Harvard Maintenance expands services to provide messenger centers and concierges.

Harvard Maintenance, Inc., a leading New York City office building cleaning contractor, has announced the formation of Harvard Business Services LLC. The new company establishes, staffs, and maintains messenger centers in office buildings.

In addition, Harvard Business Services provides training and placement of concierges in commercial and residential buildings.

"The new company and its services perfectly compliments Harvard Maintenance's principle of enhancing office properties and the environment for tenants," said Stanley K. Doobin, president of Harvard Maintenance.

This is the second new company under the Harvard Maintenance banner, including Harvard Protection Services, Inc., which provides security guards for office buildings.

Harvard has tapped Pat Ray, a former concierge at Rockefeller Center and leading messenger center consultant, to head the new Harvard Business Services venture. Ms. Ray is an experienced professional who possesses more than six years experience in developing, marketing, and overseeing messenger centers and concierges for two dozen buildings in New York.

"Pat is a recognized leader in this growing field, and we are delighted to have her join our team," Doobin said. "She brings an impressive track record and in-depth understanding of all the nuances of these service businesses to the new company. I am confident our existing customers and many other building owners will benefit from the work she performs."

Messenger centers provide a central location for all pick-ups and deliveries of packages to and from office buildings. These special, fully-staffed receiving areas are becoming a standard amenity for Class-A office buildings in Manhattan, Ray noted.

"What was once considered an amenity is actually becoming a necessity," she said. "Some tenants might be skeptical of messenger centers in the beginning, perhaps concerned over creating a time lag for the receiving of important packages. However, once we are able to demonstrate the many positive aspects, both landlords and tenants become staunch supporters of the practice."

For tenants, messenger centers actually reduces on the time it takes for outside messengers to find the right location for deliveries. Packages are guaranteed to be delivered to the right person by the messenger center within 15 minutes of its arrival. Messenger centers also effectively control the amount of unexpected traffic through private office space. Landlords and tenants alike further benefit from the reduction in graffiti, theft and wear-and-tear that comes with unwanted traffic on private office floors. Building-wide, security is heightened by the regular travel throughout the building of uniformed messenger center staff, who carry radios to assist them with their duties and supplement existing security personnel.

"Messenger centers provide many benefits and, when managed properly, have no drawbacks," Ray explained. "We perform a very thorough appraisal of building activity when we set up a messenger center, and staff it accordingly. It is a very powerful marketing tool and asset management technique for owners."

Equally impactful, said Ray, is an office building concierge. The role of a concierge is to "set the tone for the entire building," she said, by manning a very visible post in the lobby with professionalism. The concierge undergoes significant training to learn about building safety, neighborhood restaurants and entertainment features, basic first aid, and a history of the property and its tenancy.

"The concierge is a helpful face in a very busy place, someone who can offer a spare umbrella when a tenant is running out into the rain for a meeting, or give directions to the nearest subway station," Ray said. "The tasks an office building concierge undertakes may not seem monumental, but the little things always add up. We find that concierges are usually the first stop on building tours when brokers show the property to prospective tenants. A concierge can play a key role in positioning a property for success."