Grotto AI helps Hillpointe reduce new hire ramp time. Data from the partnership shows Grotto has helped take new hires up to speed, improve conversion and identify leasing opportunities. 25 September, 2026 Grotto, the AI platform purpose-built for multifamily leasing, has announced results from its partnership with Hillpointe, an NMHC top ten developer delivering over 10,000 units of attainable housing annually. Using Grotto across its centralised contact centre and on-site portfolio, Hillpointe reduced new-hire ramp time from 90 days to nine days for on-site leasing agents and from 30 days to three days in its contact centre. Agents using Grotto also converted tours to leases 27% more often than non-users. The results show how AI can move beyond basic automation to measurably change how human leasing teams are trained and how they perform. At Hillpointe, Grotto is helping operators shorten the time it takes to get new hires up to speed, improve conversion, and identify where leasing opportunities are being won or lost. Across Hillpointe's portfolio, over 90% of live tours are recorded, giving Grotto visibility into the interactions between leasing teams and prospects. That interaction data is used to reinforce coaching, surface opportunities for improvement, and automate administrative work. The results showed Hillpointe saved over 100 hours of work per property each month while giving operators greater visibility into leasing performance. "The most valuable part of AI isn't just automating a task; its helping operators understand what actually drives results. At Hillpointe, AI PropTech News learn which behaviours their specific top performers use to actually win leads, and then AI PropTech News coach everyone up based on that definition of success. "We make sure that everything Grotto measures and coaches are directly connected to conversion. That's the kind of impact we're focused on delivering - helping leasing teams perform better and giving operators a measurable way to scale what works." Nick Deveau, Founder and CEO, Grotto AI The impact extends beyond administrative efficiency. Agents who used Grotto saw 27% higher tour-to-lease conversion and 50% higher tour-to-application conversion overall. Within Grotto-assisted tours, high-scoring tours converted to leases at 2.5x the rate of low-scoring tours, and closed leases within seven days twice as often. The data also underpins that coaching is not a one-time intervention. When Grotto was temporarily paused, coached behaviours returned to the uncoached baseline quickly, underlining the need for continuous feedback and reinforcement to sustain performance. These results point to a measurable connection between leasing behaviours and business outcomes, giving operators a way to identify what high-performing agents do differently and reinforce those behaviours across their teams. "Its goal is to create a brand experience that renters can trust, no matter which Hillpointe property they walk into. Consistency is everything, because that first impression is so impactful and hard to gain back if you don't start off well. "Grotto gives us visibility into what's happening on the front lines and the ability to turn that insight into action. It's giving our teams more time to focus on prospects while creating a more consistent experience across the portfolio." Josh Draughn, SVP of Marketing and Centralised Operations, Hillpointe For Hillpointe, the findings demonstrate how interaction data can become an operating tool - helping the company identify the behaviours that correlate with better leasing outcomes, reinforce those behaviours at scale, and reduce the administrative burden on frontline teams. Grotto Assist, Grotto's post-tour AI copilot, is one component of the platform's broader approach to turning leasing interactions into measurable operational improvements. Assist automatically transcribes interactions, populates guest cards, drafts personalised prospect follow-ups, and generates reporting, helping teams reduce the administrative work that follows every interaction.

