September 12th, 2007
A hands-on approach to property management
Philip Wachtler, Founder & principal, Wachtler Knopf Equities LLC
Philip Wachtler takes a hands-on approach to managing his growing office portfolio.
Little more than a month after taking over the management and leasing responsibilities for a seven-building, 450,000 s/f office collection concentrated along Route 110, Long Island’s premier office district, Wachtler, a founder and principal of Farmingdale, Long Island-based Wachtler Knopf Equities LLC, has been signing new leases, renewing others and working on a three-building addition to the portfolio.
Wachtler, who worked for the prior five years as director of leasing and development for the Woodbury-based Tilles Investment Co., has quickly learned that the work as a building manager goes well beyond leasing. And, he likes it that way.
The 43-year-old real estate executive regularly tours the buildings in his portfolio–one of the largest on Long Island. During one visit, he stopped to pick up cigarette butts that didn’t make it into the new receptacles he ordered placed outside the doors of each property, checked the restrooms to ensure they’d been cleaned and the vending machines to see if they needed restocking. And he stopped into visit his tenants, inquiring about problems.
“Our tenants should know they are going to see me every day,” he promises, adding that he wants his tenants to experience the proprietor’s personal touch.
On a recent walk around his most visible asset, 115 Broadhollow Rd., in Melville, the modernist building once the Long Island headquarters of Chemical Bank, Wachtler points to the new landscaping planted around the 80,000 s/f property, originally constructed in 1972 and last renovated in 1996 by its previous owner, Blumenfeld Development Group. “We’ve put in 1,200 bulbs,” he noted. There also are plans for upgrades to the interior of the building which stands prominently near Pinelawn Road and fronts Blackstone’s Steakhouse, which is net leased from WKE.
Next door, at 121 Broadhollow, which is leased entirely to Cosmo.com, Wachtler points to peeling paint on the building’s exterior and promises to make things better. The owner and the tenant of such a visible building with its name on it deserve a facility worthy of the location, he said.
At the sprawling 500 Bi-County Corporate Plaza in Farmingdale–with 149,000 s/f, the largest privately owned office complex in the town of Babylon new plantings also are in the ground and new carpets will line the halls. An HVAC upgrade also is in the works.
“We have a substantial capital expenditure program for these buildings,” says Wachtler. But, he quickly adds, “We can’t spend the big dollars yet.” Much of the work won’t be undertaken until the spring.
Just modest improvements in the appearances of his buildings are things that tenants value. “I’ve learned you can make these people happy,” said Wachtler, who previously oversaw more than 3 million square feet of office and industrial space for Tilles.
WKE’s philosophy is a simple one: “To develop and maintain a first-class family-run real estate company fortified by hard work and integrity,” said Wachtler, who along with partner, Daniel Knopf, a leading commercial real estate broker with a major firm in New York City, established their venture last year after Tilles sold its real estate holdings to CLK/Houlihan Parnes. The duo own stakes in the properties, all of which were acquired last year from Blumenfeld Development Group by an affiliate of Great Neck, NY-based Sterling Equities and are seeking additional properties.
Other holdings that WKE tends include 1800 Walt Whitman Rd., Melville; 45 S. Service Rd., Plainview, and 125 E. Bethpage Rd., Plainview
The hands-on approach to property management is something different for Wachtler, a graduate of Skidmore College and the Gemological Institute of America in New York.
He worked as gemologist for the Walker Jewelry Co. in Manhattan before joining Sterling/Carl Marks Capital Inc. a small business investment company.
Wachtler is a resident of Upper Brookville, where he lives with his wife, Robin and their three children.