The Northeast Florida Association of Realtors is at record membership, and that means it needs more space.
About 2007, before the market crash, the group reached 7,500 members, said NEFAR Communications Director Melanie Green.
Membership now is 8,400 in NEFAR’s area of Clay, Duval, Putnam and part of St. Johns counties.
Green said when the market is good, people tend to get into the business. NEFAR members take orientation and education classes, and the current Southside building doesn’t have the space to accommodate all of that, Green said.
“We are just out of space. We need more room,” she said.
It is doubling the square footage of its headquarters on Deercreek Club Drive in Jacksonville by constructing a new building and renovating its existing offices.
It plans to hire additional staff once the addition is completed.
The city granted a building permit Aug. 27 for NEFAR to add a one-story, wood-frame building next to the existing structure.
The new building will comprise 9,882 square feet of space, about the same as the current office.
Construction of the new structure just kicked off, but crews have been working on the demolition and renovations inside the old building for a couple of weeks, said NEFAR President Glenn East.
“We have staff doubled up or even tripled up in some cases.”
East and Green said the office space has been tight for the 10 staff members and the 16 people who run the Northeast Florida Multiple Listing Service.
Plus, East said both NEFAR and the service need to hire additional employees.
The job cost of the project was listed at $2.2 million on the permit but East said the entire development, with renovations and additions, will cost $3.2 million.
East said the organization has the cash to fund the project because NEFAR has zero debt. He said the organization might decide to take out a credit line with its investment company, UBS, but that it would prefer to stay debt-free.
Renovations to the existing building include dividing and converting the auditorium and meeting rooms into individual staff offices, while the new building will house an auditorium and education spaces.
East said two employees with NEFAR’s education department have been relocated during the renovations and construction phases. They are working out of a temporary space in The Avenues mall, where they will be able to continue to teach classes until the new building is finished.
The completion date is estimated in the spring.