How ESG Kullen Turned Around Two Struggling Assets with Support from EliseAI

ESG Kullen is a leading force in multifamily ownership, investment, and repositioning throughout the United States. The firm has a rich legacy of delivering superior risk-adjusted returns through a combination of value-add and opportunistic multifamily strategies, leveraging technology to improve asset performance and NOI. ESG Kullen has expanded its focus from the company’s initial mission to acquire and reposition distressed multifamily assets in Florida and Texas to states including New York, California, Nevada, North Carolina, and Illinois, with a total asset capitalization of over $1B. Today, the company continues to implement its investment strategy of capitalizing on high demand for quality rental housing in the country’s high growth markets, leveraging innovative technology to safeguard investor returns.

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It was this laser-focus on deploying innovative technology to improve asset performance that led the ESG Kullen team to first work with EliseAI, recognizing that two of its assets in the Greensboro, NC region were underperforming relative to the market. 

In late 2024, Trudy DelPonti, Junior Asset Manager at ESG Kullen, and her team identified that their approach in the Greensboro market was failing to meet the high quality standards and drive the strong financial outcomes that ESG Kullen has become known for. They had acquired two sub-250 unit multifamily communities in the region in 2022, but struggled with low occupancy, high delinquency rates, and inefficient lead management processes despite high traffic volume. 

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At these communities, ESG found that the onsite teams were overwhelmed with low-value, repetitive administrative tasks rather than providing high-quality, differentiated service. Their existing staffing model proved unable to handle volume of leads effectively, and lengthy delinquency management processes were draining both staff bandwidth and morale. ESG Kullen sought to rectify the poor performance of these assets by bringing on a fee manager that brought two distinct advantages to the table: deep local expertise, and EliseAI.  

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The new management firm ESG Kullen contracted with had integrated EliseAI into their operating model: LeasingAI to enhance lead nurturing and prospect engagement, ResidentAI to automate most communications around maintenance, renewals, and delinquency, and VoiceAI to answer their prospect and resident calls; ESG Kullen quickly saw a significant uptick in asset performance. After comparing these solutions to alternative AI providers, ESG Kullen opted to move forward with EliseAI both due to the fact that the tool covered the full prospect-through-resident lifecycle, and the superior asset performance they saw EliseAI helping to drive. 

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Based on that, ESG decided to pilot EliseAI at two communities in the Greensboro area to test what the full suite of EliseAI products could do. The results were outstanding:
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• Economic occupancy rates spiked to 94% 
• Collection rates increased by 979bps within a month 
• Quality-of-life for onsite team members improved as teams spent less time on menial, repetitive tasks and more time on higher value-add tasks like comp analysis, mystery shopping, personalized lease renewal coordination, and resident events 

These gains in efficiency and productivity resulted in continuous improvements to operational performance, driving growth in NOI. 

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Today, ESG Kullen is working to take what they’ve learned from their Greensboro assets and apply those lessons across their portfolio. They have eliminated redundant services, including pay-per-call answering services and basic website chatbots, saving money through tech stack consolidation. They incorporate EliseAI into their pitches to JVs and LPs, highlighting the qualitative and quantitative impact the tools are having on their operations in order to expand their network of partners. They view a comprehensive approach to EliseAI deployment as a standard for fee managers they choose to work with, because the proof is in the results—EliseAI helps drive outsized returns for ESG. 

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ESG Kullen's strategic approach to distressed asset management—combining the right fee manager partner with comprehensive AI implementation—demonstrates how technology-forward ownership groups can drive meaningful operational improvements and investor returns through innovative approaches to property management. The ESG Kullen story is a shining example of what the future of asset management looks like: visionary leadership, strong operating models, a keen eye for opportunity, and best-in-class, AI-powered technology. Stay tuned as they continue to write the next chapter of value add investment.