East Lake Management & Development

Darul Amaan Senior Apart-

ments is a new East Lake

managed residence for peo-

ple aged 55 and older on

Chicago’s North Side in the

Albany Park community. Da-

rul Amaan translates to

mean “Abode of Peace.”

The property offers spacious

studio, one and two bed-

room apartments. Kitchens

include new appliances plus

dishwashers and microwaves. In addition to on-site

maintenance and laundry there is also a rooftop ter-

race, plus a community room, computer room and

m e e t i n g

room.

J a n e

Hunter is

the Over-

s i g h t

Manager

a n d

M u s t a f a

Quadri is the

Property Manager.

He joined East

Lake in May

2014. Mustafa

was born in Chi-

cago. He at-

tended Niles West

High School then

DeVry Institute

where he graduated with a degree in Business Ad-

ministration.

What Mustafa likes most about his job is the cus-

tomer service and that he gets to show clients brand

new units that they are excited to see. He likes that

the management at East Lake is helpful and organ-

ized and has taken the time to show him how to best

get things done especially in a tight time crunch. The

words he lives by are to treat others the way you want

to be treated. His keys to success, “take one step at

a time and stay positive”.

Darul Amaan is located at 4820 N. Kedzie. Welcome

to the East Lake family.

Volume 4, Issue 3

N E W EA S T LA K E SE N I O R P RO P E RT Y : D A RU L A M A A N SE N I O R A PA RT M E N T S

July/August/Sept. 2014

EAST LAKE NEWS

Team East Lake Gets The Job

Done: Oversight Manager Jane

Hunter (far lft.) and Archer

Senior Property Manager Alicia

Watkins have provided Darul

Amaan Property Manager

Mustafa Quadri with the East

Lake training and support he

needs.

Rooftop Terrace with sweeping views of the city

Page 2

E A S T L A K E F O U N D E R & P R E S I D E N T E L Z I E H I G G I N B O T T O M R E C E I V E S F A T H E R O F T H E Y E A R A W A R D

Volume 4, Issue 3

East Lake’s Founder & President Elzie L. Hig-

ginbottom received the Father of the Year Award

from the Illinois Fatherhood Initiative in June.

Among those also honored were Mark Trestman,

Head Coach of the Chicago Bears, and Allen

Lynch, U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor Re-

cipient. Here Mr. Higginbottom addresses the

audience of a wide cross-section of Chicago fa-

thers, families and children as Master of Cere-

monies Art Norman of NBC-TV looks on. Mr.

Higginbottom was presented with his award by

CBS-TV Weatherman Steve Baskerville.

Burling Builders On the Move: East Lake’s sister company Burling Builders will be building the new

Morgan Park Sports Center at 115th and Western Avenue for the Chicago Park District. The facility will

include an indoor ice arena and a gymnastics center. At the groundbreaking ceremony in July, pictured

(lft.—rt.):East Lake Operations Manager Mike Sheahan, IL. State Rep. Fran Hurley, IL. State Sen. Bill

Cunningham, 19th Ward Ald. Matt O’Shea, Burling Builders Executive Vice President John Girzadas,

East Lake President Elzie Higginbottom, and East Lake Senior Procurement Specialist Kelly Doherty.

Congratulations To These East Lake Properties With Outstanding REAC Scores Of 85 or Better!

Liberty Commons—97b

June Siggers—Property Manager

Juana R. Pollard—Project Executive

Lake Park Apartments—96b

LaToya Artis—Property Manager

Michelle Ratcliff—Oversight Manager

East Lake News

Kenzella Greer is Regional Manager for

Altgeld Murray Homes, the largest prop-

erty in East Lake’s CHA portfolio. She

began her career here in 2003 as an

Assistant Property Manager and started

her career in property management as a

receptionist at Rockwell Gardens.

What Kenzella likes most about her job

is the interaction with the residents.

She likes being in a position to make a

difference in people’s lives. Each day

she focuses on getting as much accom-

plished as possible while being consis-

tent, concise and accurate. Kenzella

feels she is a natural trainer and enjoys

encouraging others to go towards their

goals. What she likes most about East

Lake is the camaraderie, plus the com-

pany’s investment in employee profes-

sional growth. The Chicago native at-

tended Whitney Young High School and

the University of Illinois at Urbana-

Champaign. She also has several real

estate and property management certi-

fications.

Her keys to success are to, “obtain as

much knowledge as you can in your

field, work diligently, work to improve

and never be satisfied with the status

quo.” She also says, “Work smart and

hard to be successful.” The words she

lives by, “treat people the way you want

to be treated” and, “Be cognizant of

your behavior be-

cause what you put

out will be given

back to you.”

Her advice for

someone who

wants to get into

this line of work is

to, “Have a sense

of responsibility to

yourself and oth-

ers. The actions you take affect many

other people.” She says a positive attitude

is also important for everyone you deal

with. Thank you Kenzella!

Page 3

S P O T L I G H T O N R E G I O N A L M A N A G E R K E N Z E L L A G R E E R

others to get things right. “ He says it is

important for the Accounting team to,

“Work together to find the solution to

make things correct.”

