by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Seventeen years ago Fitch King was operating nuclear submarines in the Navy. That’s a long way from selling commercial real estate.
Not really, he says. Actually, they sort of go hand in hand.
“I have a lot of experience with land and environmental issues,” said King. “It’s also a very procedure driven industry and very structured, so it helped me be more structured. But that can be a two way street. On the real estate side of things you have to be a lot more flexible and fluid. I have that background, but I have tried to adapt to a more flexible type of person.”
King’s work has led him to his job as president of Morgar Realty. He’s also president of the local chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, the association which serves the commercial real estate industry.
Locally, the chapter has about 285 members and has a board of about 20. Like many associations, its prime purpose is to provide a forum for networking.
King said they have participation from commercial developers, brokers, attorneys, architects, engineers, contractors, suppliers and vendors.
“As president, I get to be the figurehead for all those folks,” said King.
NAIOP holds about eight luncheons with speakers a year and also is involved politically in issues that affect the commercial real estate.
“We also hold golf tournaments and special events for our members,” he said. “We are going to be doing another bus tour to highlight commercial properties later this year.”
Some of his goals as president involve increasing membership and bringing better programs to the members.
But, his main goal is fighting the Florida Hometown Democracy issue.
The amendment lets voters decide whether their city or county comprehensive land use plan will be changed or adopted. Currently, city and county commissions make those decisions.
“That is probably our biggest issue from a chapter standpoint,” he said. “I am on the board of NAIOP of Florida. I’m involved at that level also to fight this issue.”
King and others feel that there should be legislation to revise the constitutional amendment process that oversees getting certain issues on the ballot.
“We feel that is really the crux of the matter,” he said. “We have a representative democracy and they should be making the decisions. We feel this issue is not in the true spirit of the constitutional amendment process.”
In preparation to be president, King learned a lot from the immediate past president, Mike Shalley of the St. Joe Company.
“Mike is a great guy, he did a great job,” said King. “He gave me a lot of insights and a great foundation to start with. I’ve been with NAIOP since 1996 and have been program chair and then moved up the ladder through the various chairs. It’s been a busy year so far.”
Morgar Realty is a local real estate, development and property management firm.
“We develop commercial, industrial, office and warehouse projects,” said King. “We also have mini storage projects that we own and manage. We develop commercial projects here in the Northeast Florida area.”
King’s father-in-law, Dick Morales, started Morales Construction in the late 1960’s and Morgar Realty, Inc., the operating subsidiary of Morales Group, was started in 1979. Morgar Realty provides complete real estate brokerage services and property management including leasing, tenant improvement and maintenance services provided by its 13 employees.
King is a native of Jacksonville. He graduated from The Bolles School and went to Washington and Lee University to earn a bachelor’s degree in physics and engineering.
After graduating college, he joined the Navy and served in nuclear submarines for six years.
He got out of the Navy in 1988 and went to work as the emergency management coordinator in the operations and emergency management department of the Florida Power & Light Co. at their nuclear power plant operations facility in Miami.
“I was there when Hurricane Andrew destroyed south Florida,” he said.
In 1995, he had the opportunity to return to Jacksonville to get into the commercial real estate business with his father-in-law, so he took it.
His father, Tom King, was also in the commercial real estate business.
“It’s going very well,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed the opportunity and I have learned a lot. I got my contractors license in 1995 and then my real estate license and now I have my broker’s license.”