NORFOLK, VIRGINIA: Building Engines, a provider of comprehensive web and mobile property management software for the commercial real estate industry, has named McKinley Ricks, Chief Engineer, Divaris Property Management, as its 2015 Maintenance Hero. Ricks received the most overall votes in the first annual competition, and will be awarded $750, a feature in the Building Engines Blog and, of course, official bragging rights as a standout in his field.
McKinley Ricks is chief building engineer of a 20-story, multi-tenant building located at Three Commercial Place in downtown Norfolk, Va. Ricks began his career as a maintenance technician 18 years ago in this building, which has given him intimate knowledge of the property and its operating systems. His knowledge and experience, as well as his eagerness to learn new technology, has allowed him to complete the majority of the work in-house instead of contracting it out, saving the client thousands of dollars.
“Mac has taken ownership of the HVAC upgrade and the initiative to train his team on various intricacies, making him and his team more knowledgeable and valuable to Divaris and our client,” said Tazewell Rhinehart, DPMC’s senior property manager of the Arnold B. McKinnon Building. She continued, “he is not only an ‘equipment guru,’ he has also mastered the ability to operate under pressure along with multi-tasking and maintaining good tenant relations.”
The building, which is leased by Divaris Real Estate, Inc. and managed by Divaris Property Management Corp, serves as the world headquarters for Norfolk Southern Corp. Other tenants in Three Commercial Place include Bank of America and Cita Logistics.
The Building Engines contest was sponsored by The News Funnel and Bisnow. Commercial real estate professionals nominated their “heroes” of choice from March 9 through March 15. Four finalists were chosen by the Building Engines staff for each of the five categories, which included:
- Tenant Service – Consistently exceeds tenant expectations.
- Grace Under Pressure – Gracefully handles daily operational tasks and emergency/unexpected situations.
- Equipment Guru – Excels at maintenance and equipment know-how.
- Breaking Boundaries – Spearheads new process and technology efforts to achieve building efficiency.
- The Moneymaker – Finds unique ways to save money with building maintenance.
Voting was open to the public through April 3, 2015, and in addition to the overall winner, the finalist in each category with the most votes was awarded $200. Those winners are:
- TENANT SERVICE: Pedro Carrasco, chief engineer, JLL
- GRACE UNDER PRESSURE: Michael Sartoris, building engineer, Harsch Investment Properties
- EQUIPMENT GURU: Michael Savage, maintenance, National Church Residences
- BREAKING BOUNDARIES: Dennis James, service supervisor, Timberland Partners
- THE MONEYMAKER: Larry Hatton, chief engineer, NAI Norris, Beggs and Simpson
About Building Engines
Building Engines supports innovative commercial real estate owners & managers with web & mobile property management software that creates the visibility & control needed for more profitable operations, happier tenants and an identifiable brand. For more information, visit: http://www.buildingengines.com/
About The News Funnel
The News Funnel is the largest real estate news platform in the industry. The free site features over 5,000 feeds, sourced and indexed from industry-specific trade publications, major media sources, companies and professionals. In addition to search, subscribers can create personalized real estate news feeds based on their geographic markets, industry segments and areas of interest, that are accessible on their personalized home pages that refresh 24/7. Featuring a responsive design, mobile app and email alert, subscribers can access their customized news anywhere, at any time. For more information, visit www.thenewsfunnel.com.
About Bisnow
Bisnow is the leader in peer-to-peer networking platforms in the $11 trillion commercial real estate industry. Its all-digital publications are avidly followed by nearly 500k subscribers and more than 50k attended its events last year. Bisnow’s on and offline content is photo-heavy like Instagram, personality-oriented like Facebook, pithy like Twitter, hyper-local like Foursquare, and substantive like the NY Times. For more information, visit https://www.bisnow.com/.
About Divaris Property Management Corp.
Divaris Real Estate, Inc. is headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA with offices in Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond and Roanoke, VA; Charlotte, NC; and Washington, DC. Divaris Real Estate and Divaris Property Management Corp. are divisions of The Divaris Group, an international real estate brokerage and property management company that currently manages and/or leases in excess of 23 million square feet of prime office, retail and industrial space from New Jersey to Florida. Gerald S. Divaris is Chairman of the Board, and Michael B. Divaris is President of Divaris Real Estate, Inc.
Divaris Real Estate is a member of Realty Resources, (http://www.realtyresources.org/) a national group of independent retail property brokers and managers, covering 91 major markets throughout the U.S. DRE is also the Virginia affiliate for The CORE Network, (http://www.corenetworkcre.org/) a national group of office and industrial brokers with affiliates throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Asia and Europe. These organizations represent corporate and institutional clients, tenants and buyers in all aspects of leasing, development, management, sales and acquisitions.
