R&J Strategic Communications

With a portfolio spanning over six million square feet across a wide range of property types throughout northern New Jersey, Alfred Sanzari Enterprises’ diverse slate of tenants has meant that effective, clear communications have been crucial during the COVID-19 outbreak. Adding an additional layer of complexity to their communication challenges, Alfred Sanzari Enterprises’ largest asset, Glenpointe, sits in Teaneck, N.J., widely considered the epicenter of New Jersey’s COVID-19 outbreak.

Immediately upon COVID-19’s emergence, R&J hosted daily calls with Alfred Sanzari Enterprises’ senior management team to craft clear communications alerting their tenants to the steps the company was taking to limit the spread of COVID-19 in their spaces as well as the status of the company’s spaces amidst increasingly confusing executive orders and other government mandates. Each time a new directive was released, or the situation changed, R&J drafted new communications that provided Alfred Sanzari Enterprises tenants with updated information.

Additionally, R&J pivoted Alfred Sanzari Enterprises’ social strategy away from disseminating company news towards leveraging their corporate Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts to share feel-good community news. This helped provide followers with a break from the daily doom and gloom in the news while recognizing members of the community who were going above and beyond.

As the federal and state governments enacted small business assistance programs, R&J’s in-house web design team was able to quickly build out a dedicated COVID-19 landing page that connected Alfred Sanzari Enterprises’ tenants with helpful resources. Through these efforts, each of Alfred Sanzari Enterprises’ tenants knew that their landlord was committed to keeping them informed during these difficult times and providing them with the information they needed to make informed decisions about the continued operation of their businesses.

For over 50 years, NAI James E. Hanson’s commercial real estate experience and brokerage services have been trusted by businesses of all sizes throughout northern New Jersey. Operating in a commercial real estate industry that was humming along only weeks ago, NAI James E. Hanson was suddenly forced to grapple with a new normal as deals stalled. Seemingly overnight, businesses throughout the region were forced to grapple with a new and confusing reality and looked for expert voices to provide guidance about what was next.

Leveraging deep roots in media relations and thought leadership, R&J Strategic Communication’s B2B team was able to quickly pivot to identify opportunities for NAI James E. Hanson’s brokers to comment on  COVID-19’s impact on the commercial real estate industry and what the future may hold. Through this proactive approach, R&J was able to leverage our media contacts to secure prime media placements in many of the industry’s premier publications which are detailed below. Each of these opportunities, further established the brokers from NAI James E. Hanson as experts in their fields as clients were searching for expert voices to help them navigate these challenging times.

How Coronavirus Is Impacting Office Leasing

National placement featuring insights from Joshua Levering, NAI James E. Hanson Senior Vice President, on how COVID-19 will impact office leasing in the short and long-terms.

Disrupted supply chain impacts NJ manufacturing sector

NAI James E. Hanson Sales Associate Nick DePaolera weighs in on the changes ahead for supply chains and manufacturing in the United States.

Industrial Development Surges in Mid-Atlantic

With the pausing of virtually all economic activity due to COVID-19, R&J secured an opportunity for NAI James E. Hanson Sales Associate Nick DePaolera to comment on how the pandemic is reshaping the industrial development outlook.

Industrial sector could bounce back quickly — and stronger — after short-term hit from COVID

Whether the recovery is V-shaped, U-shaped, or L-shaped, the industrial asset class remains well positioned to emerge stronger from COVID-19. NAI James E. Hanson’s Nick Depaolera provides his thoughts on why.

Brokers turn to video walkthroughs for North Jersey commercial buildings

COVID-19 has dramatically altered the way that commercial real estate brokers do business. R&J secured an opportunity for NAI James E. Hanson’s Mike Walters, SIOR, Cameron Silverstein, and Mini Shockley to address how they are still marketing spaces in the age of social distancing.

Rethinking elder care: Real estate pros are examining what changes must be made in design of facilities in post-COVID world

Although COVID-19’s disastrous impact on long-term care facilities has been a national story, New Jersey has been particularly hard hit. R&J worked with ROI-NJ to insert NAI Hanson Darren Lizzack into their story on elder care to discuss how medical office redesign will be a key component of creating a healthier ecosystem for the most vulnerable in our state moving forward.

The owner of hundreds of thousands of square feet of medical office space across the Northeast and Midwest, Atkins Companies’ experience during COVID-19 differed from many other commercial real estate owners. As buildings shut down and people limited their exposure to the outside world, the nature of Atkins Companies’ spaces meant that they were still active as COVID-19 swept through the country. With that came unique challenges in how they navigated an already uncertain time. R&J Strategic Communications worked closely with Atkins to develop communications with building tenants to communicate the status of their spaces in what had become a highly fluid situation.

Additionally, R&J recognized that Atkins’ unique viewpoint on COVID-19 provided valuable best practices for owners of medical office buildings in the broader real estate market. R&J was able to work with media contacts at NJBIZ to place a story in both their print and online editions on how Atkins was addressing the COVID-19 outbreak in their spaces and what lessons they could pass along to their colleagues. Additionally, R&J was able to secure an opportunity with Atkins Companies Managing Partner Bob Atkins to speak on the National Real Estate Investor Common Area podcast to discuss managing medical office properties in the time of COVID-19. Bob’s commentary was also featured in NREI’s story on What CRE Will Look Like As America Reopens. Shortly after the podcast and story were published Business Insider, shared Bob’s thoughts in a feature story on their homepage, reaching their audience of 375 million monthly readers, as well as on their LinkedIn page with 8.9 million followers. Additionally, R&J leveraged Bob’s national coverage to secure a local placement in ROI-NJ detailing what the future holds for medical office design.