June 2023 | Page 33

2022-2023 Milestones

Jim Lorenzen

Inducted to the 2023 AAMD Hall of Fame

is transitioning thru that process so the engaged team members at Cornerstone can continue to build their own future together . Very commendable indeed . On top of all that , he is also a pretty good golfer and skier .

Jim Lorenzen has been an incredibly involved and highly impactful Member of the Apartment Association for over 33 years ! Since 1991 , his support for AAMD , the Alliance and CAA has been primarily targeted within the critical area of Government Affairs where he has been a consistent and avid protector of our industry .

BY MIKE ZOELLNER

Jim is a great friend , a highly respected colleague , and a fellow passionate advocate for the housing industry in Denver . Jim is extremely deserving of this award .

His life and his career are very inspiring . Jim and his wife Gina have been married for 44years and both are from Davenport , Iowa where they met in high school . They have 2 great kids and 2 beautiful grandchildren . Before Jim began his real estate career , he graduated from Colorado College with a degree in Business and he also earned an M . B . A . from the University of Iowa . In the early 80 ’ s , while at Marcus & Millichap , he brokered over 300 apartment transactions ranging from 4 to 400 units across Colorado ’ s Front Range .

In the 90 ’ s Jim began to purchase his own multifamily properties and today , he still owns 8 of those buildings . In 1997 , he formed Cornerstone to manage his own assets and then eventually for other friend and clients . It wasn ’ t until 2004 that Jim actually left the brokerage business to run Cornerstone on a full-time basis .

Since the beginning , the overall management philosophy has always been to treat the operation of apartments essentially as a COOP that seeks simple solutions and shares best practices among its clients to develop a valuable brand identity and build scale that benefits everyone . As a management client myself , I can attest that delivering a very high level of Customer Service to their residents AND to their Owners in Central Denver is what really distinguishes Cornerstone .

Leveraging talent and building purchasing power has been a significant tool to grow their business , but in a VERY focused , Sharpshooter fashion . Cornerstones portfolio or sandbox is essentially Sheridan on the west , Monaco on the East , I-70 on the North and Hampden on the South . Inside that sandbox Cornerstone now manages a very diverse portfolio of over 260 properties with 6500 units and has 130 Customer Focused Employees housing over 12,000 Denverites – An Amazing Success story .

Also remarkably , Jim has decided to sell the company to the employees , so he

As a spokesperson for all of us , Jim has served in a variety of roles including providing legislative testimony in front of both the House and Senate Committees , as well as advocating for us in numerous stakeholder meetings with state and local elected officials .

Jim has also consistently been one of AAMD ’ stop financial supporters . As the Association has been forced to engage in expensive public campaigns to defeat aggressive citizen initiatives ( like last year ’ s Proposition 305 – potentially taxing Denver MF Owners more than $ 12 Million per year for benefit of eviction defense lawyers ), Jim was the campaign ’ s top fundraiser , helping to soundly defeating that dangerous initiative .

For many years Jim has consistently sharedhis vision , his advice , and Cornerstones best practices through AAMD ’ s Senior Management Roundtables and forums .

Jim ’ s contributions to AAMD and our industry are invaluable , and he has done it consistently for now over three decades ! He is truly deserving of the Association ’ s absolute top honor !

Congratulations , Jim ! www . aamdhq . org JUNE 2023 TRENDS | 31