CT triple header as Dunne team closes three major sales

The prolific Jeffrey Dunne scored a triple whammy with three major sales in Connecticut this week. Dunne, along with Steven Bardsley and Todd Newman of CB Richard Ellis' New York Tri-State Investment Team, represented an institutional owner in the sale of Greenwich Atrium. The team was also responsible for procuring the buyer, a partnership between Angelo, Gordon & Co. and Core Plus Properties LLC.

And along with CBRE's Christopher Leonard, he represented BlackRock, Inc. in the sale of Hillcroft Apartments for $29.05 million or $151,303 per unit. The pair was also responsible for procuring the buyer, Fairfield Residential, LLC.

In a third separate transaction, Dunne and Leonard represented BlackRock, Inc. in the sale of an adjacent 1.86 acre parcel of entitled land for $1.0 million. The development land has site plan approval from the City of Danbury for 20 residential units. The team was also responsible for procuring the buyer, RJR Builders, LLC of Danbury, Connecticut.

Greenwich Atrium is a 100,154 s/f office building located at 75 Holly Hill in Greenwich, Connecticut, arguably the country's most prestigious and site-constrained office location. The property is situated just off Route 1 (West Putnam Avenue) and roughly one mile from the town center, Interstate 95 and the Metro North train station.

Greenwich Atrium, which was 85.1% leased to 16 tenants at the time of sale, has a highly diversified and stable rent roll representing a variety of businesses such as financial services, real estate, medical treatment and technology. Major tenants at the property included the Bank of Ireland (19,653 s/f), Nextwave Wireless (13,441 s/f), Greenwich Hospital (8,699 s/f) and Citicorp (8,670 s/f).

Commented Dunne, "Greenwich Atrium, with its high quality tenancy, is poised to deliver significant upside through rental rate growth and lease-up by leveraging the numerous favorable characteristics of its quality location and marketplace. Angelo Gordon and Core Plus should fair well with this asset."

Hillcroft Apartments is a 192-unit garden apartment complex located within one-quarter mile of Exit 5 of Interstate 84. It underwent a $2.1 million redevelopment program prior to sale, with new exteriors, renovated amenities, and new landscaping, in addition to interior renovations on many individual units.

The renovation and convenient commuting location has enabled Hillcroft Apartments to achieve higher rental rates.

Interiors by design: how one woman went from handling direct mail to designing home interiors

When Dennese Guadeloupe Rojas was laid off from her production position at a direct mail company in the late '80s, she was disappointed about losing a job but she viewed it as a "golden opportunity" to pursue her life's passion. "Often when you lose a job, you have time to reflect. 'What do I really want to do? What is my life's purpose?'" she says. For Rojas, it turned out to be interior design.

Rojas earned a degree in interior design from Bauder College in Miami but never put it to good use. Unable to find work in her chosen field, she spent several years in advertising. Rojas relocated to Maryland with her daughter in 1988. While at the direct mail company, "I designed a friend's home as a surprise for his wife. That was so rewarding," she says.

Today, Rojas is the sole proprietor of Interiors By Design, which provides interior and exterior design as well as accessories. She is also the owner of a retail store, Interior Accents Etc., where she sells a broad selection of home decor. Last year, both businesses grossed $319,856; Rojas anticipates making $276,351 in the retail store with another $300,000 in design revenues in 2004.

Making the transition to self-employment in 1990, Rojas began working out of her home in Burtonsville, Maryland, relying on word of mouth and attending trade shows in drum up prospective clients. She eventually courted high-scale clients, namely NFL players, including Anthony McFarland and Shaun King. By 2001, Interiors By Design was solid. But each buying trip was limited by Rojas' small-scale approach. She had nowhere to stock the quantities that allow designers to buy from the big players.

At that point, Rojas decided to set up shop. With her sights set on the high-income, middle-class suburban area of Silver Spring, Maryland, Rojas found a space to lease in October 2001. Lacking retail experience, she turned to a friend, someone who had a store selling home furnishings for 10 years. "I hired her as a consultant; we worked out a payment arrangement," says Rojas, whose startup costs were $70,000 to $90,000. She managed to snare a $45,000 micro loan through the SBA. She also used about, $20,000 of her personal savings.

For Rojas. adding a store to her existing design work was rocky at first. The construction of a loft to accommodate a design office separate from the 1,400-square-foot display floor was delayed, and Rojas had to have a friend fix what the original architect botched. Reliable employees were harder to find, although she now has a dependable crew of four full-time and two part time workers.

Nationally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, interior design is growing at a faster pace than average, with a projected 22% increase in the number of working designers by 2012. Annual billings, calculated per state by Dun and Bradstreet, stood between $200,000 and $900,000 in 2003, with most between $400,000 and $600,000.

While the flurry of home makeover programs on television has made interior designers popular commodities, Rojas notes that it's a blessing as well as a curse. Such shows "have more people coming into the store and seeking a designer to help with the interior of their homes," explains Rojas, who has worked with homeowners with budgets ranging from $10,000 to $4 million. "But people think they can get everything that they want for just $1,000."

Full of hot air: how to handle big egos on your sales team before they're blown out of proportion - Sales Force

ALONGSIDE SUCH PERSONALITY-describing adjectives as "competitive" and "assertive," the word "egotistical" is often cast in a pejorative light. But being a little egotistical can be a good thing in sales. Without a firm concept of their own worth, salespeople would quickly be gobbled up by the quicksand of insecurity.

Since such a personality makes one well-suited to thrive in a selling environment, you may be harboring a few shades of ego in your sales force right now. Unfortunately, the same personality trait that makes your salespeople superlative deal-closers may also ruffle feathers in the ranks. Here are a few methods for managing big heads on your sales team:

* Know how to talk ego-ese. Joseph Weintraub, management professor at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and co-author of The Coaching Manager: Developing Top Talent in Business (Sage Publications), works with companies dealing with sales strife. To assess individual work styles and identify the ones likely to cause conflict, Weintraub uses a "Stop, Start, Continue" exercise. "Each person writes down what he or she wants the other person to stop doing, to start doing and to continue doing," he says. "We discuss the lists, and through negotiation, we try to build an agreement that fits the needs of the parties involved."

According to Star-Team's "Insights Survey" , developed in part by Weintraub, effective communication with a dominant personality depends on sticking to the facts, supporting an efficient environment and putting all projects in writing. Communicating don'ts for strong personalities include wasting time, being redundant, using a paternalistic approach or dwelling on details. Learn how to separate emotion from fact. "Ego is always emotional," says Dave Lakhani, owner of Balls Out Sales & Marketing, a sales consulting firm in Boise, Idaho. Lakhani advises entrepreneurs to address the issues and create a definable outcome. Lakhani also urges managers to let sales team members know they will be evaluated not on an ability to relate to just clients, but to each other as well. One way to encourage cooperation is to create competitions that force members to rely on each other to win. "You'll be amazed how quickly communication and support come around," Lakhani says.

* Know how to keep egos in check. "Egos are healthy up to a point," says Janice Calnan, a psychotherapist in Ottawa and author of SHIFT: Secrets of Positive Change for Organizations and Their Leaders (Creative Bound). While the ego helps humans survive, it can also interfere with relationships. "[Egos] put us in a 'judgment mode,' where we want to blame each other." It's when the ego takes charge of a situation that "the rational self is out of control," warns Calnan, who offers tips on handling squabbles in the ranks:

1. Encourage an environment in which salespeople provide each other with positive feedback It's hard to clash with someone who's offered you support.