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RENOVATIONS

effort to go in and renovate in total any one system or item.”
One of Buero’s first priorities was to upgrade the units.
“We made a concerted effort and agreed on a plan to renovate
and revitalize these units,” he said. “We had to reinvest. They
make a decent amount of money for us, so we had to put
some money back into them. We worked together to put up
a reinvestment plan and do these projects; do the legwork;
outline the cost.”
The renovations started with new HVAC systems for all of
the units. “We did all of the units with HVAC, both heating
and air centralized,” he said. “That was the first big project
that we did. We kept moving on. We did carpet. We took all You try to build that feature into it that where — and this may
of the units down for painting. We painted everything that sound silly, but turning the water off and on in the shower, is it
didn’t move in there. It was ceiling to baseboards as far as the obvious how to do it? Just simple things like that. We wanted
painting goes. We changed out all of the doors.” water-efficient commodes. We did those kinds of things and
All of the bathrooms were redone in the last year. “We we accomplished what we were out for. The bathrooms look
were kind of forced to do it, because some of the tubs were really great. Up-to-date fixtures, LED lighting, things like
starting to crack and we had caulking all around that looked that. I think they look very modern.”
awful,” said Buero. “It was just time to do something. It had Two of the units had new furniture installed this winter.
the old 1960s bathroom colors; It was not very attractive. I “We went from a regular sofa to sleeper sofas,” said Buero.
wanted to go in and make it all nice. We also had some con- “We added new side chairs, coffee tables, mattresses, head-
cerns with access for older people and handicap access. We boards, mirrors and dinette tables in the kitchen. Keeping
had the old tubs where you had to step over. There were no with the beach and coastal theme, we have some nice beach
grab bars or anything. We went with a walk-in shower; we pictures in there. It looks really good.”
eliminated the tub.” Buero is very proud of the results so far. “As we move
When choosing the new items for the bathrooms, he had through the year, we are going to do the rest of them. It has
several concerns. “I wanted something that was resilient and just been a labor of love, so to speak. What we have is good
would hold up in a commercial rental environment. When quality stuff. We do our best and I think we put a good product
people rent something, they don’t care for it as if they owned it. out there. I am very proud of it.” —MCH