Stephanie Helburn has been the senior project manager at Matanzas Geosciences, Inc. in St. Augustine for a year.
WHAT DOES SHE DO?
She mainly does the Phase I Environmental Site Assessment for commercial real estate transactions. “We go look at the property to see what is going on at the property right now. Then I’ll do the historical research and try to figure out what the property was used for in the past. We try to determine if there are any potential problems with the property such as if it was used as a gas station or a drycleaners. We just try to get a current and historical feel for a property.” The company also does a lot of contamination assessment of properties.
WHAT AREA DOES SHE COVER?
The company is located in St. Augustine and concentrates on Northeast Florida. “I’ve traveled from Southeast Georgia to Brevard County.”
GETTING DIRTY?
Helburn loves to get in the dirt. “I get dirty and I love it. I spend 50 percent of the time in the office and 50 percent of the time out in the field. It’s a good mix.”
WHO ARE YOUR CLIENTS?
Helburn said people who are purchasing or developing commercial real estate. “We do a lot of work for Realtors, banks, developers and lawyers. We’ve done work for developers doing planned communities and for developers of commercial warehouses.”
COLLEGE
Helburn earned her bachelor’s degree in marine science from University of South Carolina.
HER HISTORY?
After college, she worked for several dive stores doing dive master work. Then she worked for an attorney who specialized in criminal, civil and real estate law for three years. A friend of hers told her about an opening with Southeastern Environmental. She decided to try environmental work and stayed there for three years. When she moved to St. Augustine, she worked for Aerostar Environmental in Jacksonville for two years until she joined Matanzas Geosciences, Inc.
DID YOU KNOW?“There’s a ton of unsold inventory” in Jacksonville’s Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses Duval, Clay, Flalger, Nassau and St. Johns County, according to Ray Rodriguez of the Real Estate Strategy Center of North Florida. Builders control 20,952 lots or 4.4 percent of vacant lots. Developers control 12,402 or 2.6 percent. Land bankers, or investors, control 3,435 or less than 1 percent. Individuals control 31,166 or 6.5 percent.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR JOB?
“I learn something new everyday. Sometimes I feel like a private investigator. You find something out about a property and you just keep digging. We do a lot of historical research so I have to talk to property owners, look at old maps, aerial maps and get to use my research skills. I really enjoy getting out in the field also. I’ll take a hand digger with me and get soil samples. We use drill rigs sometimes and install permanent or temporary wells. I just like getting outside, that’s my big thing.”
LEARNING CURVE?
“When I started with Southeastern Environmental, it was more trial by fire. They said, ‘You’re here now go do it’. I had to learn on my own and read up on their standards and asked a lot of questions. When I got down here, it was totally different because there is a lot more information available. I was able to learn a lot more here. I learned that old historical cemeteries have a high arsenic content because that is how they used to embalm people. Little things like that really helped.”
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Helburn is a member of the Commercial Real Estate Women of Jacksonville.
MOST CHALLENGING THING ABOUT YOUR JOB?
“Organization. There is so much information that you have to find and collect on these properties that if you are not organized, it’s not going to come together. Then you also run into the obstacles of trying to find information. Sometimes information is not easily accessible so you have to figure out how to find that information.”
BEST PROFESSIONAL ADVICE YOU’VE RECEIVED?
“Talk to people. I’m very shy and I’m an introvert. It’s really hard for me to get out there and talk to people. So, I’ve been told to get out there and talk to people because you will never know if they need something if you don’t ask them.”
-by Michele Newbern Gillis