Summer: SAA - Following a Vision
Cover Story
By Kathryn Jones   
Sunday, 01 July 2007
smc Shlemmer + Algaze + Associates (SAA)
For its own strategic development, SAA utilizes a design philosophy known as “discover, design and deliver.”
Although Shlemmer + Algaze + Associates (SAA) is an architectural design firm, an integral part of the company's service is business-oriented. "I'm very much interested in commercial real estate," principal Nelson Algaze says. "What separated me throughout my career is that most of my clients are real estate developers.

Shlemmer + Algaze + Associates is proudly supported by:
• Howard Building Corporation
• Knoll
• Douglas Emmett Builders
• IEG Consulting Engineers
• Sierra Pacific Constructors
• Cannon Constructors
"Real estate developers are a different breed, in that they're looking at how I can apply my design skills to enhance the value of their real estate. So often, we work on short schedules and slim budgets, but the measure of success is how effectively we are able to enhance the value of their real estate. It's very much a business-to-business scenario."

Getting Started
The Southern California company was founded in 2000 when Algaze and partner Rick Shlemmer left their former firms to establish their own. Algaze was a principal for P. Patrick Murray Inc., a space-planning operation, and Shlemmer was principal for Shlemmer Kamus Interior Design.

Shortly after Shlemmer closed his firm and Algaze left his, Algaze's former partners at P. Patrick Murray Inc. approached the duo with an offer they couldn't refuse. "In about two months, the firm I used to work for decided they didn't want to be our competition, so I actually bought the firm," Algaze says.

"Acquisitions are hard," he stresses. "The hardest part is the merging of cultures. When you bring two companies together, you try to get the best practices of each group, and that takes a long time. Change for people is very hard."

SAA is "in the business of creating change for organizations," Algaze says. "When companies move from place to place, there is a lot of change involved. Since I went through it myself, I am better at communicating with the company execs what's going to happen. I'm often asked to aid in strategy development and helping executives find a vision for their organizations."

Discover, Design, Deliver
For its own strategic development, SAA utilizes a design philosophy known as "discover, design and deliver." Algaze explains that "discover" means discovering a vision, "design" is designing strategies and "deliver" is implementation.

"Discover – this is what we did when we started the firm," he notes. "And, we do it on a yearly basis. We have strategic planning meetings; all the stakeholders get together and do strategic planning. "In that planning, we're looking at ideas or visions that we think might have merit for future growth of our firm.

"When we do that, we actually break it down into the five functional areas of our company: operations, human resources, finance, marketing and innovation. With each one of those areas, we come up with a vision and a strategy to implement for the following year."

Every year the executives hire a third-party group to conduct an anonymous questionnaire with SAA employees. "What we're trying to do is figure out if the management of our firm is in alignment with everybody else in the company. We use those results to develop our strategic plan for the following year."

Spreading the Knowledge
SAA applies its discover, design and deliver business philosophy as an educational tool for its clients to utilize, it says. "Instead of just understanding what your needs are, we also need to understand what you are about as an organization," Algaze says.

"What is your purpose, your mission, your core values? How are you going to provide things for your clients in the future? So, I go through a vision session with them to help them define who they are as an organization."

Algaze says a lot of organizations think they have a mission, "but when we explore those things, we realize their values and mission aren't legitimate. They don't follow their own values, their own mission. "So, if those aren't the things you plan to follow, let's find some things that you will follow."

Landlord Services
Approximately 80 percent of SAA's business is in landlord services. "In that area, we offer landlord representation in the lease transaction business," Algaze says. "If a tenant is interested in looking at space, a real estate broker calls us to do a test fit to see how the space works for the individual user.

"If everybody is comfortable with the transaction, then we provide architectural design services to the tenant on behalf of the landlord. "We design it; we create the construction documents to get it implemented and built. We interface with cities to get the plan approved. We coordinate construction, and we often supervise the move-in."

Global Vision
In 2006, the company worked on 2,000 projects out of its Newport Beach, Calif., and Los Angeles offices. It is currently opening a third office in San Fernando Valley, Calif. "My vision is to have an office in every metropolitan city in the world," Algaze says. "Visions are what I call big, hairy and audacious. They're something to shoot for. I'm not sure if I'll see it in my lifetime, but as long as you have a vision you're working toward, it will shape the strategies that you implement to reach that vision."
 
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