By Matt Ellis
Hobbs Brook Real Estate owns forward-thinking, sustainable properties in the U.S. and Singapore. A cluster of those properties in suburban Boston is now being serviced by United Services/AffinEco.
The Hobbs Brook Office Park on Wyman St. in Waltham, Mass. has 2.5 million square feet spread across 14 buildings that are home to single and multi-tenant properties with offices and life science laboratories. Many of the buildings feature cafeterias and fitness centers. Hobbs Brook is a big job, so before starting on July 1, United Services/AffinEco wanted to be certain they had the right team and the right systems in place to accommodate the needs of the property manager and their tenants. In addition to the size and scope of the project, the latest wave of the pandemic created a new urgency around cleaning and disinfecting.
Tammi Kent, director of Account Services for United Services/AffinEco, said the work kicked off on a strong note thanks to the mutual efforts of the Hobbs Brook team and hers. “It’s a true partnership. We are in touch every day because with issues like tenant re-openings, mask mandates and vaccination mandates, these protocols are changing daily.”
Getting to this point required significant coordination from the United Services/AffinEco leadership team, including Boston vice president Nolan Macario and managing partners Michael Diamond and Paul Senecal. “The opening was a team effort. The entire Boston account management team, as well as team members from Stamford and New Haven, assisted with the process,” said Kent.
For the first 30 days, the team evaluated the janitors and supervisors that had been servicing the properties for the previous vendor. As United Services/AffinEco has learned during this pandemic, situations can change quickly, so people have to be nimble in order to adapt. Hobbs Brook, the team determined, would need more resources and additional supervision in order to achieve the level of quality they had promised.
“People want to be good at their jobs and, when you show them the right way to do things, it is amazing what you get,” said Kent.
United Services/AffinEco assigned Jiuver Campus as the on-site portfolio manager, whom Kent calls “critical to the account’s success and response.” The company also added resources and additional supervisors for the building service teams, especially those on-site at night. To maintain quality control, United Services/AffinEco supervisors conduct nightly inspections of the sites and the account team does weekly walk-throughs to be sure they are exceeding the client’s expectations.
It helps that Kent and the United Services/AffinEco team have an established relationship with Laura Mintz, the general manager of the property. “Nolan (Macario) and I know her for many years and have had her as a client when she was in different roles,” said Kent. “We know she has a level of expectation for this account that we need to reach.”
It also helps that United Services/AffinEco is a leader in green cleaning, which supports Hobbs Brook Real Estate’s sustainability goals. According to Kent, Hobbs Brook Office Park handed responsibility for purchasing consumables directly to United to take advantage of the company’s expertise.
“We are improving the quality and the sustainability of their consumable products to add additional ‘green’ items into the buildings,” which helps Hobbs Brook earn LEED credits, according to Kent. “Tenants want to know the soap they are using is ‘green’ and that we are using the most energy efficient dispensers in the restrooms,” she added.
Plus, United Services/AffinEco’s vendor relationship helps secure better pricing for the customer.
As COVID concerns have ratcheted up in recent weeks, United Services/AffinEco has reinitiated its protocols for dealing with positive coronavirus cases on-site. Because she is in touch with the property management team at Hobbs Park on a daily basis, Kent is alerted as soon as any tenant’s employee reports a positive COVID test. At that point, the United Services/AffinEco team immediately begins tracing the path of the employee, then disinfecting and deep-cleaning the places he or she had been. The process is exhaustive, but, Kent said, it is the best way to provide peace of mind to employees returning to work the next day. “I’m very proud of how we respond,” she added.
The United Services/AffinEco team has also conducted deep cleaning at Hobbs Brook’s cafes, some of which had been shuttered since the beginning of the pandemic. All have since reopened. At fitness centers within the Hobbs Brook Office Park, United Services/AffinEco worked with the management team to develop disinfection protocols that provide tenants with a level of comfort that their gym is being properly cleaned throughout the day.
In just a short time, United Services/AffinEco has developed a tightly run plan to improve how building services are conducted at the Hobbs Brook Office Park. Teams have been reorganized and redeployed; daily building service functions have been modified and augmented; and teams have been trained to handle emergency situations whenever they arise.
“The level of trust that has been developed is truly amazing and it is the result of working in such close collaboration,” said Kent.
That is exactly the playbook great service providers use to exceed their clients’ expectations.
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