New Western National President Targets Growth

IRVINE, CA-Western National Property Management has named Thomas K. Shelton as the new president of Western National Property Management, which manages a portfolio of 20,000 of its own and third-party units in Southern California and other western markets. Shelton, who formerly served as regional partner of Charleston, SC-based Greystar Real Estate Partners, tells GlobeSt.com that Western National, which is the multifamily management arm of Western National Group, aims to grow its portfolio of managed units by about 20% to 25% per year, or roughly 4,000 to 5,000 units.

Shelton fills a position that was left vacant about six months ago when Steve Donohue left the company. The new president of Western National Property Management says that the Irvine-based firm views this as an opportune time to grow its property management operations because the current market has created “an increased focus on property operations and trying to grow revenues while trimming expenses” on the part of apartment owners.

Shelton, who is relocating to Southern California from Phoenix, tells GlobeSt.com that the firm will capitalize on its existing presence in Southern and Northern California and also will look to expand in the Phoenix, Denver and Las Vegas markets via the relationships Shelton has developed in those markets over the past 25 years. “We also know that Western National has existing clients that have assets in those markets, and there has never been the focus on expanding the third-party business to those markets that there will be now,” Shelton says.