Carlton Jones is the chairman and president of Renaissance Design Build Group of Jacksonville Inc. and is the chair of the Chamber’s Small Business division.
WHAT MADE YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE CHAMBER?
“I was the president of the Washington, D. C. Chamber in the late 1970s and I’ve always felt the chamber of commerce was very important to a city. That was the first organization I joined when I moved to Jacksonville. I got active in the Beaches Chamber — I lived out there and eventually the Beaches Chamber and the Downtown Chamber merged. In 1994, I was asked to serve as chairman of the Small Business Committee and that got me even more involved. This is actually my third time serving as chair because I served as a chair of the Minority Economic Development. They sort of merged that into Small Business division now.”
WHAT WILL YOU DO THIS YEAR?
“The Chamber has reorganized and Small Business Committee has taken on a different role. Area councils are now under Small Business. Small business is really the majority of the chamber as far as numbers. There are more small business owners active and members of the chamber than there are in Cornerstone. But, we need both in order to make a good strong Chamber. We are also part of the Cornerstone so we are economic development focused. We are really focused on making sure that small businesses have an opportunity to get a piece of what the larger companies get access to. We are also trying to promote Small Business and make it much more visible. Sometimes, we forget about the small business owner mainly because that person is working during the day and so we have to create vehicles and tools so they feel their membership means something to them. We will try to work on how to include them through after hours workshops and seminars. The Chamber is committed to small business.”
WHY BECOME CHAIR?
“Having been president of a chamber before, I know how to make it happen and what you need to do to make it happen.”
WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF SMALL BUSINESSES TO THE FUTURE OF JACKSONVILLE?
“Everything, in my opinion. That is sort of the approach we took with Gateway Mall (he’s a part-owner.) Gateway had a number of large anchor tenants and when an anchor tenant leaves, it hurts a shopping center. By the same token, if a large employer leaves or lays off 400 or 500 people, that hurts a city. But, small business owners tend to not have a lot of turnover. A small business is 50 employees or less, but your average is about 25 employees or less. If one goes out of business, it’s not going to extensively impact a city. Most small businesses have a strong steady growth.”
WHEN DID YOU START YOUR COMPANY?
In 1993.
CURRENT LOCATION?
The building is located on the corner of Riverside Avenue and Margaret Street. The company moved into its current location in July 2001. “The building was vacant and in pretty bad shape. Most of the rooms on the second and third floor didn’t have ceilings. It was pretty much gutted out so we renovated the entire building. It is a historical building that was built in 1926 originally as a apartment building. Later it was the Riverside Clinic for many years. We bought it from a bank out of Washington and it has turned out to be a good location for us.”
WHAT DO YOU DO?
“I do more of the marketing for the company. It seems like I am always chasing business and collecting business. I’m on the front end of projects and am very fortunate and blessed to have good team members to deliver our product.”
WHAT DOES THE COMPANY DO?
The company is made up of architects and general contractors that design and build residential and commercial properties. “We’ve had a lot of different projects since 1993. We were also involved in Mayor Ed Austin’s River City Renaissance. With KBJ Architects we oversaw the City Hall, Coliseum and Alltel Stadium projects. We’ve also done work on the T-U Center, built churches and been involved with schools. We also have a single family division. We’ve done one subdivision and are getting ready to do another one from scratch. We also do a lot of affordable housing for a number of non-profit organizations.”
FAMILY
He has been married to Barbara for 17 years. They have four children.
FAVORITES.
His favorite book is the Bible. He enjoys funny movies and love stories. When relaxing at home, he and his wife enjoy tuning into Ally McBeal. A restaurant he recently went to and really liked was Bistro Aix. When traveling, he enjoys going to Jamaica.
— by Michele Newbern Gillis