In-Rel Rebranding: Shift In Focus

Saturday, July 31, 2010

The Commercial Appeal- Memphis, TN
By Tom Bailey Jr.

One of the city’s leading commercial real estate firms is changing names, logos, motto and the way it markets itself.

The name was In-Rel Management. Now it’s In-Rel Properties.

The logo was black and white, showing in silhouette a row of buildings. Now it’s streamlined into two tall buildings, with the color green added.

The motto was “Intelligent Real Estate.” Now, it’s “The space you need … to succeed.”

Plus, the firm recently created the position “marketing services manager” and hired June Hurt to fill it.

And this month In-Rel Properties plans to roll out a new website.

“The company has embarked on a complete rebranding campaign,” executive vice president Ron Riley said.

“All of this has been driven by one singular purpose: to better service our existing tenants and to cater to new tenants.”

Times are tough all over in commercial real estate. High unemployment means fewer workers to fill office space.

That also means it’s a tenant’s market. A number of businesses and professional firms are taking advantage when their leases are up by seeking better deals elsewhere.

“The current environment is as competitive as it has ever been,” Riley said.

The conditions are a factor in the rebranding, but the change has been years in the making, he said.

With its repositioning, In-Rel is focusing more on its existing tenants, said Frazier Baker, director of leasing, “versus promoting the properties themselves. That’s sort of the story behind it.”

A property is only as successful as the tenants, Baker said, adding, “Our focus is trying to run the property as efficiently as possible so the tenant base can be as successful as possible.

“The changes also better reflect exactly what In-Rel is: An owner-operator as opposed to a non-owning, third-party property management firm.

“We want to make it clear we own, lease and manage our own properties,” Baker said.

Such an emphasis gives tenants a higher level of comfort that if there’s a problem they are dealing directly with the owner, said Wyatt Aiken, executive vice president of Commercial Advisors and president of the Commercial Council of the Memphis Area Association of Realtors.

“In a down market, everyone wants to offer better service, and tenants are obviously looking for better economic deals but also for excellent service,” Aiken said.

“So the value proposition is that one might get better service from an owner who is a manager than from a third-party manager which might be representing a pension fund in California.”

“I think it’s smart of them to differentiate themselves from some of their competition,” Aiken said.

In-Rel is headquartered in Lake Worth, Fla. (near Palm Beach). Besides Memphis, it also has an office that serves Nashville and Birmingham.

The entire company has about 4.5 million square feet of building space, including about 1.4 million in Memphis.

In-Rel is well capitalized and positioned for growth in the next three to five years, Riley said.

Including more acquisitions in Memphis?

“We are always looking for complementary assets in markets in which we have a presence, as well as in adjacent ones,” Riley said.