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Happy New Year?

By Kevin Kenyon

Doctors are not the only professionals who will be on call this New Year’s Eve. Most businesses, including the shopping center industry, will have their management information systems (MIS) staff on high alert. Here’s what some developers have planned for Dec. 31, 1999:

Kurt Sullivan, SCSM, president of management resources for San Diego-based TrizecHahn Centers:

“We’re making sure we have any operational people necessary either on site or on call, depending on the individual situation. With our corporate office, we feel that on call works out just fine, and we’ll have our MIS and physical office folks basically check the office functions New Year’s Day or the day after. At our properties we will have the appropriate physical staff on site. We think it will be a rather routine change over from one millennium to the next, but we want to take all precautions.”

Kevin Moss, vice president of business technology for Chicago-based General Growth Properties:

“We feel like we’re compliant, but at the same time we realize we need a Y2K contingency plan in case we’re wrong. We’re making sure we have staffing coverage — the mall manager and the operations manager have to be available. They don’t have to be on site, but they have to be accessible. For the bigger picture, our senior vice president of operations will be sitting by the phone.”

Christine Menna, vice president of corporate communications and marketing for Crown American Realty Trust:

“All of our malls will be staffed on New Year’s Eve at midnight by mall managers and operation managers. It’s being done as a precautionary measure, senior management will also be on call. We feel confident about our systems, but our concern is any type of potential problem that may arise because of one of our tenant’s systems.”

Cheryl Dougherty, CMD, vice president of marketing for PREIT-Rubin, Philadelphia:

“We always have people around the clock at all of our properties, but we’re making contingency plans to make sure all of our heads of security will be well-alerted that evening. The mall managers and operations people will also be on call.”

Vernon Pirtle, vice president, director of operations, community centers, for Chattanooga, Tenn.-based CBL & Associates Properties:

“On Saturday [Jan. 1], we will work a half day in the corporate office, just to make sure things are running smoothly. At the property level, we will have our head of maintenance at each property on site as a precaution, just to check all the systems in case something unexpected happens.”