Dimitri Mortsakis, IREON, CRS Corporate Relocation Systems, Inc.

Name: Dimitri Mortsakis

Title: Owner

Company Name: CRS Corporate Relocation Systems, Inc.

What was your most notable project, deal, or transaction in 2020?
We have worked on several large relocation and installation projects this year, including moving almost 2,000 employees for a firm from six different NYC locations to One World Trade Center, procuring and installing plexi-glass barriers for hundreds of workstations for a major media client in NYC and LA, liquidating 250,000 s/f of furniture and contents for another media client in NYC, moving a law firm in a Times Sq. NYC location with over six floors into our storage facility, and distributing millions of PPE supplies to NYC senior centers.

What was the most challenging part of working during the pandemic?
The first and most challenging part was uncovering and implementing new procedures to keep our staff and clients safe while working. Since most of our work is completed on site, we needed to make sure that our clients were comfortable with our team working on site and that our team felt safe while working. In addition to that, it was challenging to find new and different ways to provide more value to customers and generate revenue. With every day being so uncertain given new information, facts, and developments with the pandemic, we have been doing all we can to keep up.

What aspects of working from home did you enjoy most?
The time I was able to spend time with family and being able to have a flexible schedule throughout the day. Typically, before the pandemic, I found myself running between meetings in NYC, attending networking events in the early morning and evening, and working with my team on site at our warehouse/operations facility. While working from home, I didn’t have to worry about commuting to/from work every day, attending meetings was as easy as logging into ZOOM, there seemed to be endless options of virtual network meetings, and the pandemic also forced us as a company to communicate and work online – which has been beneficial and allowed more flexibility and efficiency since we have returned back to the office.

What was your greatest professional accomplishment in 2020?
Having our business, to this point, survive and grow through the pandemic. We were able to add new lines of services that we offer clients while increasing our customer base. Staying in business was an accomplishment, growing our business has been an incredible achievement.

What was your most notable project, deal, or transaction in 2020?
We have worked on several large relocation and installation projects this year, including moving almost 2,000 employees for a firm from six different NYC locations to One World Trade Center, procuring and installing plexi-glass barriers for hundreds of workstations for a major media client in NYC and LA, liquidating 250,000 s/f of furniture and contents for another media client in NYC, moving a law firm in a Times Sq. NYC location with over six floors into our storage facility, and distributing millions of PPE supplies to NYC senior centers.

What are your predictions for commercial real estate in 2021?
Commercial real estate in 2021 will be more active, hopefully with tenants returning to the workplace. Companies will downsize and look for new space, most likely due to decreasing the total number of staff working in the office – with a mix of working on site and remotely (from home). Larger corporations will look for more space at a discounted rate due to the downturn in the market. Right now, clients are moving into our storage facility temporarily and planning to move back into an NYC office in 2021. Very few of our customers have decided to move out of New York Area, the majority being Restaurants, and smaller business owners that decided to move for personal reasons.