When it comes to gathering no moss, a rolling stone has nothing on Randy Salvatore.
“Time goes by so fast, I”™d forgotten about it,” said the commercial real estate developer, referring to the 25th anniversary of his Stamford firm RMS Cos. “We”™ve been so busy ”” which is always a good thing.”
RMS made its name in Fairfield County via such projects as luxury apartment complexes Ainslie Square (Stamford), Mayfair Square (Danbury) and Copper Square (Bethel), as well as the construction of new luxury college dorms on UConn”™s Stamford campus and such boutique hotels as the pair of Hotel Zero Degrees in Danbury and Norwalk; a third was renovated and rebranded last year as The Lloyd in Stamford.
But the company has also become a significant player throughout the state ”” including a number of luxury apartment buildings surrounding Hartford”™s Dunkin Donuts Stadium in Hartford, at an estimated cost of $200 million, as well as various properties in New Haven ”” and, more recently, the tristate region.
RMS”™ first Westchester County move involved Stratus on Hudson in Yonkers, which opened in 2019; it was sold to Ginsburg Development Cos. for $39.5 million last year. The company is now in the midst of securing approval for a 134-unit apartment building in downtown White Plains, Salvatore said.
The RMS founder and CEO is also in the middle of wrapping up approval for his first New Jersey project, the 153-unit Canter Green in Union. “We should start leasing there in 30 days,” Salvatore said.
But one gets the feeling that Stamford will always have a special place for the developer.
“We”™ve got another building there with 228 apartments, waiting for approval,” he said. “We”™re very bullish on Stamford. The people, the restaurants, the great entertainment options ”” there”™s so much more you can get there for your money, and New York is still just 45 minutes away.”
Salvatore also believes the much-remarked-upon exodus from New York City to Fairfield County throughout the pandemic will result in many permanent new residents.
“Anecdotally, a lot of them have come to realize what makes this place so great,” he said. “Some will always want what a big city can offer and they might migrate back to New York. But for so many, being able to see grass in their backyard, playgrounds for their kids and great schools, counts for a lot. Word-of-mouth plays a big part in something like this: ”˜Why don”™t we give it a shot?”™”
Average prices have gone up around 20% to 25% over the past year, he said, “but that”™s still relatively inexpensive compared to New York, depending on what you want.”
Even so, disruptions in the supply chain during the pandemic have yet to be fully ironed out.
“That”™s still here,” he said. “It”™s becoming even more of an issue in terms of getting product from around the country, with manufacturing and shipping issues. The lack of one product can slow down or even shut down a project.
“A lot of factories scaled back or halted production, and they”™re not able to scale it back up that quickly,” he said. “Plus we”™re still feeling the effects of the Suez Canal being shut down for about a week in March.”
All of those factors, along with growing demand, have led the price of lumber to increase by 300% over what it was a year ago, he said.
As for the hotel business, which has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic ”” the U.S. lost 672,316 hotel industry jobs last year due to the coronavirus, according to the latest data from the American Hotel & Lodging Association ”” Salvatore said he believes that “Things are getting better, with more vaccinations, warm weather and pent-up demand. Business travel is not back yet, but hopefully by the fall we”™ll see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
As he reflected on RMS”™ first 25 years, Salvatore said that certain bedrock characteristics have remained in place.
“Having good people work for you is key to everything,” he said, noting that many of RMS”™ approximately 60 full-time employees have been with the firm for at least 10 years.
“We”™ve kind of all grown together and acquired new skill sets as we went along,” he continued. “Many of these people came to the company with little to no experience, but experience is not necessarily my most prized possession.
“What I look for is integrity, a willingness to work hard and an eagerness to learn and grow with the company,” Salvatore said. “The people who oversee accounting and property management started here as receptionists, and two senior project managers came in with little or no construction experience and are now as good as anyone in the industry.”
Such approaches will continue to serve RMS well into the future, he added. “I have no plans to retire,” Salvatore said. “I hope we can have this conversation again 25 years from now.”
