The Lease-Up

Village Green Executive Vice President of Operations Matt Guenther chats with MHN’s Denile Doyle about how renewals have evolved since he first started out in the industry and why retention is a year-round effort.

Here are a few highlights from this episode:

• (2:15) How renewals evolved from simple flat increases to a much more nuanced process
• (4:03) What residents are really weighing when the renewal notice arrives
• (5:54) The move-in experience and the first service request are the two make-or-break moments
• (8:24) Why framing renewals as a "happy anniversary" changes the conversation
• (13:02) The danger of a resident who never tells you they're unhappy
• (14:42) How conservative increases can boost the bottom line

Across the country, colleges and universities are rethinking how they deliver and finance student housing for today’s students. Aging residence halls, shifting enrollment patterns and rising expectations for the on-campus experience are prompting more institutions to turn to public-private partnerships to modernize housing while managing capital constraints.

Gilbane Development Co. has been one of the firms most active in this space, with several projects illustrating how P3s are supporting large-scale campus transformations. Earlier this year, the company secured Western Kentucky University Board of Regents' approval for Elevate WKU, a $350 million project designed to redevelop the university’s residential footprint, with the first phase including a new 1,000-bed living and dining facility. The firm also started work on another multi-phase P3 with the University of Rhode Island, where the company will add more than 1,100 beds to the institution’s flagship campus in Kingston, R.I.

That activity reflects a broader shift in student housing. In this episode of Student Housing Unlocked, Senior Associate Editor Olivia Bunescu is joined by Geoff Eisenacher, executive development director at Gilbane Development Co., to discuss why campus housing is no longer just about adding beds. Instead, Eisenacher describes a sector shaped by new expectations for the college experience, with projects increasingly combining housing with dining, parking, infrastructure and mixed-use components.

Here’s what they discussed:

• How is student housing faring today? (01:34)
• The residential campus experience keeps demand resilient (05:38)
• Gilbane’s roots in student housing and its current strategy (07:36)
• Reading enrollment shifts and selecting university markets (09:18)
• Why colleges are considering P3s (12:39)
• Elevate WKU and the rise of whole-campus housing strategies (15:37)
• Balancing university control with private capital (17:43)
• On-campus P3s vs off-campus purpose-built student housing (20:12)
• More beds, better beds or a different housing mix? (23:46)
• Right-sizing amenities around affordability and flexibility (27:42)
• The next phase of student housing (30:20)

As the U.S. continues to face a severe shortage of affordable rental housing, much of the conversation centers on financing, development pipelines and the number of units being delivered. But for residents, the experience is also shaped by what happens inside the communities.

For Lydia Liley, owner of Arrivare Interiors, thoughtful interior design can help affordable housing feel livable, durable and dignified without adding unnecessary cost. A registered interior designer with more than a decade of experience in multifamily design, Liley works at the intersection of budget discipline, material performance and resident experience.

In the July episode of Mission Success: Women in Multifamily, she talks about why interior designers should be involved early in the development process, before project teams default to contractor-selected finishes or miss opportunities to elevate a space within budget. Sharing insights from her work on multiple projects across the country, she also discusses how lighting, flooring patterns, paint sheen, wood tones and even grout color can create warmth and visual interest without requiring custom materials.

Federal housing policy is constantly shifting, making it challenging for multifamily owners, operators and property managers to keep up with every proposal, rule change and court-tested uncertainty.

Multi-Housing News Executive Editor Laura Valean reached out to Nicole Upano, assistant vice president of Housing Policy & Regulatory Affairs at the National Apartment Association, for a timely regulatory roundup on the federal actions multifamily professionals should have on their radar.

AI is shaking up many aspects of the multifamily industry, from marketing to leasing to operations, but one aspect that’s less discussed is how the tech can be applied to apartment building construction.

To learn more about how AI has already been deployed in multifamily projects, along with what the future potential is, MHN Associate Editor Matthew Kaufman turned to James Garner, a member of the Construction Professional Group Panel at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, or RICS. He’s also the Head of AI and Data at Gleeds.

Here are some highlights from their discussion:

• (1:17) AI’s early construction impact
• (4:36) Today’s biggest AI wins
• (7:00) Keeping humans accountable
• (8:38) Making data AI-ready
• (11:47) Culture over cost
• (13:14) Four AI mindsets
• (16:25) AI meets robotics
• (23:30) Investor and insurer reactions
• (27:35) Responsible AI standards

This month, Mission Success: Women in Multifamily Host Laura Valean sits down with Lissette Calderon, founder & CEO of Neology Group, and one of the few women leading large-scale residential development in South Florida.

Calderon reflects on leaving investment banking, a decision that once felt like failure but ultimately became the first time she truly trusted herself. She also revisits the risk of launching her first project, Neo Lofts, at 28, the fear of losing her lender after 9/11 and the conviction behind her long-term bets on the Miami River and Allapattah neighborhoods in Miami.

