For this Baltimore builder, fast growth and Covid safety go hand in hand.

Brandon Chasen started his real estate career by opening CrossFit gyms and flipping houses. On a mission to revitalize neighborhoods in Baltimore, the Chasen Companies build boutique-style apartments, some with co-working properties, while maintaining a historic vibe. The pandemic has had an amplifying effect on his small team—just 14 core employees manage more than 300 units, owning 32 buildings and taking in $13 million.

Our business definitely thrived. It’s strange to talk about in that sense. We were buying buildings and vacant lots at lower basis prices than we’ve seen in the past 10 years. What 2020 showed us is that the size of our projects and our buildings really benefited us during the pandemic. With our boutique luxury model, we really fit into this standard of health, safety, and security. We are either building or have under contract 18 projects. So we’ve basically more than doubled our business. We’re growing so fast and everything’s going so well, but even with all those successes, it’s easy to get lost and burned out, and miss the other side of really enjoying the successes. Enjoying your family. It was my responsibility to just tell people to stop or to go take a vacation. I’m working on that. In some of our performance reviews, I took some time to apologize to people. That’s been a big lesson for me.

Designing in Safety “We had this whole war room of a construction and executive team,” says CEO Chasen, “to brainstorm and hammer down all the new strategies, systems, and processes that we wanted to put in place to make sure that safety and health were first and foremost.”