On Thursday, September 5th, Toby Bozzuto of the Bozzuto Group joined Cornell’s Baker Program in Real Estate to lead an insightful discussion on multifamily real estate development and management as well as offer perspectives on effective leadership. The Bozzuto Group is a diversified real estate company specializing in multifamily real estate development, construction, and property management as well as homebuilding. Since its founding in 1988, Bozzuto has developed, acquired and built more than 50,000 homes and apartments and today boasts over 75,000 apartments and 2.20 MM square feet of retail space under management. Mr. Bozzuto joined the Bozzuto Group in the early 2000s and succeeded, his father, Tom Bozzuto, as President and CEO in 2015.
Since taking over leadership of the company, Mr. Bozzuto has continued to grow the company’s prowess and product offerings since his ascension to CEO. However, Mr. Bozzuto did not start at the top. Prior to joining the family firm he first worked with JP Morgan Chase’s Real Estate Debt Group and Columbia National Real Estate Finance. Upon joining Bozzuto he started at the bottom of the company, working up through various roles to gain a true understanding of the operations and culture. Mr. Bozzuto‘ s presentation included an overview of the Bozzuto Group’s projects, the different verticals that they compete in, and how Mr. Bozzuto seeks to make decisions that are consistent with his, and by extension, the company’s values. Since its inception, the Bozzuto Group has sought to “Create Sanctuary.”
Throughout his speech, Mr. Bozzuto emphasized the importance of d acceptance, inclusion, and building community. He was most animated when he was sharing that the Washington Post had named the Bozzuto Group a top workplace for the 4th consecutive year. He further explained that this was not a metric regarding compensation or output, rather an award given based solely on employee feedback – further bolstering the idea that even when no one is watching, employees of the Bozzuto Group genuinely value working there. To Mr. Bozzuto, this is paramount as creating an incredible culture is step one for creating “Sanctuary” for tenants, associates, and all those they do business with.
These actions are not merely business decisions to Mr. Bozzuto but rather, in his view, the responsibility of those given a stage of the size he commands. As the CEO of the 12th largest property manager in the United States, Mr. Bozzuto’s words can ripple throughout the media, which occurred after the tragic events in Charlottesville in 2017 and again this past summer when Mr. Bozzuto spoke out against hate. According to Mr. Bozzuto, one of the main tenants on which the Bozzuto Group operates — concern for others — requires him not to stand idle but rather to seek to bring people together despite any differences and to be inclusive, accepting and loving. Mr. Bozzuto believes that “success begets success” and this applies to all parts of the company’s operation; success in fostering diversity and inclusivity has made Bozzuto a great place for women to work, evidenced by the 2018 recognition by the National Associate for Female Executives as a “Top Company for Female Executives.”
Through creating this exceptional community of acceptance and inclusivity, the Bozzuto Group develops top-of-market product with its construction and development teams. The “White Glove” management arm, which does not actually wear white gloves (like certain buildings on Park Avenue in New York), refers to the exceptional and high touch level of service offered in Bozzuto apartment buildings. Bozzuto Management fosters this sentiment of sanctuary and inclusivity in all of its buildings, whether in a building owned by the company or one of the buildings that it manages for other owners, which accounts for 90% of its management contracts. Mr. Bozzuto explained that this level of service and community allows them to charge a 10-20% premium for units in their buildings.
Mr. Bozzuto believes that inclusivity and acceptance create community and that hard work and striving for perfection are what keeps his company at the top. In order to stay competitive, Mr. Bozzuto has been growing the construction and home building divisions of the company. While the construction arm currently has $300.00 MM in its annual pipeline, Mr. Bozzuto hopes that he can grow it to $500.00 MM per year. This aligns with what Mr. Bozzuto imparted about never being complacent. The strive for perfection does not end – perfection is not attainable but should always be the goal.
