by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Mitch Montgomery’s favorite pastimes usually involve being on the water or on the road — a far cry from being stuck in an office with development plans or thinking about about the ever changing housing market.
“I’m an avid bonefisherman,” said Montgomery. “I last went in June and I try to make it out a few times a year.”
He normally fishes around the Bahamas with its gnarled coral bottom and other line-breaking dangers that fisherman fear. Once the fish bite, he said, they take off and, without a little luck, both the fish and the line are lost.
“I see it as one of the greatest challenges out there,” he said.
The fish aren’t the only challenges Montgomery hasn’t shied away from. He’s been in the real estate development business in Northeast Florida for over 30 years and has seen many of the ups and down the market has to offer.
The Georgia native moved to Jacksonville for a post-college job with General Motors in 1971 but decided to go into business by himself shortly thereafter. In 1976, he changed paths and formed Montgomery Land Company.
The company is still thriving today but it’s a lesson he learned in his youth that still rings true.
“I was taught early on that the business was cyclical,” he said. “What you learn is that you have to be prepared to deal with it.”
Montgomery has dealt with it four times. He’s survived four housing recessions and said that each one is different from the next. The one thing that doesn’t change, he said, is that they are inevitable.
“Overexuberance, greed and pricing increases of homes all led to downfall,” he said. “In a lot of ways, the industry is a victim of its own demise.”
Much like the tides he fishes in, Montgomery said when you see the industry tides start to turn it’s important to become conservative and save enough capital to get you through the tough parts.
He’s also a Realtor and it’s advice that he gives other Realtors, too.
“In an up market, set aside some money because it (a downturn) is going to happen,” he said. “It’s how you stay in the game. So many people who were really successful during the boom years are broke now because they didn’t save.”
Montgomery has saved over the years, starting with his first development. It took him a minute to remember what and where it was, but then it struck him like a bolt.
“Some riverfront development, University Park near JU (Jacksonville University),” he said, then smiled. “That is the one that really got me going.”
His next project is a little more expansive than University Park and just a bit north of it.
Timucuan, at just over 6,000 acres on Jacksonville’s Northside, will be the “next and greatest development,” he said. It will be the largest project he has developed.
It’s an area he’s familiar with. He lives on the Northside in an area that’s a little away from the hustle and bustle of city life and that’s fine with him. The solitude and tranquility matches that of his fishing excursions and another favorite hobby, motorcycle riding.
“If there’s one thing I wish I could have started 25 years ago, it would have been riding motorcycles,” he said. “I love the freedom, the open air... when you ride you can feel elevation, temperature and all other types of little changes.”
He’s a Harley guy and though he only recently started riding, he has goals of making the trek to Daytona Beach and Sturges, S. D. for their annual festivities.
The quiet time of his hobbies are the things that help the most and keep him going strong.
“The solitude is superb and it gives me an opportunity to get away from it all and unwind some,” he said. “The outdoors reminds me that God made some beautiful things.”
He’s a former two-time “Builder of the Year”, a member of North Jacksonville Baptist Church and participates in in First Coast Christian Outreach.
He’s a father of two: Mitch Jr. is a junior at UNF and works for his Montgomery Land Company part-time and daughter Christen is a senior at UNF and working toward a degree in law with a focus in Real Estate.
Though they both are pursuing fields that correlate with the family business, Montgomery said he’s never pressured or expected either to take over the business one day, unless they wanted to.
“I’ve been very clear with both of them,” he said. “I’ve always told them ‘If you don’t want to do this then you shouldn’t. Always do a job you love, because there’s no sense in devoting 30 to 40 years of your life doing something you don’t enjoy.’”