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17th Annual Summer Youth Employment Program Concludes

This is the 17th year that William C. Smith + Co. has sponsored a summer employment program for the youth residents of our communities. More than 40 company employees volunteer to work on the program each year – creating work plans, supervising and mentoring youth employees, teaching learning modules, and serving as role models. This year, 45 young people were enrolled in the program, bringing the total number of people who have participated to over 800.

In addition to working and receiving a paycheck, participants in the program are offered workshops on resume preparation, job interviewing techniques, etiquette, and conflict resolution skills. The program also includes a college campus tour and other field trips – this year to the Museum of Bureau and Engraving, the DC Courthouse, the Holocaust Museum, and the Pentagon memorial to the victims of the September 11, 2001, tragedy. This year’s program was capped off by an evening at the Kennedy Center for dinner and a performance of The Color Purple.

DC Council Chair, the Honorable Vincent Gray, spoke at both opening and closing ceremonies of the 2009 program. At his invitation, five of the program’s youth participants testified before the Council’s youth hearing, addressing issues that face young residents of the District of Columbia.

17th Annual Summer Youth Employment Program
Each summer for the past 17 years, William C. Smith + Co. has run a summer youth employment program for residents of the community. Young men and women are hired to work at Smith-owned or managed properties and at the corporate office. This year there are 53 people enrolled, bringing the total to over 800 youth who have gone through the program. Forty volunteers from the company participate each summer as teachers and mentors.

Participants not only earn a salary but also participate in training, job skills workshops, conflict resolution skills workshops, resume writing and interviewing classes, and etiquette workshops. Each year there is one field trip to visit a college or university; this year it will be a tour of the George Mason University campus.

Field trips are also scheduled to a carpentry workshop, the Bureau of Engraving, and the DC Courthouse. For the program’s customary cultural event, participants will see a professional production of The Color Purple at the Kennedy Center.

DC’s city council chair, Vincent Gray, was the keynote speaker at the program’s opening ceremony on June 22 and promised the young people he would be back at the end of the program to hear about their progress. He challenged them to take advantage of the opportunity they were being provided and invited a panel of teens to testify before a special session of the council dedicated to youth issues. The hearing will be televised live on Channel 13 on Saturday, July 11.

Green Giving
William C. Smith + Co. won the Washington Business Journal’s 2008 Green Giving Award for revitalizing a 25-acre section of Oxon Run Park. Read more...

Press Release 2008

AOBA Announces 2009 Leadership

January 28, 2009 - Washington, DC – At its Annual Meeting today, the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington introduced the organization’s 2009 Executive Board of Directors, as well as an expanded Advisory Board of Directors. These local real estate industry executives will guide the Association’s policies and programs for the year.

John Ritz, President, William C. Smith & Co., was installed as 2009 AOBA President. Ritz joined William C. Smith in 1975 and has served as President and COO since 1987. A 2007 recipient of AOBA’s most distinguished honor - the Sidney Glassman Memorial Award, Ritz holds degrees from American University and Villanova University.

“In the year ahead, we will maintain focus on what AOBA does best -- serving as an effective advocate for our industry. I look forward to working with members and staff to further enhance our relevance, take full advantage of our dedicated, talented volunteers, and expand education geared to help our members meet environmental sustainability goals,” Ritz said.

In addition to Ritz, the following individuals were elected to the Executive Board of Directors:

President – Elect: Katya J. Naman, Vice President, Lowe Enterprises Real Estate Group, Inc.
Executive Vice President/Secretary: Margaret O. Jeffers, Executive Vice President, AOBA
Treasurer: F. Carlton Diehl, Chief Operating Officer, Cafritz Company
Vice President – Commercial: Benjamin A. Comm, Director of Property Management, Cassidy & Pinkard
Vice President – Residential: Cynthia M. Clare, President, Kettler Management
Vice President – District of Columbia: Albert D. Moler, Vice President, The Lenkin Company Management, Inc.
Vice President – Maryland: David H. Hillman, Chief Executive Officer, Southern Management Corporation
Vice President – Virginia: Morton I. Funger, Chairman, CRC Commercial
PAC Chair – District of Columbia: David S. Bender, President, Blake Real Estate, Inc.
PAC Chair – Maryland: Gary L. Campbell, President, Grady Management, Inc.
PAC Chair – Virginia: Robert Koltiska, Vice President – State & Local Tax Dept., Archstone

Also serving on the executive board of directors are AOBA’s two most recent past presidents, Mary Lynch, Vice President, Akridge and Robert A. Thompson, Director of Operations, Capitol Concierge. 

For more info about AOBA, visit www.aoba-metro.org

Transwestern honors Federal Realty Investment Trust’s Donald Wood and William C. Smith & Company’s W. Christopher Smith, Jr. as “trendsetters of the year”, at annual trendlines event

Transwestern today announcedthat they honored Federal Realty Investment Trust’s President & CEO, Donald Wood, and William C. Smith & Company’s Chairman & CEO, W. Christopher Smith, Jr. as “Trendsetters of the Year” for 2009, at its annual Washington, D.C. TrendLines event.  Presentation of the awards and a program detailing commercial real estate trends and prospects for 2009 was held on Thursday, February 12th at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.

In a difficult commercial real estate environment, Federal Realty Investment Trust’s financial and operating results have outperformed their public and private counterparts.  Federal Realty’s success is a testament to their conservative management strategy that features low leverage levels, a targeted focus on high-density metropolitan areas and select investment in the most desirable retail properties – often anchored by high-volume retailers that provide consumer necessities. 

Since joining Federal Realty in 1998, Donald Wood has played an integral role in shaping this time-honored policy.  Today, with a portfolio that’s over 95% leased and with no single tenant accounting for more than 3% of gross rent, Federal Realty is well positioned to continue its streak of increasing its common dividend for each of the past 41 years – the longest such record in the REIT industry.

For his steadfast leadership in a period of market turmoil, we’re very pleased to honor Donald Wood as our 2009 Public Sector TrendSetter of the Year.

One of the distinguishing features of William C. Smith & Co. – a multidisciplinary real estate firm that has grown into the largest residential manager in the District of Columbia – is its commitment to the city, its communities and its families.  Over its 35 year history, the company has volunteered considerable resources – money, people and time – to promote economic growth and enrich the lives of District residents. 

As CEO, Chris Smith has been in the forefront of these activities.  Among his more noteworthy initiatives were spearheading the fundraising and development of the groundbreaking Town Hall Education Arts & Recreation Campus in Anacostia and Washington Canal Park, a 3-block landscaped enclave that will serve as the centerpiece of an emerging mixed-use development district between Capitol Hill and the Anacostia waterfront.