The commercial real estate office is located at 225 Water St. in the First Union Building.
WHO IS THE MANAGING
DIRECTOR AND BROKER?
Jim Citrano, who is chairman of the Downtown Development Authority and a commissioner on the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission.
FRANCHISE?
“No. The company is corporately owned and the headquarters is in Los Angeles,” said Mike Harrell, senior vice president of CB Richard Ellis. “We are worldwide with over 200 offices and 7,000 employees. The president of the company is Brett White and the company’s chairman is Ray Wirta and they are based out of Los Angeles.”
WHAT DO YOU DO?
“I am an investment properties specialist and am primarily involved in the sale of income producing properties including office buildings and retail centers.
HOW MANY OFFICES DOES CB RICHARD ELLIS HAVE IN
FLORIDA?
Six: Miami, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Tampa and Jacksonville. The office here opened in 1984.
WHAT’S WITH THE CB, WERE YOU EVER COLDWELL BANKER?
“We were originally founded in 1901 as Coldwell Banker Real Estate and based in San Francisco. Through that they formed a commercial brokerage firm and over the years they opened offices primarily in the Western United States. In the late 1960’s, they started moving eastward and also acquired a large residential firm in Southern California and went into the residential real estate business. As that grew eastward, Sears grew interested in the company and they bought Coldwell Banker Real Estate. They held us until 1989, when they sold the commercial group and kept the residential group. So, we had to change our name and became CB Commercial. In 1998, we acquired Richard Ellis, the largest and oldest brokerage firm in Europe, and we became CB Richard Ellis. It gave us our global reach.”
HOW MANY AGENTS
ARE IN THE OFFICE?
17.
HOW ARE THEY DIVIDED?
“They are divided up by specialty including investment properties, office/building, industrial, retail and acreage.”
WHY DIVIDE THE OFFICE INTO
SPECIALITIES?
“Commercial real estate has become a very complex industry and I think it is real difficult for an individual to wear too many different hats. Our belief is that if you specialize and focus, you will deliver a much higher level of services to your clientele. We certainly pioneered that concept here in the Jacksonville market.”
THE COMPANY SEEMS TO HAVE TENTACLES REACHING INTO MANY FACETS OF THE CITY. WAS THAT ON PURPOSE?
“It’s still very much a people business, despite of its complexity. So, the bigger your network, the better. You are throwing that net as far and as wide as you can and the bigger your network is will probably generate more success.”
INVOLVEMENT IN CIVIC
ASSOCIATIONS?
“Our first broker, Dave Burback, felt very strongly about raising the profile since we were a brand new start-up company and no one had heard of us. He encouraged us to get involved in civic endeavors. I took that to heart and have been heavily involved, primarily in downtown advocacy. I have been chairman of Central Jacksonville Improvement which was a Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce organization, I am vice chair of Downtown Vision, Inc. and on the Florida Community College of Jacksonville Foundation board. I am currently a trustee at St. Johns Country Day School and a member of Rotary. You name it and a lot of guys in this firm are doing the same thing. Oliver Barakat is another good example. He is heavily involved in the Jacksonville Community Council, Inc. and has been through Leadership Jacksonville.”
HOW DOES THAT
HELP THE COMPANY?
“I think it somewhat sets up apart from some of the other firms. You couldn’t find a more civic-minded individual than Jim Citrano, so it comes from the top.”
HOW IS THE COMPANY INVOLVED IN DOWNTOWN
DEVELOPMENT?
“I think our activism in downtown issues and development helps us probably get a jump on the flow of information that goes back and forth regarding development in downtown. That hopefully translates into something that would be helpful for our clients. If they are looking for recommendations on opportunities in the downtown, it pays to stay close to where those decisions are being made. That is helpful to the extent that you can advise your clients on various aspects of downtown development.”
ARE YOU THE LARGEST
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE FIRM IN JACKSONVILLE?
“We are the largest in the world in terms of the number of offices, personnel and revenue. I can say without any hesitation, that based on revenues, not the number of people, that we are the biggest firm in town. I think it’s safe to say that over the last 15 years, we have transacted more business in leasing and sales than any of the competing firms downtown. We have been leasing agents for most of the big buildings downtown at one time or another. We have managed a number of the properties. We have represented hundreds of thousands of square feet of tenants over the years in the downtown.”
WHO IS IN THE OFFICE?
Jim Citrano is the managing director and is assisted by Mary Ann Brozman and Ruthann Sadowski. Agents are Barakat, Collis McGeachy, Archie Baker, Cordell Butler, Gary Marcy, Terry Quarterman, Nathan Rogers, Daniel Allen, Gabrielle Chaderton, Harrell, Brian Platock, Thomas M. Ellis, Lang Tarrant, Bruce Jackson, Lou Nutter, John Winkler, Sally Lee and Chris Neidhardt. Asset services include Peggy King, the director, and Lisa Ryan. Support staff includes Kim Walker, Beth Johnson, Sharon Ferguson and Sandie Ratliff. The research staff includes Richard Shaffer, Lou Atwod and Ralph Corrigan, the information technician.
WHAT WILL CHANGE WHEN THE RESIDENTIAL MOVES IN?
“We just look at where the market moves or where we think the market is going to move and try to get there ahead of it.”
WHAT CHALLENGES
DO YOU THINK
DOWNTOWN
RESIDENTIAL FACES?
“I think the jury is still out. My hope is that they are very successful. It’s happened in a lot of other cities. It’s happening in South Florida right now, but they have natural barriers to entry down there that really preclude much more residential development. They have the ocean on one side and the Everglades on the other. They have a narrow strip of land to develop on and it’s pretty much developed out. So, now their downtown is coming back. We don’t have those barriers here. We have homes being built in the Southeastern quadrant of North Florida, a big project on the Westside [OakLeaf Plantation] and out where I live in Fleming Island, there are 7,000 more homes to be built over the next 10-12 years, so where are all these people going to come from that are going to live downtown? There is a real attraction to living on a golf course or living near a beach. These developments have got to have some other marketing ploy to get people to consider living in an urban environment. I, for one, wouldn’t mind living in an urban environment. If I didn’t have children right now, I wouldn’t mind at all living downtown, on the water with my boat right under my apartment.”
—by Michele Newbern Gillis