering and seedy elements, in an otherwise quiet area. The surrounding neighborhoods were populated with people who owned their homes and were well-established. The mayor was excited about the project and he began working with the owners, their contractor and their funder—Procida Funding—who was doing other projects throughout downtown Easton.
By July 2021, Jen’s team was reaching out to the community to promote this new apartment complex. Easton Yards was slated to offer 59 1-, 2- & 3-bedroom units. It would also include amenity spaces like a fitness center and a lounge with a pool table, kitchen, outdoor balcony and plenty of gathering spaces. Adjacent to the building stands Cheston Elementary School, which was recently torn down and rebuilt, adding to the curb appeal of the area.
The other abandoned building across the street from Easton Yards was torn down, and is currently an affordable housing community under construction. This complex unlike Easton Yards will appeal to lower income families. The complex is set to offer goods and services for the local community including a grocery store which is very much needed in this local area. The combination of the two projects really bring a great mix of housing options to the consumer. Easton Yards is designed to appeal to the working professionals. It has a 24-hour fitness center, elevators, package concierge room that will text message when you have a package delivered, a bike room and parking spaces, with a building that is secure and will open only with a key fob. There is a video intercom system used through an app, allowing the tenant to provide access to visitors via their phone. Pets are also allowed with no breed restrictions.
From July through January Jen’s team marketed on Zillow, Trulia, Apts.com, HotPads, their property management website, the Easton Yards website, and through Facebook advertising. They followed up with each lead and vetted them using application criteria that had income restrictions higher than other apartments. They started showing the building to prospective tenants when there was nothing in the units—not even countertops. Conducting tours with only the frames of the rooms up, the community was very interested in seeing what had become of the long-abandoned warehouse. For those interested in renting the space, Jen’s leasing team asked people to place a $250 fully refundable hold deposit; once the project was complete, the soon-to-be tenants would be sent a lease and their $250 payment would be credited to their final balance due before move in.
What we learned during the construction and rehabbing of the property
The building had a number of delays. Tenants were not able to occupy the property by January, when they were originally hoping to move in September the prior year. Supplies, materials, labor—all kinds of challenges arose because of COVID and supply chain issues. Through that unpredictable leasing process, there were many struggles. The biggest challenge was the balance between the Owners who desired to actually start making money on the project and the Tenants who had to be told month in and month out, “it will be a little while longer”.
Anticipating more what-ifs and delays while ensuring the move-in dates was far enough out would be their top priority on future projects. It’s always best to err on the side of caution — you can always move the dates up, but when you push dates further out, it negatively impacts people because they’re planning their life around these move-in dates.
The building is fully leased now, and since Jen’s team formed great relationships with these potential prospects—treated them as real people with real living situations which helped them transition to/from—it enabled them to fully lease the building and keep many of the prospective tenants happy.
Jen had to navigate the client’s desires to protect their investment as well as take care of and manage the tenants being brought into the building. In the end, it was very successful, but also had its fair share of bumps along the way, which we will share more about in part two.
In part two of this two-part series on Easton Yards, Jennifer shares her learnings from the project and what she’ll do (and not do) next time.