One credential, four buildings: how KastlePresence® unified security across Crayton Advisors’ Chicago West Loop portfolio

About Crayton Advisors and VCollective

Crayton Advisors is an investment and advisory firm that purchased four loft office buildings, totaling more than 500,000 square feet, within two blocks of each other in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood. The firm created VCollective, a tenant-facing brand built around shared amenities and a sense of community, to retain and attract tenants across the portfolio.

The challenge

Rolling out keyless entry, video surveillance, and visitor management across four separate buildings, in a way that would feel like one connected community rather than four disconnected properties, was an ambitious undertaking for a newly formed brand.

“Our goal is to foster a strong sense of community among our tenants,” said Gregory McGovern, Vice President of VCollective. “We wanted easy access to all locations, mass notifications to alert our workers of social events or important announcements, and other smart security amenities to improve the office experience.”

After evaluating multiple vendors, VCollective chose Kastle for its technology, its customer service, and a Chicago-based support team that could respond to issues quickly.

The solution

VCollective built a customized security operation around three Kastle solutions managed under one system. KastlePresence gives workers hands-free access to all four buildings and their shared amenities using the Bluetooth radio already in their smartphones, replacing the badges and keys that would otherwise need to work across four separate properties.

KastleVideo covers all four buildings with cloud-based video surveillance monitored around the clock, letting VCollective forgo stationing security staff at each individual property. KastlePresence also includes an in-app panic button that lets any worker alert responders to a threat or sign of duress, showing exactly who is in trouble and where they are in the building; VCollective has also discussed adding a feature that would let management turn an individual alert into a building-wide notification.

For visitors, KastleFrontOffice lets workers preauthorize guests through Gmail or Microsoft Office and share a unique 2D barcode that grants entry during a set window, so a guest can walk straight into the building rather than waiting at the door, with the host notified by email or text as soon as they arrive.

The outcome

The system has let VCollective deliver building-wide video coverage and hands-free access across four properties without the expense of a security staff at each one, while giving individual workers new tools, like the in-app panic button, for their own safety.

“It proves to our tenants that not only have we thought of everything when it comes to their safety and convenience, we also want them to have a really cool experience when they’re at work,” McGovern said.