By Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
After almost 20 years in existence, sales at Queen’s Harbour Yacht and Country Club are still going strong.
Ownership of the sales efforts in the gated community on Jacksonville’s Atlantic Boulevard changed hands a year ago and is now owned by Queen’s Harbour Real Estate Company, a partnership of three people: Tami Keener, a real estate agent and broker; Bob Alligood, CEO of Ice House America and former CEO of Reynolds, Smith & Hills; and Doug Izard, a former IBM Global Services business consultant.
Keener explained how this mix came together.
“Bob owns Ice House America and he was looking for a larger corporate office than his small corporate office in Mayport,” said Keener. “I knew Bob because he lives here in Queen’s Harbour. I started looking around for Bob and because I had worked here before as a listing agent I knew that the developer’s time was running out. A developer will go in and develop a community and at a certain time he’s done with it and is ready to move onto the next project. That’s the way the developer was here. He was at the end of the development period here.”
Queen’s Harbour was originally built and owned by a Clearwater company headed by Fred Bullard.
“Tom Dodson was a partner with Fred Bullard and Vann Neale,” said Keener. “They partnered up as the final developers of the community. Once the community was close to complete build out and the developer’s had sold the last of their ‘dirt’, it was time to move on.”
A meeting was set and it was determined that Alligood could use the space at the sales office but Dodson, the head of the development, was worried what turning the sales office into a corporate office would do to his agents still working there.
“So, Bob said to me, ‘Well Tami, you can run a real estate office can’t you?’ and I said ‘Sure’,” said Keener. “So he and I started talking and then he brought in Doug Izard and we formed a partnership and purchased the operations here. After we got in here and looked at what we could do with the real estate and corporate office, he decided not to bring the entire corporate office over, but he will have an office here because it’s closer to his house.”
Keener said there is a nice mix of older homes and new homes in Queen’s Harbour.
“We have a very diverse style of home, price range of home and age of home,” she said. “Everything is very diverse, even the age range of the owners. We have everything from married couples, to single individuals to retired couples. It’s just amazing.”
Though the community is older, Keener has not seen a lot of tear down and rebuild. But, she has seen a little renovating going on.
“Bryan Lendry is doing a lot of renovations,” said Keener. “Katrina Hosea from BeeTree Homes is doing some large remodeling, too. She is doing a $1 million renovation.”
There are no more developer lots available but there are still about 40 undeveloped lots that are privately owned. There are over 1,000 homes including Lendry’s new product, Providence Island at Queen’s Harbour, which are luxury townhomes.
Prices in the Queen’s Harbour range from $500,000 to over $4 million.
Agents in the office include Garry Adams, John Glover, Steve McEnnery, Linda George, Nancy Wahlke, Jeff Nedd and Ed Mercel. Anjela Galarza is the office manager.
“We’ve made a lot of changes,” said Keener. “I want the best of the best. The agents either have their broker’s license or they want it. They want the education that is offered out there. This is not a hobby for us. It is a business. We will grow and we are growing. Doug (Izard) is completing his CCIM licensing and has already completed several commercial transactions. So, we are growing our commercial division.
“We have recently opened our property management division and Ed Mercel, who has quite a bit of experience in property management, has started that division and we already have a number of homes under our property management division.”
Queen’s Harbour Real Estate Company owns the real estate company, land and building. The golf course and club are owned and operated by a national company. The rest is owned by the property owner’s association.
Another new venture the partnership has taken on is to represent outside properties.
“When we purchased the operations, we had to agree not to use the Queen’s Harbour logo and name to market properties that were outside of Queen’s Harbour,” said Keener.
They created WaterMarke Realty Group, LLLP to market outside property and are currently marketing Valencia at the Beach.
About the new owners:
Keener has been in real estate for 10 years. The daughter of a real estate developer, she received a Georgia real estate license at the age of 19. She is also a certified public accountant and worked in both public accounting and as a tax manager for an international healthcare corporation. Keener moved to Jacksonville in 1996, and has worked for various real estate companies, most recently Re/Max Unlimited.
Alligood is an engineer, and was president and CEO of Reynolds, Smith, & Hills until his retirement in 1988. Alligood soon opened a consulting and development firm pursuing innovative businesses in land development and multi-family apartment complexes. Currently Alligood is the CEO of Ice House America which manufactures and sells world-wide a new product - an ice vending and storage machine.
Izard, holds a doctorate in accountancy, corporate finance and taxation. He was a practicing Certified Public Accountant and a professor in the School of Business at the University of Tennessee, where he was also director of the Master of Accountancy program.
Most recently, Izard was an IBM Global Services business consultant and Intellectual Property licensing manager for the Americas.
For Queen’s Harbour Real Estate Company, Izard is focusing on developing a new commercial division that will include commercial and investment real estate including multi-family, mixed-use properties and business brokerage.