Melrose-Sovereign Companies Eye Growth as Community, Condominium Management Takes Center Stage

ORLANDO, Fla. --- The nation’s beleaguered housing industry has created growth opportunities for some specialty service companies, and Melrose-Sovereign Companies in Orlando ranks as one the most productive.

Melrose-Sovereign Companies formed four years ago from the merger of two entrepreneurial service companies that specialize in home owner and condominium association management.

Today, Melrose-Sovereign Companies manage properties for more than 170 developers, investors and owners from Fort Myers to Jacksonville, with more than 80 specialist employees who focus on personal attention and an eye for detail to keep both residential home owners and community developers happy.

Jack Hanson, LCAM, co-founder and partner at Melrose-Sovereign Companies said growth in a recessionary market isn’t easy but it isn’t a struggle either.

“From day one we have focused on old school values,” Hanson said. “Today we live in a homogenized, computerized world where individuals are often overlooked or perceived as numbered accounts. Try to get a human being at your bank or on the telephone and you’ll know what I mean, and it’s even worse if you try to talk to someone at the telephone company,” he laughed.

“We focused squarely on personal attention and attention to detail,” said Ellen Lumpkin, co-founder and partner. “When our residents call, they get through to a human being who is able to listen to their concerns and respond positively with action, not just words,” she said.

“Community developers and condominium developers dealing with the chaotic market find Melrose-Sovereign’s turnkey community management services the perfect answer.” Lumpkin said.

“Their business model is focused on development, building, and sales,” Lumpkin said “So community management has usually been considered a moral and legal obligation and a sideline that was supported by revenues from sales,” she said.

“When sales activities are disrupted, it’s exceedingly difficult for a development company to refocus its business model to staff their community management offices appropriately and to manage communities cost effectively,” she said.

Enter Melrose-Sovereign Companies. With offices statewide, Melrose-Sovereign community management specialists can respond quickly and locally to resident issues.

Hanson and Lumpkin developed a highly transparent chain of command with vast experience throughout, that is capable of responding to even the biggest issues from major construction, local codes, legal, environmental and planning considerations to the more common — and usually more pressing — home owner interests such as trash pickup, common area maintenance and building security.

“There is no magic trick to this,” Lumpkin said.

“What there is, is integrity. We do what we say we will do. We respond. We fix it. We’re an action company. We don’t do lip service,” she said.

Lumpkin and Hanson are already planning the company’s fifth anniversary in January, and Melrose-Sovereign recently opened a new office in Daytona Beach to serve Volusia and Flagler Counties.

“We are growing steadily through the housing recession and we project that we may emerge from this cycle as one of the leading community management companies in Florida,” Hanson said.