She’s a site agent for Flagship Communities at VillaRiva, the highrise condo which will be built next to St. Vincent’s Medical Center in the Riverside section of Jacksonville.
Old family
She’s descended from an illustrious group. One of her ancestors was Henrietta C. Dozier, Jacksonville’s first and foremost female architect. After graduating from MIT with an architecture degree, Dozier was known for wearing pants to work and always listing her name as “H.C. Dozier” to hide the fact that she was a woman. Her grandfather, the late LeeRoy Sheftall, was also an architect, noted for designing many of the historic landmark homes in Riverside, Avondale and San Marco.
Coincidence?
“My interest in Jacksonville and real estate literally goes back two generations,” said Elmore. Years ago, when Elmore was renting a house in Riverside, she came across a rendering of the home with her grandfather’s signature. “At the time, neither I nor the owner had any idea that my grandfather was the architect for the house and that discovery made it very important for me to take care of that house as if it were my own.”
Background
Although real estate is in her blood, Elmore’s career began in the fashion world. While studying interior design at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Elmore was discovered and asked to model in a fashion show. A natural, Elmore moved back to Jacksonville to model and worked in retail fashion for the next 15 years. She opened her own shop, Lee Allen, a popular and upscale boutique on the square in San Marco. After her experience in the retail world, she closed her store and began her real estate career.
Why real estate?
“It was a natural move because I was very familiar with every corner of the city and had an eye for detail and design. In addition, I had always worked in a ‘people’ industry throughout my career.”
On the job
Elmore moved to the Beach and joined the Prudential Network Realty’s Ponte Vedra office, in large part because of her friendship with agent Elizabeth Hudgins, the company’s top producer. One of Elmore’s first retail jobs in the fashion industry was in a Riverside shop co-owned by Hudgins and several other investors.
Quick success
Within four years, Elmore was the second highest producer in Prudential’s Ponte Vedra office and one of the top agents company-wide.
Family addition
She notes that everything changed with the birth of her daughter Reid, now five.
“Prudential’s CEO, Linda Sherrer, the partners and the Ponte Vedra office manager, Amanda Dandy, were very supportive of my efforts to work full time with Reid at my side. Having my own office at Prudential certainly helped since she was with me there from the time she was one week new,” said Elmore. “At a certain point, however, it became apparent that I would need to work primarily at my home office to accommodate my professional and personal needs.”
Change time
After working from home and taking her new baby to the office and on appointments as needed, Elmore was challenged with balancing work and motherhood while trying to fulfill her commitments to her clients in the general real estate field. “If you want to be highly successful in general real estate, you must be available to your clients 24/7/365,” she said. “While I wanted to be there at all times for my clients at their convenience, I wasn’t being fair to my family.”
Her husband, landscape architect Kelly Elmore, was also looking into starting his own business. Therefore, when she was approached at being one of the sales associates for The Ocean Villas at Serenata Beach approximately three and a half years ago, she realized the opportunity would be the answer to her professional and personal goals. Elmore accepted the position to work as Chuck Denton’s partner at the oceanfront home community in South Ponte Vedra Beach.
Big success
Elmore and Denton sold out the community within a record 26 months of its release — a year ahead of schedule.
Another move
When Bryan Weber, the managing partner for Flagship, invited her to lunch in Avondale last spring to discuss business, Elmore suspected that something was up. “Bryan kept discussing ‘what if’ scenarios and talked about available riverfront property in Jacksonville. When he told me he had a place he wanted to show me, I was excited,” she said. “However, when I followed him to Riverside Avenue and Stockton Street, I was floored when I saw the property. I was dumbfounded. I remember looking at Bryan and asking him if he had any idea what he had found.” The property
VillaRiva will be on one of the widest parts of the St. Johns River with 425 feet of direct waterfront footage. There will be 66 riverfront condominiums with four floor plans ranging in size from just under 2,300 square feet to more than 3,200 square feet (under air) and six penthouse plans up to 3,700 square feet in size. An additional six street-side, two-story townhomes will be on Riverside Ave.
Personal
Elmore lives in Atlantic Beach and has chaired fashion shows for the American Cancer Society in addition to co-chairing its “A Haunting Affair” fundraiser and several other ACS projects such as The Cowford Ball. In 1998, Elmore headed up the Junior League’s first Jacksonville Jubilation festival. She has been co-chairman of the Cummer Ball and Auction and has served on the board of Greenscape of Jacksonville and the Mayor’s Development Council.