The Benefits of Adding a Dog Park to Your Apartment Complex: An Interview with REIG’s Jim Morledge

Jim Morledge knows dog parks. He co-owns one of the San Diego locations of Camp-Run-A-Mutt, an upscale doggie daycare and boarding center complete with dog washing, grooming, and even obedience training. It’s a pretty comprehensive canine care center, and Jim has learned a lot from being one of its owners.

Jim is also the Vice President of Capital Investments at REIG, and he brings his canine experience to the table when clients come to him with questions about adding a dog park to their apartment complexes. Because it’s one of the most popular multifamily renovations in pet-crazy southern California, it’s safe to say he gets a lot of them.

Dog Parks Build Community Among Tenants

The most common question, and perhaps the easiest to answer, is why a dog park in the first place? As Jim tells us, “Dog-friendly properties are basically a standard in the market now,” so apartment complexes that lack amenities for dogs are likely to be left in the wake of those that do. One survey found that over 70% of apartment renters own pets, many of them dogs. What’s important about dog parks in particular, though, is that they help build a sense of community among residents, and that is a huge draw for prospective tenants who own dogs. “It’s a way to enhance the experience,” Jim says, and to give people a place to “hang out and talk to each other,” which can go a long way towards building an apartment complex feel like a home.

Another way to do that, according to Jim, is by remembering that the “design of the park is as much for people touring the property as it is for the dogs.” For Jim, dog park design is an important part of community-building, because it’s what draws people there in the first place. It makes sense: the dogs aren’t going to be the ones choosing the apartment complex, after all. He suggests “aesthetically-pleasing play structures for the dogs, like a bright red fire hydrant they can run around,” engaging agility equipment, and using bright colors in your overall aesthetic. In short: “You want it to look fun.”

Exceptional Dog Park Design Means Increased Profits for Property Owners

For Jim, dog park aesthetics, built upon a solid design foundation, are everything, and that gets at the core of why these renovations are so popular. A well-placed dog park with a clean, engaging design has a very real capacity to draw in new tenants, and that means lower vacancy rates and increased profits for apartment complex owners. If we’re talking in terms of dollars and cents, a dog park just makes sense, even for tenants who don’t have dogs.

You read that right—according to Jim, dog parks are a boon even to non-dog-owners who live on the property. “Having a dog park is better than having dogs running around the property ruining landscaping and leaving ‘land mines’ for other residents to step in.” On-site dog parks give dogs and their owners an enclosed (and hopefully out-of-the way) space to congregate, and that’s good news for tenants who don’t own dogs, because it helps keep other common spaces pet- and pet-waste free. “It’s a win-win situation for both,” says Jim.

What You Need in Your Dog Park, and How REIG Can Help You Get There

Clearly, Jim has some really incredible insight on the why of dog parks, but he’s also got plenty of fresh ideas about the how. Necessary elements, he says, are “a leashing and unleashing area, at least one doggie watering station, play structures, potty stations with bags and trash cans (one every hundred feet along the perimeter), benches for owners, and an artificial turf placed over a gravel base.”

If you’re designing and building the park on your own, pay special attention to the fence you install, as it’s one of the most common mistakes that DIYers make. Traditional wrought iron fencing is not a good idea for dog parks. “You’ll want your fence to be vinyl chain-link, and you’ll want it to be about 48” high; that way, it’ll keep big dogs in, and little dogs from getting stuck in it,” explains Jim.

Designing a dog park may seem like a straightforward job, but in reality, it’s one that requires a lot of nuance and skill, and that’s why it’s helpful to have an expert on hand to help guide you through it. “We’ve had a couple of clients come in with designs that are missing some really common and essential dog park elements, and that’s where we come in. They’re always very open to the suggestions I make and grateful that we caught them before they started building.”

If you’re on the fence about adding a dog park to your apartment complex, we’d be happy to walk you through the process and answer any lingering questions you might have. Connect with us today to tap into Jim Morledge’s dog park expertise, or to find out more about how we can help you optimize the ROI on your apartment complex.