by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Chuck Diebel, the new president of the Northeast Florida Chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, has goals for the new year that are short and to the point.
“To leave the chapter healthier than when I came in from a financial, membership and organizational standpoint,” said Diebel. “We’ve got an excellent board put together for this year. We already have our plan and agenda for the whole year put together.”
Diebel is following in the footsteps of past president Hobart Joost of Colliers Dickinson.
“Hobie is good friend,” he said. “We go fishing a lot. Hobie did a great job and I just hope that I can continue it. He made a lot of good things happen. He started the work on getting the web page and database done and we’ll finish it off. Membership grew a whole lot during Hobie’s term so I will just keep the ball rolling.”
Diebel has structured the board of directors a little differently than in past years when there were 12 or 13 board members. Now, there are 20, which he says helps more more people get involved.
“It’s a volunteer group and volunteer groups are always looking for people who want to help get things done,” said Diebel. “By getting involved and helping the organization function, it’s then just a matter of letting them know what you’d like to do.”
NAIOP, a trade association for developers, owners and investors in industrial, office and related commercial real estate, is a national organization with 8,000 members.
The local chapter’s programs for the lunch meetings held at the Jacksonville Marriott include such speakers as Mayor John Delaney, NAIOP national chairman Dave Jellison and the City Council president Matt Carlucci.
NAIOP is holding its annual awards banquet Jan. 24 at 6 p.m. at the Adam’s Mark Hotel.
“It’s through the lunch meetings that we network,” said Diebel. “The awards banquet will allow us plenty of opportunity to get in front of the press and the people to get the word out about what we are trying to do.”
In addition to the new programs, NAIOP is introducing a new web page and electronic inventory database that will be offered to the general public next week at the NAIOP awards banquet. The web address is www.naiopnefl.com.
Diebel has been involved with NAIOP for eight years and is looking forward to his term as president.
“You are selected to be president and it is an honor to be selected to do it,” said Diebel, who took office in December.
Over the years, the local chapter of NAIOP has evolved into a 250-member organization.
“When it initially started there were 20-25 members,” said Diebel. “The last three years we have had sustained growth. Three years ago we were at around 150 members so we’ve had good growth over the past three years. We try to make sure we have everybody together to network.”
Membership includes the main brokerage houses, builders, developers and legal groups.
“We try to have impact legislatively on things that influence real estate such as growth management, which is more of state issue,” said Diebel. “We also try to impact national issues in Washington. Locally, NAIOP really consists of all the major players in town that are involved in real estate whether it be the building owners, leasing agents, financial people or attorneys.
“It’s a networking opportunity for everyone to get together with all the other players in town. We are breaking in a charity component to give back to the community. Its just part of what we do throughout the year. We dedicate certain events to generate funds for charity and certain events to generate funds to support political groups.”
Diebel said that NAIOP is important to commercial real estate agents mainly for the networking opportunities.
“All the key players in town are involved with NAIOP, including the building owners and developers who develop all the shopping centers and retail,” said Diebel. “Those are the people the real estate agents and brokers will be doing business with.”
Diebel thinks The Shipyards project will be good for downtown.
“It will bring the residential component downtown which it really needs and hasn’t had for many years,” said Diebel. “Downtown has made enormous strides the last two or three years by cleaning up the LaVilla area and trying to get people back down there. Unfortunately, the economy is not helping anything right now, so it’s going to be tough to get over that. I think downtown is coming back and I don’t see it getting anything but better.”