Dear Hartman Team Members,
As I write this letter, we continue to push towards our vision of improving our properties, increasing occupancy, and growing our company to $2 billion in assets by 2025. I want to give each of you accolades for your hard work and dedication to push ourselves to achieve our goals.
The Leasing Department finished February at 79.13%, which is .79% over budget for the first quarter. With March having excellent potential, we will end the first quarter ahead of budget. Let us congratulate Wil Logan for his performance as the top producer by increasing his portfolio’s occupancy by 3.11% in February by leasing 14,126 square feet.
For 2021, our goal is to increase occupancy to 83.47%. We closely track our occupancy each week to ensure that this critical indicator continues to move in a positive direction. Our analysis also includes considering potential tenants for each building and monitoring current tenants at risk or moving out. To achieve our occupancy goal as a team, we continue to focus on excellent customer service to retain our current tenants while bringing in new business to our portfolio. We have a tremendous opportunity to not only achieve our goals for 2021 but to potentially exceed them.
I want to recognize a team led by Shane Cawood who have worked days, nights, and weekends to support our efforts in battling the egregious overbilling of energy charges as a result of the winter storm that hit all of us here in Texas last month. The company supports a petition to compel legislative action on this issue and are asking our elected officials to reverse the excessive charges, recognize the impact of price gouging consumers and businesses, and preserve the integrity of our energy market here in Texas. If you have not yet supported the petition, visit https://chargeusfairly.org and please do so.
The Marketing, Construction, IT, and Property Management teams led by Kimberly Strickland have done immense work on creating a new brand for our executive suite concepts. Marketing has developed a new brand, BIZSUITES, including new advertising, signage, campaigns, and pricing packages. Property Management and Construction have been busy redesigning, upgrading, and adding amenities to the suites. We now have seven properties with BIZSUITES across all three markets. Thank you for the dedication to this project, we are certainly meeting the demand of the market with these new initiatives. I look forward to seeing this new concept drive occupancy higher in our buildings.
In closing, I hope you all will celebrate our Lord and Savior during Easter and Passover. Jesus is Risen! As Jesus says in the book of Matthew, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end.” Jesus is instructing us to live as disciples in everything we do and say. Our tenants, vendors, coworkers, investors, and anyone we talk to each day should see Christ living within us by our actions and words.
God Bless you all!
Sincerely,
Al Hartman