Victor says what he likes most about

being at East Lake is the people. “I en-

joy working with my fellow account-

ants.” He also notes that he likes work-

ing with Senior Accounting Manager

Mohan Rajkumar. “I consider him a

mentor. I like the way he works and

treats people.” The Chicago native says

he has always loved working with num-

bers and math and that is why he

got into the field. He has been

working in Accounting since 1996.

He went to Curie Metro High School

and graduated from Robert Morris

College with a degree in Business

Administration and a concentration

in Accounting.

Victor says, “I love what I do!” His

keys to success are to, “Let your

work speak for itself. It reflects on

you. Be responsible and efficient.”

Thank you Victor!

Victor Martinez

is Accounting

Manager at East

Lake and he has

been with the

company since

August 2007.

What he likes

most about his

job is being re-

sponsible for the accounting group and

getting their work out on time and correct.

He adds, “I like supervising and helping

S P O T L I G H T O N D A V I D L A W R E N C E : M A I N T E N A N C E

S P O T L I G H T O N A C C O U N T I N G M A N A G E R V I C T O R M A R T I N E Z

David Lawrence is in Maintenance with the

Mixed Income Acquisition Portfolio. He joined

East Lake in November 2012. He says what he

likes most about his job is dealing with his su-

pervisor, Steve Richardson, because he has an

open door policy. He says the entire mainte-

nance staff works together as a team. He appre-

ciates that, “From day one I was welcomed with

open arms.”

Although David had not worked in maintenance

before he says, “I like getting things fixed, being

productive and helping people when they need

it.” He says he has learned so much about work-

ing with power tools, fixing water tanks and has

enrolled in a two year program for engineering.

The Chicago native says that as a teen he

thought he’d have a sports career. He notes

that he was a basketball star at Carver High

School and received a full basketball scholar-

ship to the University of Illinois. However,

shortly after he got to college he was in a car

accident and had to learn to walk again.

David says, “This was actually a blessing in

disguise.” He says this experience made him

stronger.

He is appreciative of his new career path and

is looking for longevity and growth. He highly

recommends the field to others including his

children. He just bought his youngest child his

first real drill.

The words that he lives by are

“Do unto others as you would

have them do unto you.” He

also says, “I am a man of God.

God is love. Just because you

have to struggle doesn’t mean

that God doesn’t love you.”

Thank you David!

S P O T L I G H T O N E A S T L A K E I N T E R N S H A N E S A M U E L S

S U M M E R Y O U T H E M P L O Y M E N T P R O G R A M I N T E R N S

This summer East Lake has also been joined by interns from the 2014 Summer Youth

Employment Program recommended by State Senator Mattie Hunter’s office. The stu-

dents have had an opportunity to work with various properties in our CHA portfolio.

Brianna Lusk, 21, a Harold

Washington College Art His-

tory major interned in the

Procurement Dept. at the

East Lake Corporate Office.

Marie Washington, 20, a junior at

University of Illinois at Urbana-

Champaign interned at Patrick Sulli-

van Apartments with Property Man-

ager Darlene Turner.

Chaz Milligan, 16, a senior at South-

land College Prep in Richton Park

interned at the Mixed Income Acqui-

sitions Management office with

Property Manager Erika Ward.

Christopher Swann, 16, a junior

at Hales Franciscan High School

interned at Las Americas Apart-

ments with Property Manager

Estee Fournier.

East Lake Management & Development

Corp.

2850 S. Michigan Avenue

Chicago, IL 60616

312-842-5500 ph. 312842-0765 fx.

www.eastlakemgmt.com

Newsletter editor: Lydia Davis Eady,

Director of Marketing

East Lake: Many Faces, Diverse Talents,

One Team

Pizza Celebration For A

Job Well Done The staff at 6920 S. Crandon en-

joyed a pizza luncheon courtesy of

East Lake in honor of the building

rehab and completion of an ag-

gressive leasing program. Property

Manager Joya Turner (far rt.) is

pictured with her team: (lft.—rt.) Ida

Lambert, RSC, Charles Jones, Main-

tenance, Vivian Campbell, RSC,

Maurice Merrell, Lead Mainte-

nance, Traci Stanford, Asst Prop-

erty Manager. Not pictured are

Martha Fonseca and Kenneth

Berry in Maintenance. Michelle Ratcliff is Oversight Manager.

Shane Samuels is an Illinois Insti-

tute of Technology (IIT) student

majoring in Architecture and has

interned this summer in the East

Lake Development Department.

He has enjoyed seeing first hand

how proposals and bids work,

how contractors are chosen and

how construction and architec-

ture makes an impact on the dy-

namics of the management of

buildings. When Shane was 7

years old he saw a floor plan

drawing and he fell in love with

architecture.

The words that he lives by are to,

“Drink ambition, sweat success.”

Shane is a young man with strong

aspirations and adds that at East

Lake, “I appreciate from the bot-

tom of my heart the encourage-

ment I have received!”

When he came to Chicago he had an

opportunity to see full blown architec-

ture, “limitless,” beyond the Carib-

bean style. Shane was born in Anti-

gua and came to Chicago in 2011 to

attend IIT. His keys to success are

hard work and, “You have to be your

own critic. It is best to compete

against yourself.”

The advice that he has for other

young people who want to do what

he does, “You have to love what you

do. Architecture is not an overnight

success major. You have to have a

lot of passion.”