Beyond the buildings, Calderon speaks candidly about the responsibility developers carry toward residents, investors, teams and communities. She also talks about being a woman in real estate, why ambition should never be downplayed, and how much her late father has influenced everything she has achieved.

For the current and next generation of students, showcasing a polished lifestyle across a property’s social media channels is no longer enough. Since social platforms are often where prospects first discover student housing communities, the most effective campaigns are the ones that make students feel like they already understand what it would be like to live there before they even schedule a tour.In this episode of Student Housing Unlocked, MHN’s Senior Associate Editor Olivia Bunescu is joined by Maggie St. Geme, vice president of marketing at Subtext Living, to discuss what it takes to build a social media strategy that feels authentic and resident-first. St. Geme breaks down how Subtext turns brand identity into content across its Local, Verve and Ever communities, while keeping each property’s voice connected to its residents, neighborhood and on-site team.The conversation also highlights the approach behind LOCAL Nashville’s Silver-winning social media strategy at last year’s MHN Excellence Awards. Rather than making the property the main character, the campaign leaned into Nashville, the Midtown neighborhood and the residents, turning them into the main characters of the community, instead of amenities. From hyperlocal storytelling and short-form video to curated giveaways, St. Geme explains why social media now plays a role across every stage of the leasing process.

Here’s what they talked about:

• Defining success in social media (01:36)
• Building trust with renters (02:37)
• Creating an authentic brand voice (04:12)
• Subtext’s three content filters (05:44)
• Turning brand identity into content (07:46)
• Creating a viral reel (08:50)
• LOCAL Nashville’s award-winning strategy (11:25)
• Balancing polished and organic content (15:00)
• The power of short-form video (16:47)
• On-site teams as content engines (17:50)
• Applying lessons across the portfolio (19:22)
• Measuring social media’s success (20:51)
• Trends that will shape student housing marketing (22:58)

Kerry Fedigan’s story begins far from real estate, in the halls of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and later in her own thriving speech pathology practice. But life, as she shares with striking honesty in this podcast, rarely follows a straight line. A deeply personal family challenge prompted her to step away from her business. What followed wasn’t a calculated pivot, but an unexpected opening into real estate that would ultimately redefine her career.

In this episode of Mission Success: Women in Multifamily, Multi-Housing News Executive Editor Laura Valean sits down with Fedigan, now director of sales at Sun Homes. She leads sales at One Kingsland, a townhouse-condominium community within Sleepy Hollow’s Edge-on-Hudson, where her relationship-first approach has translated into strong momentum.

Fedigan reflects on a reality that will feel deeply familiar across the multifamily and real estate industry in general: the constant tension between professional ambition and being present for the moments that matter most at home. There’s no perfect balance, she admits, only choices, trade-offs and the quiet determination to show up where it counts. That mindset continues to shape how she leads today.  

As multifamily operators navigate shifting renter expectations, rising competition and rapid technological change, large portfolios are uncovering behavioral patterns and operational insights into renter behavior that smaller firms may not yet see. At scale, data becomes more than a performance metric; It becomes a window into how renters think, search, compare and ultimately decide where to live.

From digital trust and pricing sensitivity to tour behavior and response times, today’s renter journey is becoming increasingly nuanced. Operators are no longer competing solely on amenities or location. They are competing on speed, transparency, convenience and authenticity across every touchpoint.

What’s emerging is a broader shift in multifamily marketing: the convergence of marketing, centralized operations, customer experience and technology. The operators best positioned for the future are those learning how to connect these functions into a seamless renter journey, while still maintaining a local, human touch.

This episode of Multi-Housing News’ Top Marketers podcast explores what large-scale multifamily platforms are learning about renter behavior and how those insights may shape the next phase of leasing, marketing and resident engagement.

Joining us is Josh Draughn, senior vice president of marketing and centralized operations at Hillpointe. A recent hire at Hillpointe, Draughn brings nearly two decades of experience spanning multifamily marketing, centralized operations and technology strategy. Before joining Hillpointe, he held leadership roles at Greystar, Cortland and Weidner Apartment Homes, where he helped oversee large-scale marketing initiatives and operational systems across tens of thousands of units.

Throughout the conversation, Draughn discusses how renter behavior has evolved over the past two decades, why authenticity now outweighs overly polished branding, how AI and centralized operations are reshaping leasing strategies and what operators can learn from analyzing millions of renter interactions.

Key topics include how data-driven marketing, renter trust and centralized operations can better interpret renter behavior at scale, transform multifamily leasing in an era where authenticity beats polish.

• From Indiana Jones to Multifamily Marketing (4:31)
• What Renters Really Think at Scale (9:09)
• The Laughter Stat: 1.6M Calls Analyzed (11:00)
• Why Polished Marketing Backfires (20:43)
• Reddit, Speed & the Modern Renter Journey (19:00)
• Tech, Trust & the Future of Leasing (22:28)