by Miranda G. McLeod
Staff Writer
Three Jacksonville real estate investment advisors received an Achiever Award last month from Sperry Van Ness, one of the nation’s largest commercial brokerage firms.
Larry Walshaw, Jim Brady and Jim Morgan each earned an award for earning between $200,000 and $499,000 in 2005, according to David Ebeling, communications manager for Sperry Van Ness.
Walshaw and Brady of Business Condos USA, both secured transactions valued at $17 million. Morgan, president of Sperry Van Ness-Investec Services, secured transactions valued at $8 million, according to the company.
The trio received the awards Jan. 21 at the company’s National Conference in Laguna Beach, Calif. Advisors from across the United States were present.
Sperry Van Ness, which is based in Irvine, Calif., currently practices in 136 markets across 35 states. There are five advisors in Jacksonville, 32 in Florida and 600 nationally. One hundred Achiever Awards were presented, with six going to Florida advisors.
Walshaw and Brady are partners in Business Condos USA, a company that provides small bay business condominiums that are affordable for small business, allowing them the benefits of ownership and the pride of owning their place of business.
Walshaw leads the marketing efforts of Business Condos USA and is the face of the company on television and radio commercials.
Brady has developed, built, leased or brokered more than $1 billion worth of investment real estate in the last 35 years, according to the company’s Web site. Some of Brady’s projects include the South Congress Industrial Center, a 200-acre light industrial park in Boca Raton, as well as numerous office buildings, industrial buildings, retail shopping centers, residential communities totaling more than 2,200 homes and more than 1.5 million square feet of commercial space.
“Sperry Van Ness is the third-largest commercial real estate company in invest sales and we are an affiliate,” said Walsh. “Three years ago we hitched our horse to Sperry Van Ness. A lot of companies did this in Jacksonville.”
One such company is Morgan’s Investec Services, which specializes in office, multi-family and development land transactions in Northeast Florida. Morgan has more than 30 years of industry experience. Sperry Van Ness-Investec Services was Florida’s first national affiliate of Sperry Van Ness.
Morgan has a list of other accomplishments including director, treasurer, chairman of budget and finance, chairman for strategic planning and 2000 president of Northeast Florida Association of Realtors.
“(This affiliation) is great because Florida has a lot of people interested, especially in Northeast Florida — more than before,” said Morgan. “Now, there are 550 agents around the country that know I’m here. The award ceremony is great because I get to meet a lot of those people, in particular those interested in Florida, and they’re all in one place. It helps them know I am doing a fairly substantial amount of activity and makes them more comfortable to send their customers to me.”
Morgan said his company is growing rapidly. After more than six years of being actively involved in legislation and other various other organizations related to the industry, he’s taking time off this year to focus on his own business’ growth.
“I want to focus more on Sperry Van Ness business. I needed to spend more time on building team and transactional activity,” he said. “We have done well, but we have lots more potential to achieve.”
This is Morgan’s second time receiving recognition from Sperry Van Ness, and Walshaw’s third time receiving the Achiever Award.
“It’s recognition from the national company that you have reached a particular plateau,” he said. “(Sperry Van Ness) affords you the ability to market your listings on a national basis. If you want to play with the big dogs, you’ve got to be national.”