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BROADBAND COMMUNITIES
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www.broadbandcommunities.com
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OCTOBER 2016
MDU CASE STUDIES
Looking Back:
Property of the Month Classics
What does it take to make a Property of the Month? Vision, execution – and the
willingness to try something new.
By Masha Zager / Broadband Communities
I
n 2008, this magazine launched a new
feature called Property of the Month,
intended to showcase success stories and
highlight best practices for delivering broadband
to residential communities and hospitality
properties. ough we didn't manage to produce
one every month – for one thing, Broad B and
Communities comes out seven times a year – we
have published 44 Property of the Month stories
in the last eight years. It's continued to be a
popular feature; readers have even said they read
it "religiously."
Recently, I looked back through the articles
(you can see the entire collection at www.
bbpmag.com/property/Property_Land.php) with
the aim of picking out the "top of the top" for an
encore presentation – and I couldn't do it. Nearly
all are still impressive today, and there was really
no meaningful way to rank them (though the
January 2010 "fiber to the yacht" story might
merit a prize for Most Unusual Deployment).
What struck me was their diversity in
terms of property types, residents' needs and
demands, technologies used, services offered,
business models and many other variables.
No two stories are exactly alike; there are
many ways to succeed. Some deployments
are interesting because they address technical
challenges, others because they address
marketing challenges, still others because they
meet niche resident needs or help revamp a
property for an entirely new use.
Here's what they have in common: e
property owners and service providers had
clear ideas about what they were trying to
accomplish, executed the projects very well
(sometimes after recovering from a glitch or
two) and were willing to take risks, if necessary,
by trying out new ideas.
In keeping with the theme of diversity, here
are excerpts from four very different stories
that show some of the range of deployments.
Contributing editor Joe Bousquin wrote the
first three, and I wrote the last one. I hope you'll
go back to the originals for more details – and
that you will propose your own favorite project
for a future Property of the Month.
JEFFERSON ON THE CREEK
(OCTOBER 2008)
e first Property of the Month this magazine
featured was Jefferson on the Creek, an early
Verizon Fios deployment in Warminster,
Pennsylvania. e property manager's goal was
to expand resident choices by adding a second
excellent provider to the property.
Jefferson on the Creek is a community of 390
apartments and townhomes that occupies nearly
35 acres in Warminster, Pennsylvania. Straddling
the banks of bucolic Southampton Creek in
Bucks County (within 40 minutes of downtown
Philadelphia), the community is sited among
mature shade trees and ample walking trails.