Dear Hartman Team Members,
For over three decades, Hartman has focused on building the company to be one of the country’s best REITs. We do this through friendly, reliable, and consistent white glove service at our properties. Our company’s vision reiterates this, “We deliver exceptional investor returns through an empowered team that provides unparalleled service to tenants in an environment of belonging and purpose.”
I begin saying this to remind everyone to focus on our vision to keep our company’s culture strong. We are more than co-workers; we are a team. The last part of our company’s vision speaks of belonging and purpose, and as the CEO, it is my goal to empower the members of our team to create solutions for our tenants by entrusting them to make decisions. To achieve this, all processes bubble up from the bottom and rise to the top. We work diligently on DART’s to brainstorm the solutions that every team member can express their ideas to better our processes.
Over the last quarter, we have made tremendous progress in reducing costs to minimize any impacts that COVID-19 might create within our company and to the businesses that call our properties home. I want to thank every team member for your diligence in successfully impacting the bottom line.
I want to acknowledge all of you again for your steadfast devotion to ensuring our tenants have peace of mind as they returned to the office over the past month. We are offering many resources to keep our tenants working from their suites and have aimed to provide any service needed to provide them peace of mind.
Thank you all for being patient regarding pay raises and bonuses. I am happy to announce that yearly increases are effective as of July 1st! I want to thank our Human Resources team for putting in a considerable amount of work on this annual project.
May’s new leasing activity for all markets was 48,651 square feet of new leases signed and 38,268 square feet of renewed leases. Congratulations to our leasing agent, Leander Johnson, for increasing his portfolio’s occupancy by 2.57% this month.
We have officially closed the mergers on July 1st, 2020. This date is important because it triggers the implementation of the Employee Profit Sharing and Retention Plan of 2020. You should be getting your first distribution in about 45 days!
We have worked diligently on the new $8 million-dollar Employee Profit Sharing and Retention Plan and developed the plan to encompass three purposes. One, to provide a means for our eligible employees under conditions set forth by the plan to participate in current profits of the company and the opportunity to increase their current income. Secondly, to better align our employees with the shareholders of the company. Lastly, to provide an incentive for our current employees to continue to provide valuable service throughout their tenure. This is GREAT news for our team members!
We are nearing completion of the SEC filing establishing two new share classes for offering to the public with different sales commissions. These are designed to make us more competitive in the market and provide additional opportunities and options for investors. Also, we are beginning to get some traction on our Hartman Total Return Fund; a private placement offered to accredited investors only. The fund invests in properties with slightly less occupancy and designed to give investors a higher return on their investment dollars.
We have also launched an industrial development fund aimed at institutional investors. We will invest in a combination of existing industrial properties and engage in ground-up development and offer to institutional investors (family offices, pension funds, endowments, and RIAs). We are also launching a distressed assets fund to take advantage of the properties that will come on the market from less capitalized sellers. This will also be an institutional investor fund, and terms of this offering are in process.
I want to thank all of you for your hard work, perseverance, tenacity, and good attitude. I observe what you are doing every day, and I appreciate it. Your success is very important to running a successful business. It warms my heart to see the results of what you are achieving every day. God bless and enjoy the long Independence Day weekend with your families!
“Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!” – Psalm 31:24
God Bless you all!
Sincerely,
Al Hartman
