An Interview with Ronda Dominguez, Senior Property Manager, Grover Corlew
After the fabulous BOMA Orlando TOBY awards on Friday, November 9, we caught up with Ronda Dominguez of Grover Corlew to talk about her team’s double win for Orlando Central Center: “The Outstanding Building of the Year – Suburban Office Low Rise” and ““Best of Best – Honorable Mention.”
Q1: What does it mean to you and your team to win TOBY Awards for Orlando Central Center?
Winning not one, but two TOBY Awards is both an honor and great accomplishment for our team and owners. I’ve been at Orlando Central Center going on 12 years now, and as each year passes, we look for ways to improve and showcase our property’s timeless features.”
Q2: When did you decide to enter? How long did it take to get your building “TOBY-ready”?
“I decided to enter Orlando Central Center while completing our 2017 budget and announced the grand plan to our owners in the beginning of 2018. My goal was to persuade Mark Corlew as nonchalantly as possible to let me enter the office park. In the back of my mind I thought, “I have 50/50 chance of him saying yes.” Grover Corlew had acquired our property in late December, 2016, and I wondered, “Were they ready for this and did they think I could do this??” Without hesitation, Mark Corlew said “that’s great and let us know if you need anything.” The rest was history!”
Q3: What advice do you have for property managers who haven’t entered yet?
“I was very nervous about entering Orlando Central Center as our office park is not the new kid on the block and I thought age could be a downfall. However, putting a plan together a year in advance and budgeting the improvements or maintenance items required for the entry was a huge help. I think PM’s should enter their buildings regardless of class or age and show off what they’re made of! It was a great experience for my team, vendor partners and tenants.
Q4: How are you celebrating your win?
“We’re actually slammed, as we’ve just hit 90% occupancy! We are not seeing any signs of slowing down due to our end-of-year budgeted improvements as well as new Tenant Build-Outs. We will celebrate with our owners and upper management in the coming weeks at our holiday party. ”
Q5: Are you looking for to the BOMA Southern Region TOBY Awards Competition in Savannah?
“Yes, we’re very excited and honored to go to the next round. We’re taking another glance at our budgets to make sure everything is in-line for next year’s judging. Our mentors, Terri Walther and Bianca Santos (Parmenter), are also gearing up to assist us with our entry.
“We’d like to publicly thank Terri and Bianco for their support, positivity and helping us enter Orlando Central Center in the 2018 Toby Awards. They went on multiple property tours with us and did a final look-over of our presentation materials for the judges. It was a great feeling knowing we were ready!”
Congratulations Ronda and team, good luck in Savannah!
