by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
A math teacher by trade, John Pulice, the broker of Amelia Realty, Inc. decided to pursue a more lucrative career in real estate and never looked back.
“I was 30 years old and a teacher,” said Pulice. “My salary was $15,000 a year and I said, ‘How do I get into the business world as fast as I can?’ I didn’t want to go back to school so I got a real estate license. I went from the private sector to the business sector in about six months. I just got into the real estate business and I was very lucky.”
He started his real estate career part-time while still teaching. First embarking on condominium sales with Jasinsky and Associates at Forest Ridge, a condominium community, he then became sales manager of two subdivisions on the island, Eagan’s Bluff and Ocean’s Ridge while still part-time.
He decided to delve full-time into real estate by joining Amelia Realty in 1988.
Amelia Realty has nine agents and they primarily do residential sales and have now started branching off into commercial projects.
“We do all sorts of residential sales including single family, land, condominiums and beach front property,” said Pulice. “We are now branching off into commercial and are doing a lot of commercial. We also do a lot of subdivision and project work.”
Amelia Realty provided the marketing and sales staff for Marsh Lakes, Seaside Retreat, Oyster Bay and Lighthouse Point.
“We do all sales in eastern Nassau County,” he said. “We primarily work on the island and between the island and I-95. We might show an oceanfront property in the morning and 50 acres of raw land in Yulee in the afternoon.”
Currently, they are the sales and marketing team for a new commercial project, Gateway to Amelia, which is a 13-acre multi-use commercial complex. It was developed by Compass Group and is situated on the right as you come over the Intracostal Bridge and enter the island from I-95.
The site, bordered by the Intracoastal, A1A and Amelia Island Parkway, is indeed the gateway to Amelia.
“It is first thing that you see when you come over the bridge,” he said. “It is the nicest first class office park and very successful to date. We are a little over half way sold out.”
Pulice’s company has helped bring a new concept to the island with Gateway to Amelia.
Customers buy condominium office space rather than leasing, which Pulice says is a much smarter and economical way to have an office on the island.
“It’s really a new concept here on the island,” said Pulice. “It’s the first one of this size that has been done. Instead of leasing this space, we are selling it. It is the biggest commercial venture taken on by any one particular office. We’ve had a lot of successful businesses instead of leasing space, now they own. They are building up equity and they can sell it or sublease it.”
In addition to office space, the complex has sold out parcels to two restaurants, Barbara Jean’s and Spankey’s.
The site is divided into eight parcels, three of which are taken up by the two restaurants and the Village Center building, where Amelia Realty is located as well as the other 25 condominium units.
Twenty-three of the 26 condominium office units have been sold and both restaurants are open and running.
The site also has land available for five more buildings including a hotel, another retail office complex and several other office buildings.
The Gateway to Amelia site was particularly attractive to Amelia Realty due to the booming development between the island and I-95.
Pulice said the Lowe’s is open and the Super Wal-Mart is close to opening. “We are also under a study to widen A1A and there are about 10,000 projected homes to go between the island and I-95 over the next 6-8 years,” he said.
Amelia Realty, operated by The Amelia Island Plantation Company, will soon be co-involved with Amelia Island Plantation in one of the new residential communities coming in the area, Brady Point Preserve.
“That’s going to be a very upscale residential community with large residential lots overlooking the Intracoastal,” he said. “We will jointly market the community.”
Pulice is originally from Los Angeles. He moved to Amelia Island in 1979 to teach math and coach baseball.
He has been married to Lanae, a teacher at Yulee Primary School, for 25 years. They have two children, Jay, 23 and Ashley, 20. When he’s not working, he enjoys golfing, boating and almost any activity outside.