New Management Firm Formed

PORTLAND, OR - Norris, Beggs & Simpson Companies, a 77-year-old full-service commercial real estate company with three offices in Oregon and Washington, and Susan Stratton, a successful apartment management executive, have joined forces to found NBS Multifamily Management, a company that will manage apartment communities of 100 units or more around the West Coast.

Why start a new venture in this economic climate? NBS Companies President J. Clayton Hering expects that as the job market grows, the demand for housing will increase, with a short supply of single-family and multifamily housing due to the recessionary reduction in construction. With single-family lenders requiring greater equity and better credit, fewer people will be able to buy houses and will reenter the apartment market.

"With increased market activity the necessity for professional, value-added multifamily management will rise, and NBS Multifamily Management will enable multifamily owners to be competitive," Hering said.

NBS Multifamily Management expects to hire more than 100 people to run and maintain the apartment communities it will manage.

Stratton, who has more than 20 years of multifamily management experience in the West, is President of NBS Multifamily. Stratton spent 13 years at Harsch Investment Properties, most recently as Senior Vice President of Operations, where she was responsible for the company's multifamily division and managed up to 5,500 units. A native Oregonian, she will receive her Executive MBA from Pepperdine University this month.

"I am so pleased to be joining NBS," Stratton said. "My experience combined with NBS' successful property management track record will allow us to shine in the multifamily management industry."

Cassandra Haavisto is NBS Multifamily Management's Regional Manager for the Puget Sound area. Haavisto's industry experience spans 20 years; she has managed more than 13,000 units during her career and worked for companies like Harsch Investment Properties and Trammell Crow.

NBS Multifamily Management manages apartment communities of 100 units or more around the West Coast. It is a company of Norris, Beggs & Simpson Companies, a leader in Pacific Northwest commercial real estate since 1932, and a sister company of NAI Global affiliate NAI Norris, Beggs & Simpson.