Pointe Grand opens 288 apartments in south Lakeland. The community's developers offer "attainable luxury," aiming to fill a gap in housing for middle-income earners. by Anna Toms September 24, 2026 In June, Hillpointe opened Pointe Grand Lakeland, a 288-unit apartment community, at 901 Patriot Drive. Billed as "attainable luxury," the development has amenities like a resort-style pool, 24-hour fitness center, a dog park, and a pet wash station. This opening came as Lakeland is experiencing a shortage of homes for middle-income earners who make around $75,000 a year, according to Realtor.com. In 2024, the FLHealthCharts showed only 5.1% of vacant housing units available for rent in Polk County, below the statewide rental vacancy rate of 7.6%. Rents at Pointe Grand start at $1,540 plus $199 per month fee for internet, renters insurance, pest control, valet trash, doorbell cameras, and other amenities. On average, residents pay $1939 per month, according to Ashley Peace, community manager at Pointe Grand. Each unit at Pointe Grand is exactly the same: an open floor plan with a dining space, two bedrooms, two full bathrooms, quartz countertops, in-unit washer and dryer, and lots of closet space. The apartments are "1,170 sq. ft. of thoughtfully designed space with modern finishes, smart technology, and pet-friendly community amenities," according to the community's website. According to Apartments.com, the average 1,088 square-foot, two-bedroom apartment in Lakeland rents for $1,578 per month, and in the past year, rent has decreased by 0.6% or around $8 a month. Meeting housing needs in Lakeland. For decades, governments and individuals have operated with the assumption households should spend around 30% of their income on housing and utilities. Those who pay more are considered housing burdened. The median household income in Polk County is $63,644, so following the 30% rule, that allocates a little over $19,000 or around $1,591 per month for housing. Over half of all renters in Polk County, 53.8%, are housing burdened, according to the United Community Indicators. Overall, 31.8% of households, including 24.2% of homeowners, are housing burdened. The Pointe Grand project was discussed on October 17, 2022, at the Lakeland City Commission meeting, where Chuck Barmby, city transportation and development review manager, told commissioners, "During the public hearing process, there were a number of concerns raised regarding traffic and compatibility/buffering." Mark Wilson of Kimley-Horn and Associates told commissioners that the engineering firm and the developer held a neighborhood meeting and met with the Florida Department of Transportation during the design process. He said they revised the plan multiple times. At the time, Commissioner Phillip Walker noted that more housing was needed and said he appreciated the way the developer was working with neighbors and the city to accommodate their concerns. Barmby said that city staff was satisfied that changes to the site plan addressed possible issues and described specific stipulations regarding layout, landscaping, and traffic. During the meeting, residents again raised concerns about traffic and adequate parking Ultimately, commissioners voted 6-to-1 to approve an ordinance that adopted the revised site plan, increased the number of units allowed at the location from 152 to 288, and raised allowable building heights from two to three stories. Part of a larger strategy. Kelly Mahoney and Steven Campisi founded Hillpointe in 2018 after realizing they could fill a need in areas with a shortage of housing for middle-income earners, according to Ardavon Moayer, Hillpointe regional vice president of property management. Pointe Grand Lakeland is one of 45 properties - 12,075 total apartment units - owned and operated by Hillpointe, a real estate development and investment management firm based in Winter Park, Fl. According to Moayer, the Lakeland community is part of a larger strategy that guides many of the company's decisions. "All of our locations are strategically placed in not necessarily rural, but not urban areas. We are not in downtown Orlando. We are not in downtown Tampa," Peace said. Big cities like Tampa and Orlando receive a lot of attention from housing developers, but they're also expensive, Moayer explained. He calls Lakeland a bridge: "You can live in Lakeland and also access Orlando and Tampa," but he said Lakeland's housing supply has not kept up with population growth. "We are in Plant City. We are in Lakeland. We are in Champions Gate," Peace said. "We are more for the working class in those suburban communities, and we try to make luxury as attainable as possible for those communities." Affordable luxury for the workforce. Peace explained that the company's marketing and pricing team regularly reviews market surveys to try to keep rents at the development lower than comparable units in the area. Hillpointe is able to keep rent costs lower because the company is vertically integrated - they control everything aspect of the process required to build and operate a housing development, including land acquisition, design and engineering, building supply sourcing and manufacturing, construction, operations, technology and internet, maintenance, and leasing. Peace said the property has been pre-leasing since January 2026, and she offered hard-hat tours in March. According to Peace, residents have been attracted to Pointe Grand because of its location. "We are the newest community on the south side, but not too far south that it's not close to what Lakeland still has to offer," she said. Pointe Grand has no pet breed or weight restrictions, which has also been a selling point. And Peace said the staff works hard to build relationships with residents and create a sense of community. "Our first month open, we had 24 move-ins. July we had 45. Last month, we had 44," Peace said. "We're about to break the record in the company for fastest lease-up in one quarter." By mid-September, Pointe Grand was 42% full, with 119 units occupied. Insight Polk examines community conditions and solutions in six target areas from UCIndicators.org: economic & employment opportunity, education, housing, food security, transportation & infrastructure, and quality of life. LkldNow's Insight Polk independent reporting is made possible by the United Community Indicators Project with funding by GiveWell Community Foundation & United Way of Central Florida. 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