by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
San Marco Place would not be anywhere near complete if it wasn’t for the work of the sales team. Led by Kristin Fanning — the only agent of three still on site — the sales team at the Southbank residential tower started selling units in September of 2004. By April of the following year, over 75 percent of the tower’s 141 units had been sold.
And ground was broken.
“You have to have presales,” said Fanning, who was born and raised in Jacksonville and has two degrees from the University of North Florida. “You cannot start construction until over 75 percent of the units have sold.”
Early next year, a majority of the units will be completely done. The sales team is down to just Fanning and she has gotten a promotion. And, there are only two units left in the 21-story building.
Fanning, who was recently promoted to general sales manager and will move to two other Chase Properties developments — Waterside in Jacksonville Beach where Lighthouse Grill used to be and Grand Harbor at Palm Cove Marina on Beach Boulevard just west of the Intracoastal Waterway — said the key to selling so many units before there was anything to see other than renderings and drawings was presenting a concept attractive to most buyers. She did admit there’s a segment of the real estate buying public that would prefer to see walls and bathtubs.
“You have to be able to sell the idea, the concept,” she said. “A condominium development is not like getting a spec home. You are getting what we think would be ideal. What’s the most desirable space we can give you?”
It worked. Buyers from all over the country and world — several from California and others from Scotland and London — have purchases 139 of the 141 units. Chase Properties is the combined effort of Jay Southerland, president of the Southerland Group, and Mike Balanky, president and CEO of Chase Properties. Realtors have bought a dozen of the units and Fanning said only one has indicated they intend to resell it. The others plan to either rent the condo or live in it.
Many buyers, though, are local.
“Most of my buyers are from San Marco or Ponte Vedra,” said Fanning, “The San Marco buyers are one, looking to downsize and bought the three-bedroom units or, two, look at it as an investment in San Marco. The buyers from Ponte Vedra mostly bought the two-bedroom units. They work Downtown and live in Ponte Vedra and are looking to live here during the week.”
Fanning has degrees in both marketing and management from UNF and never thought about real estate as a career. That ended when she worked as a nanny for Southerland and he convinced her to get her license and work as an on-site agent. Fanning got her license and even helped Southerland and Balanky with the business decision behind the San Marco Place development.
“I did a comparative analysis and looked at why Downtown and the other developments,” said Fanning. “I determined this was the best development for Downtown. I love the look of San Marco and this fits San Marco and the Jacksonville market.”
Price, too, has played a key role in the rapidly-sold development.
“You can’t find our prices anywhere else on the Southbank,” said Fanning of the units that range from $189,000 to $1.45 million.
San Marco Place consists of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, townhomes, retail space and several penthouses (all of which occupy two floors) and are between 1,125 and 3,800 square feet. Amenities include a pool, tennis court, garage parking, a fitness center, saunas and many others.
Although The Strand and The Peninsula are across the street, Fanning said those developments may be competition to a degree, but they are also good for the area and the industry.
“Absolutely, it’s good,” she said. “All new development is fantastic. It’s good not just for competition, but for body heat. You get people moving into the area and others want to come.”
San Marco Place by the numbers
• Total workers on the project: 100-200 daily over the last 20 months, six days a week
• No. of subcontractors: 130 subcontractors and vendors
• Tons of concrete: 15,000 cubic yards of concrete
• Amount of rebar: 1,000 tons
• Square feet of carpet: 200,000
• Square feet of tile: 130,000
• Amount of paint: 2 million square feet of painted surface