The office is located at 6639 Southpoint Parkway.
THE BROKER
Nick Nicholson.
THE OFFICE
The office is 5,600 square feet and is complimented by a large conference room that they use for investment group seminars, training, meetings and networking in general.
THE OWNERS
Walter Williams and Nick Nicholson are equal owners.
HOW LONG HAS THE COMPANY BEEN OPEN?
Since May of 1999. “We had two offices at the time, one at the beach and one in Mandarin. We consolidated those two offices to this one in December of 1999. We closed the office in Jacksonville Beach and then re-opened it in February of 2000. And in May 2000, we opened our Palm Coast office.”
MORE OFFICES?
Nicholson: “We are in the process of absorbing a company in Daytona Beach. It’s not done, so I’m not at liberty to tell you who, but we are in negotiations and hope to finalize it by the end of February.”
HOW DID YOU BECOME A COLDWELL BANKER FRANCHISE OWNER?
“I was working as Nicholson Properties at the beach. Through my activities and search, I wanted to be able to work on a corporate level. I investigated numerous opportunities and chose to focus on Coldwell Banker Commercial. I liked two things about it. First, it was a franchise which means I am in control of the business. I like that flexibility and freedom of operation. Second, the man who runs the national side of Coldwell Banker Commercial is Jerry Anderson and he is an outstanding man who has been a success by anyone’s measure. He is truly an excellent person and I thought if I wanted to get with the best, than I wanted to be with the best.”
HOW DID WALTER
GET INVOLVED?
“In his company, Coldwell Banker Walter Williams Realty, he had a commercial addendum or a commercial license tucked under there. He had three agents working with him in his residential operations specializing in commercial real estate. I could have bought a separate Coldwell Banker Commercial franchise, but then that would have meant I would have went into head-to-head competition with Walter and his people. Life’s too short, so I thought: Why do that? What I decided to do is to merge with him. We reached an agreement and how it works out is that we are 50/50 partners in the ownership of the company. However, I have 100 percent of the operational control of Nicholson-Williams.”
NEW SUBSIDIARY
OF THE COMPANY?
“We are not just real estate brokers. We believe in providing a one-stop shopping for our clients in all fields of the real estate brokerage or transactions. We have started a separate construction management division of our company and a commercial inspection group within that division.”
WHAT AREA DOES THE OFFICE COVER?
Northeast Florida from Daytona Beach to South Georgia. “We are licensed to do business in Georgia and are aggressive and very active in Camden County.”
WHAT DOES
JACKSONVILLE NEED?
“Jacksonville doesn’t need anything else that they’re not doing. I don’t have any complaints or suggestions. We’ve got a very pro-business, fair and pro-active mayor and a City Council that compliments that. The Better Jacksonville Plan is dynamic, the Super Bowl is coming in 2005, we have a stable economy and a huge military facility presence which stabilizes the economy.”
HIDDEN TREASURE?
“One of the things that I think we have that is not written about enough is The Mayo Clinic. It’s an economic engine and I really need to pay attention to economic engines that affect Jacksonville. I don’t think people recognize the awesome and incredible influence Mayo Clinic has in terms of the robust and positive growth in this area. You get executives from all over the world who come here for their annual physicals and they come here in the winter months where at their home it’s raining, sleeting and snowing. They can come here and if they are not terribly ill, they can play golf while they are in between appointments.”
WHOSE IN THE OFFICE?
Nicholson is the president, Williams is the co-owner, Kelly Bush is the CFO, Laurel French is the marketing director, Judy Frye is the receptionist, Lynn Miller is the office manager, Sarah Condeck is the computer consultant, Bill Haft is the vice president of construction management and Mike Lopez is the vice president of property management. Sales agents in the Southpoint office are John Bates, Butch Beard, Val Bostwick, Ron Chase, Jeannie Eisenstein, Jack Gross, Doug Hudson, Sid Jones, Carl Krouch, Don Mooers, Joe Pepe, Henry Rogers, Corky Smith, Craig Thomas and Jerry Tighe. Sales agents in the Jacksonville Beach office are Lita Cerni, Kate Clifford, Patricia Owings and Lynn Johnson and sales agents in the Palm Coast office are Cornelia Manfre, Rob Robinson and Jay Welcom. Mona Peterson is the secretary in the Jacksonville Beach office and Barbara Lash is the secretary at the Palm Coast office.
WHAT DO YOU DO DOWNTOWN?
“Frankly, very little. That is our weakest point by strategy. When I say strategy, I mean as a new company, the companies that were already in downtown were the CB Richard Ellis, Colliers Dickinson, Grubb and Ellis/Phoenix Realty and Schultz Foster Addison. Those four companies have pretty well dominated the downtown market and as a business strategy we decided we would go where everybody is not. So, we decided to go outside and work our way in, which is our strategy. We have a definite vision of moving into the downtown market, but we’ll do it in a way that is comfortable for us.”
WILL YOU GET
INVOLVED IN PROJECTS DOWNTOWN?
“We have ongoing dialogue and ongoing activity that are truly significant with regard to downtown. I can’t talk about it until it’s done. One of them is massive and we will know by March if it will work. If it works, it is a huge, huge project.”
— by Michele Newbern Gillis