Denver’s condo queen is moving to St. Pete to help reshape national condo policy
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Aug 31, 2022

Lori Greenly, the founder of Denver High-Rise Living who is known in The Mile High City as the “condo queen,” is moving to St. Petersburg to help evolve accountable condominium policies throughout the U.S.

When Surfside’s Champlain Towers South condominium collapsed last summer and killed 98 people, Florida lawmakers responded by creating legislation that would strengthen what’s required of condominium associations, from having enough cash in their reserves to fund repairs to property inspections.

It’s a movement Greenly said “needs to go nationwide,” and she believes Florida is leading the charge. She hopes that by moving to the Sunshine State, she can quickly get immersed in the fight locally to see the legislation through and convince other states this type of oversight is needed.

Greenly believes Canada — specifically Ontario — is an example of what some of these regulations, including reserve requirements, can look like.

“I knew I had to come to Florida,” Greenly said. “I thought I would have to go toward Miami or Fort Lauderdale, and it was nice to learn there was so much happening in Tampa and St. Petersburg.”

Greenly’s unique background — she had a multidecade career in banking and private wealth management — allowed her to see firsthand the issues facing condo owners as aging buildings begin to need serious repairs. In response, she created Denver High-Rise Living and began educating buyers, investors and sellers on the realities of the condominium market and HOAs.

Greenly will continue her work with Denver High-Rise Living and said there is “a strong connection” between residents moving to and from both areas.

A large part of her decision to move south comes with the belief that she should be in the rooms where conversations about the future of condo regulations are happening to “help as much as possible to grow that initiative.” She intends to continue selling condos while diving deep into condo policy.

Over the course of her career, Greenly has seen countless “horror stories” ranging from one condo tower’s deteriorating pipes to a young woman purchasing a condo and eight weeks later being slapped with an unexpected $18,000 bill from the HOA for “assessment fees.”

The oldest condos in the U.S. have been around for nearly 60 years, and Greenly said there need to be stronger requirements for condo reserve studies, which provide a detailed breakdown of what repairs will be needed. If buyers and sellers know exactly what the state of the building is, they will have a better understanding going forward of what changes will be coming down the road.

Education on what’s at stake if change doesn’t come is something she’s long been passionate about. But she knows it’s a conversation many want to avoid.

“I’m not necessarily a popular person. I’m not going to be because these changes will lead to people’s HOA fees going up, and people don’t want that,” Greenly said. “But you have to remember there’s a reason for the fees. In a neighborhood HOA, it’s different — you’re paying for lawns. In condos, it’s a different conversation entirely. It’s so important that you make sure the building you are living in is safe. If you see a very cheap HOA, run far away; there’s a reason it’s so low.”

Educating the HOAs, brokers, insurance agents, buyers and sellers is key, Greenly said. She has also been writing a book to share her expertise and traveled to Canada to learn about successful policies implemented there.