Case Study: Draper & Kramer – Wrigleyville Lofts
Location: Chicago, IL
Number of Units: 334
Property Type: Mid-Rise
Tour24 Launch Date: November 2021
Case Study: Wrigleyville Lofts
Wrigleyville Lofts is a multifamily residential building in a bustling, urban Chicago neighborhood that is home to historic Wrigley Field. Featuring 120 one- and two-bedroom industrial-inspired lofts, the property was developed by Chicago-based Draper & Kramer and began leasing in August 2021.
Challenge
Upon ribbon-cutting, Draper & Kramer appointed a full-time leasing agent to handle the rush of applications at Wrigleyville Lofts. But with only 120 units, Draper & Kramer couldn’t justify hiring a full-time leasing team for the property after the lease-up phase. The company made plans to centralize leasing activities, but they still needed a way to efficiently and securely take prospects — especially the predominantly younger, tech-savvy demographic interested in Wrigleyville Lofts — on physical tours of the property.
Solution
James Losik, Director of Sales and Leasing, who oversees Wrigleyville Lofts, says he first heard about Tour24 at a conference and decided to implement Tour24 for several Chicago area properties — right as the pandemic hit. “Fortunately, we had this product in place,” says Losik. “It allowed us to continue our leasing efforts without missing a beat. Prospects could visit communities without a leasing agent when our staff were sheltering in place.”
Sold on the tool’s ability to solve the firm’s business challenges and satisfied with its operational security features, Draper & Kramer also opted to enable Tour24’s credit card feature to further validate identity and retain for additional security during a tour.
Results
As of December 2022, Wrigleyville Lofts achieved 100% occupancy and 100% centralized leasing. All property tours are now managed exclusively with Tour24.
“Wrigleyville is a really high energy, very youthful neighborhood,” says Losik. “The demographic for this property is recent graduates, highly educated, tech-savvy renters who aren’t intimidated by technology — they live and die by their phone. I’ve got millennial children myself, and they’d much rather not have to interact with a person. So we knew from the beginning that Tour24 was going to be the perfect solution for this type of community.”
Now, with Draper & Kramer’s centralized leasing plan for Wrigleyville fully in place, Losik says that the property has been relying on Tour24 as the property’s sole leasing agent. “Tour24 provides us with the flexibility to allow prospects to conduct their own self-guided tours at Wrigleyville Lofts. This is particularly important at smaller properties where the operating budgets do not provide for a full-time leasing staff. Tour24 bridges the gap by offering property tours seven days a week.”
Tour24 manages and streamlines the entire prospect journey by automating the scheduling of tours, allowing prospective residents to visit properties on their own schedules, including after business hours and on weekends. Not only does this provide a better experience for future renters, but also reduces time-to-lease and increases close rates for property teams.
Now that Tour24 is a critical part of Draper & Kramer’s operations, Losik says the firm is now turning its attention to incorporating additional digital technologies into its leasing operations. “In our leasing centers, we now have touch screens for prospects to select a unit to tour, see pricing, check availability, take a tour, and even apply on the spot — even if the agent is unavailable,” Losik says. “Our websites are now chatbots that answer basic questions, freeing up time for leasing agents to devote to strong prospects.”
By integrating Tour24 into their tech stack at a critical point in their leasing journey, Draper & Kramer is leading the pack in embracing the digital, automated future.
About Tour24
Tour24 is the award-winning platform that partners with multifamily operators to offer self-guided tours. By focusing on easy access, custom interactive and audio/visual tour experience and seamless integration with existing tech stacks, Tour24 is the most comprehensive solution on the market. Providing high-quality, consistent coverage when offices are closed or leasing teams are unavailable, Tour24 optimizes a community’s leasing resources. Led by a high-caliber team of industry experts, Tour24 delivers more traffic, more tours and ultimately more leases. The company is based in Boston and is privately held. Learn more at tour24now.com.
