This month, Armadale Property Management will bid a fond farewell to Elizabeth Whitton, Director of Marketing and Leasing. Liz will be retiring on July 31st.

In 2000, Whitton joined the Armadale team following a successful career in property management for a similar firm in Toronto, bringing her tremendous expertise and strong interpersonal talents to the role.

“Without Liz, Armadale’s property management division wouldn’t be where it is today,” says Peter Sestito, Senior Property Manager at Armadale and Whitton’s protege who will be taking the reins from her at the end of July. “In the past, Armadale self-managed only the buildings that they owned. Liz had a huge hand in expanding the business into 3rd party property management, bringing on external clients. Now Armadale is poised to service external clients very well and treat their buildings as if they were our own.”

In addition to this achievement, Whitton was instrumental in helping Armadale implement a service request/PO system in 2010, allowing tenants to put in service requests through an online portal, which automatically gets sent to the staff and accounting for processing. “This was a game changer in terms of what we do in our industry, it is efficient and has cut down time for our staff so that they can focus on providing the best possible service to our clients and our tenants.” says Sestito, ” The service request system that Liz implemented was well ahead of its time. Before that, if a tenant had a problem, they would have to call your phone, and you may not be at your desk. There was a lot of lag time before action was taken. The new system is a live-minute by minute program. It literally comes in within 1-2 minutes, and we can track those requests along the way. A significant cost-saving for us and a dramatically enhanced customer service experience for tenants.”

Further accomplishments include the establishment of a project management division, allowing Armadale to offer services to tenants as well as commercial landlords, bringing multiple new revenue streams. Back in 2009, Liz spearheaded the installation of touchless equipment in property lobbies and washrooms. In today’s COVID-19 world, Armadale has been ready since the start to face such issues based on what Liz implemented years ago. Liz was also instrumental in the implementation of automation systems at the Armadale buildings which allowed for the HVAC systems to be monitored and adjusted remotely. Thus, creating additional efficiencies which allowed the operations staff to provide excellent customer service to our tenants and be able to quickly respond to heating and cooling issues as they arose.

Consistently through her career, Liz embraced new technologies with open arms, finding opportunities for them to not only grow Armadale’s business, but benefit landlords and tenants alike. “She’s always in a learning mode,” says Sestito. “She has years of experience and with an open minded attitude towards innovation she’s always been able to combine them into new strategies for each client.”

Liz’s focus on creating win-win outcomes also earned her accolades from commercial real estate agents. “I’ve known Liz for over 20 years and have never heard anyone say anything bad about her,” says Eva Destunis of Toronto’s Avison Young. “She is very easy to work with and has represented Armadale with distinction. She enjoys a pleasant relationship with many brokers who all regard her very highly.”

Destunis notes that a major factor in Whitton’s approach that sets her apart is that she understands property management and leasing. “Liz understands how to put a deal together,” says Destunis, “because most office deals require renovations and construction work. Unlike a lot of other property management companies, those two divisions are separate and disjointed. With Liz’s approach, she can coordinate and harmonize both aspects and deliver amazing results much faster.”

With a tremendous legacy of business achievements, positive outcomes, and strong relationships, Elizabeth Whitton will be greatly missed by the Armadale Property Management family, as well as landlords and tenants alike. We wish her the greatest of luck as she begins her retirement!