For 75 years, Heatherwood has been a fixture in Long Island and the greater New York metro area, evolving from a local home builder to a multifaceted real estate firm. CEO Douglas Partrick reflects on the firm’s defining moments and how it is positioning itself for the next chapter.
What has been the key to maintaining both longevity and family leadership in such a competitive industry?
Believe it or not, that’s one of the questions that I’ve thought a lot about over the years. So many family businesses are sold or simply disappear within three generations, but Heatherwood continues to outperform under family leadership. Why? The short answer may be that we are focused on “brand steadiness” and “generational adaptability.”
Brand steadiness means that the Heatherwood brand stands for honest and straightforward dealing in all its business activity. Whether we are in front of a local politician, land seller, subcontractors, or residents, our word and a handshake has meaning. This comprises what we call “the promise of Heatherwood,” which has become one of our guiding principles. With 75 years of experience in many different aspects of home building, we bring to the table a unique perspective on our transactions, a perspective that can benefit all parties.
At the same time, we expect strict reciprocation in our relationships. We expect honesty to be met with honesty, which is not always the case in the real estate industry. In fact, it is probably not an exaggeration to say that the industry has a tendency to be transactional and commoditized. Heatherwood, however, looks at the business of real estate through a long-term lens. Take, for example, our relationships with our trade partners. If we award a trade on a development, we expect the value of the award to be most-favored-nations “plus.” We are great partners to our trades, and we expect them to treat Heatherwood similarly. We want all those who do business with us to know that a deal with Heatherwood is a deal you can bank on. Simply put, we do exactly what we say we are going to do, and we want everyone to know it.
The second reason for our success as a family business is “generational adaptability”. When my father and his partner, Stanley Niesloss, founded the company in 1950, they were focused on building the most cost-efficient “box” that they could—small bare-bones apartments, no amenities, just a place to lay your head at night. Over the years as society changed, that paradigm changed as well. My father did not stubbornly stick to building “boxes.” He kept his ear to the ground, stayed in touch with the market, and adapted his business strategy.
He set an example for me and others in the family. This was the beginning of “generational adaptability.” Today, the entry-level boxes are long gone. Now, we build with “lifestyle” uppermost in our minds. Just like my father in the 1950s, we need to be in touch with our customers’ preferences to maximize lifestyle choices. That not only includes apartment layouts and features, but also the breadth and depth of the interior and exterior amenity offering and other rentable items.
Managing a family business has its own unique set of challenges, but many of these challenges can be overcome by adhering to brand steadiness and generational adaptability. I’m looking forward to passing the “promise of Heatherwood” torch to the next generation.
What moments or projects stand out as turning points for the company?
There are so many special moments, but for me I have to say that building Tower 28 in Long Island City stands out as a major milestone for the organization. It’s not often you build the tallest residential building in New York City’s outer boroughs. So when we stand on the Tower 28 rooftop terrace overlooking the iconic Manhattan skyline, I think, “What’s next for Heatherwood? Where can we go?” Literally, the sky’s the limit.
What sets Heatherwood apart from the competition?
I know it’s a cliché, but I can’t overemphasize the talents, the skills, and the commitment of our people. In short, that is what separates us from our competition. What stands out, as far as I am concerned, is that we continue to attract the very best talent, enabling us to refine our capabilities with committed high-quality professionals. I think that’s pretty special. We also take great pride in giving our people opportunities to create innovation by standing on the shoulders of the Heatherwood associates who came before them. Locally on Long Island and in the New York metro, that usually means that our history of excellent execution and strong reputation help differentiate us from the competition. The real estate market knows the Heatherwood brand, and that sometimes allows us the credibility to attempt innovation. For example, on the national front, we have been able to leverage our 60-plus years of public/private operational expertise in the golf world to generate new multifamily opportunities that under other circumstances we would not have been able to approach.
What opportunities do you see in the multifamily industry today?
I see more opportunities in the multifamily space than I’ve seen at any other time in my real estate career. From a macro perspective, demographics and market forces continue to drive renter demand, and we don’t see that abating anytime soon. So when we look at this through the Heatherwood lens, on new ground-up development we are focused on building the right product that is “future proof” for the long term. The growing focus on quality of life and life experiences are permeating our culture, especially in the home. We try to ensure that we are not only designing spaces that our residents value, but also spaces that are programmed appropriately. By this, I mean event-driven gatherings and socials where the preferred method of communication these days—social media—is crisp, attractive, and informative. The standing question for us is always: How do we, as a home builder that is a long-term holder of our real estate portfolio, build for this generation and beyond? Similarly, with that thought in mind, we also have a legacy suburban portfolio that has been built over generations. This creates opportunity for reimagination, asset densification, re-merchandising, new retail partners, and other rentable revenue streams. Last, from a regional perspective (although the New York metro and Long Island submarkets have been very good to us over the years), we are also aware that portfolio diversification is an important next step to ensuring that Heatherwood is around and thriving for another 75 years. We have begun to focus on reallocating our capital outside of our core region in order to help mitigate concentration risk.
What does the next chapter hold for Heatherwood?
We often say, “We’ve been steeled in the fires of one of the highest barrier-to-entry markets in the entire country, and we believe we are a great company here, so can we be a great company elsewhere?” Well, we’re going to find out as we’ve recently secured our first out-of-region deals in North Carolina and plan to break ground on our first development there in 2026. As the suburban “country” developer, I remember when we felt Brooklyn was the new frontier … but in reality Heatherwood was just getting warmed up.