Glenda Snelgrove is a senior leasing associate for the Kellogg Development Company which owns and leases Midtown Centre Office Park on Beach Boulevard near downtown.
HOW LONG HAS SHE BEEN THERE?
Since August 2004.
WHAT DOES SHE DO?
She leases the office space with her partner John Fish. “We have a lot of government users including federal, state and local. We also have some small attorney firms and the Stenotype Institute. We have another large user who takes up a whole building which is 35,000 square feet and then we have pockets here and there of smaller tenants.”
MIDTOWN CENTRE OFFICE PARK?
The 31-building, 763,000 square foot office park was recently purchased by Roger Kellogg of the Kellogg Development Company. It has a wide variety of office suites ranging from 500 square foot to 28,000 square feet. “We have 20 employees and in the last five months, we have leased right at 50,000 square feet. Before it was purchased, we were hardly leasing at all.” Midtown Centre, originally the Koger Center, offers full-service leases, on-site sandwich shops, on-site management, leasing and tenant service staff and on-site security. “It’s perfect for people who don’t want to be downtown and don’t want to be on the Southside.”
HER HISTORY
Snelgrove has been involved in commercial real estate for about 10 years. She started her real estate career with Barnett Bank in their special assets division. “We sold residential foreclosures and some commercial work. I decided when I was there, that I did not want to do residential.”
She then went to work for Regency Centers as a lease administrator for four years. “I administered, did the financials and reviewed documents for 1 million square feet of retail space.” Most recently, she worked for Trammell Crow in Southside as a real estate specialist for four years and handled the Bank of America account. “I worked in the third party leasing department and leased all of the vacant space that Bank of America had that they would lease out to other tenants.”
COLLEGE
She has a bachelor’s degree in business management from University of Phoenix. She earned her degree at night while working full-time and taking care of four children.
HOW DO YOU LIKE COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE?
“I like it. Coming here from Trammell was probably the best career move I could have done. It’s opened up a whole new world for me and I really like being out there showing space rather than in the office all day.”
CLIENTS
“Tenant retention is our main focus. Keeping our tenants that are here already is the majority of our business. But, then we also have people come in that want to lease space. I just put up a large sign two weeks ago on top of one of our buildings, saying, ‘Now leasing office space’ and have four deals off of it so far. We have a new tenant referral program. If a tenant refers us a tenant, we can give them free rent. We really rely in the tenants inside the park to get the word out.”
HOW DO YOU HELP NEW TENANTS?
Snelgrove said they have a plan room where future tenants can come in and see all of the different floor plans available and a design center, which shows the four different color schemes available. Instead of the tenant doing the build out, they just choose the floor plan and design plan they want and Kellogg Development Company will take care of the build out.
HOW HAS YOUR PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE HELPED YOU IN YOUR NEW JOB?
“I learned the lease document and what is in the lease document. A lot of people starting in commercial real estate don’t know what a lease says. With the lease administration at Regency and the other at Trammell, I can explain a lease to tenants. I think knowing the lease document inside and out has helped me tremendously in the leasing aspect of it.”
FAVORITE THING ABOUT COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE?
“It would have to be the people. Before I used to sit inside the office all day and did paperwork. I dealt with outside brokers, but I didn’t have that face-to-face interaction. I like being able to help people. It’s exciting, they are either starting a business, expanding or relocating.”
WORK WITH OTHER BROKERS?
Snelgrove said they do co-operate with outside brokers with a six percent commission.
HOW IS IT BEING A WOMAN IN A MAN’S WORLD?
“I kind of think I have an advantage. Being one of the very few women in Jacksonville that has stepped into this broker world, I find that a lot of them talk to me just because I am a woman. I’m younger than most of them and I’m a woman and a mother. I like the challenge and I bring the challenge on. That is one of the reasons I wanted to do leasing is that there are very few women.”
LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE?
“The paperwork.”
ADVICE FOR NEW COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE AGENTS?
Snelgrove said new commercial real estate agents really need to know their lease agreement. “Make sure you know what you are doing and what your client is signing.”
LESSONS LEARNED?
“Not to be afraid to take chances.”
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS?
National Association of Industrial and Office Properties and the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce.
HOMETOWN?
Middleburg, where she still resides today.
PERSONAL SIDE
She is married to Steve, a bass player with Big Al and The Kaholics. Together they have four children. When she is not working, she enjoys spending time with her family at the beach and other neighborhood functions. Her favorite movie of all time is “Braveheart.” When relaxing at home, she enjoys tuning into “Lost.” A book she would recommend is “Your Leadership Legacy” by Marta Brooks, Julie Stark and Sarah Caverhill. “It’s about real estate leaders and their values and how they have instilled their values on their company.” A place she enjoys visiting is Jamaica and a restaurant she recommends is Florida Cracker in St. Augustine.
-by Michele Newbern Gillis