Q &A with Cortland's Chris Fletcher

Based in Atlanta, Cortland is a vertically integrated multifamily investment, development, and management company. The firm owns and manages apartment communities across the nation as well as operates a build-to-rent management and development platform in the United Kingdom. MFE checked in with Chris Fletcher, executive vice president of development, to hear about the company’s latest moves and developments 

MFE: What’s been the biggest move Cortland has made this year to become a stronger company? 

FLETCHER: In 2022, we doubled down on our relentless focus on the resident experience. This manifests in a couple of ways. First, focusing on increasing the value we provide our residents by continuing to prioritize creating a service-oriented brand. That means finding new ways to add value to our residents’ lives by creating better technology-enabled experiences and providing more services. That includes things like access to on-site dry cleaning and in-unit housekeeping and better event programming with professional fitness and wellness classes. Second, we remain open-minded to resident feedback, leaning heavily on resident surveys to deliver homes that give residents exactly what they care about. It means incorporating sustainable designs into our new builds and retrofitting existing communities to reduce the utility bills borne by residents 

MFE: What are the biggest obstacles for multifamily development today? 

FLETCHER: Hands down, the biggest obstacle is finding the right talent for our team. There are plenty of well-documented sources of pain in the development world right now: Construction costs have exploded, operating costs are experiencing the same pressures from inflation that we all read about daily, interest rates spikes have negatively impacted the availability of debt and introduced uncertainty into asset values. That said, there’s always something that makes development hard, and it’s why I love it. Having the right team makes these challenges exponentially more navigable. We currently have a number of open roles, several of which have been open for some time. However, as a firm, we would rather not grow than attempt to do so with the wrong people at the helm. Fortunately, we have an unbelievable team, which has been critical in the current choppy waters 

MFE: Tell me about a recent development that highlights the Cortland brand. 

FLETCHER: [In mid-October], we expected to receive our first certificate of occupancy at Cortland ChampionsGate in Orlando, Florida. This community highlights several of the things we’re doing to put the resident first. It will debut a new valet trash system of ours, whereby trash cans are located in kitchen cabinets adjacent to the corridors. On the corridor side is a second door that allows our valet to collect trash directly from each resident’s unit without stepping a foot inside. Residents won’t ever have to lift another bag out of their bin and we avoid the need for residents to place trash in corridors, which is ugly, smells bad, and beats up the hallways. 

 MFE: What are you most optimistic for in 2023? 

FLETCHER: As margins get leaner, I’m excited to focus our energy on researching and incorporating more efficient building materials and construction techniques, new design ideas, and building systems that help us operate buildings for less. In good times or bad, this is key to our long-term success