On February 20th and 21st, Continental Properties hosted its 4th Annual Construction Summit at the Aloft Hotel in Rosemont, IL. The Summit is a great opportunity for our team to meet with the leadership of our general contractor and architecture partners, who together build our beautiful Springs communities across the country.
Tuesday, February 20th began with an introduction from Jim Schloemer (CEO), Dan Minahan (COO), and Ryan Folger (VP of Construction). The first half-day of meetings featured presentations on Continental’s industry outlook, strategic plan, multifamily pipeline, new "Springs Apartments” concept, and leveraging social media to strengthen our business-to-business marketing efforts. The floor was then opened to a question and answer session titled, "Everything you wanted to know about Continental but were afraid to ask,” a useful exchange of ideas to address site work overruns, imminent building code changes, cost reduction ideas, and improved adherence to schedules. The group then enjoyed a networking hour at the Aloft, followed by dinner at Carlucci Italian Restaurant.
February 21st started in a similar manner, with opening presentations from Ryan Folger and Kim Grimm (EVP of Development) regarding Continental's best practices and changes coming to the Construction Department in 2018. The Department’s senior leaders then presented our newly launched Prototype Plan Initiative. This was followed by the Department’s Assistant Project Managers presenting Continental's core cultural principles of absolute honesty, integrity, and respect for each and every member of our “One Team.” The day ended with attendees dividing into three groups for break out sessions to discuss best practices for subcontractor development, ways Continental can improve its processes for the general contractors and architects and, finally, brainstorming on ways to successfully develop the Springs Apartments concept. These breakout sessions proved an invaluable way to obtain alternative perspectives on the challenges we collectively face and yielded several ideas to improve our processes moving forward.
Congratulations and thank you to all who contributed to the Summit’s success four years running!
In attendance at this year's 2018 Construction Summit were: