by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
If you could own just one commercial building in Northeast Florida, which building would it be and why?
When Trip Stanly, a commercial real estate investor and managing member of Blackwater Capital, was asked that question by a colleague, he said, “It took a while but I said the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club.”
Stanly’s colleague had already arrived at the same answer. Their agreement plus the length of time it took Stanly to make up his mind and pick just one property inspired him to conduct an admittedly unscientific poll.
First, he added some guidelines to the question:
1. A commercial building is any apartment complex, hotel, industrial warehouse, office building or retail center (no residential properties, public buildings, or undeveloped land).
2. Northeast Florida is Duval, St. Johns, Nassau and Clay counties.
3. It has to be an existing building (no proposed new developments).
4. The building can be any size (big or small).
5. You can have any reason for wanting to own it (personal, work, aesthetic, financial, location, redevelopment, etc.).
6. Don’t let current market conditions bias your response (think long-term).
Then he e-mailed the survey to everyone in his address book and waited for the responses to start arriving.
“I’m an investor and so is the person who asked me the question, so we both looked at it with our perspective,” said Stanly. “Our lenses were skewed with the business viewpoint because what’s valuable to an investor is cash flow and value. I wanted to pose a purely hypothetical question to a wide range of people to gather many different viewpoints.”
In less than three weeks, 137 responses hit his in-box and Stanly was noticing some consistent trends in the answers.
“When you look at the list, the common theme is ‘uniqueness.’ People see value in unique assets, even though we like to travel in conforming herds,” he said. “Another thing is the properties are clustered in unique environments, mostly oceanfront, waterfront or urban.”
With four counties in the property pool, Duval County accounted for 82 percent of the building choices, followed by St. Johns County at 11 percent, Nassau County at 7 percent and Clay County, 1 percent. Buildings in Downtown Jacksonville were chosen by 50 percent of the respondents. Stanly said while he understands the attraction of height and waterfront location, it made him wonder. “If so many people value Downtown that much, why don’t we use it more? There’s a disconnect there,” he said.
The survey also gathered quite a few comments including these about the top vote-getters.
Independent Square (aka Modis Building)
• “Good tenant base, great amenities, now above 90 percent occupancy, many capital items done.”
• “It is Jacksonville’s signature building, visible from everywhere and still looks good. It is very well built because it was built for a local company with local contractors who cared very much, rather than on speculation by a developer.”
• “My rationale is the building is iconic. It has been a staple of the skyline for many years and to me, it’s a symbol of the community.”
Bank of America Tower
• “As far as the potential for revenue for one space, this one is hard to beat (location, styling, tallest in Jacksonville, number of leasable units).”
• “Could easily open the retail up to the street with sidewalk cafes, street life and energy.”
• “It’s the place to be if you’re a law firm, financial, etc. It carries the most clout, thus the highest rents. It’s like being a Porsche salesman. The product sells itself as long as the terms are fair or close to fair.”
Jacksonville Landing
• “It is on a premier site Downtown on the river, only a few blocks from Hemming Plaza and loaded with possibilities. It is extremely underutilized and poorly designed for its location, but those are fixable.”
• “I view this as one of the best pieces of dirt in the county but it’s not being operated at its highest and best use. My personal opinion is it would be a perfect place for a convention center — close to a great branded hotel, on the river, easy airport access, close to great golf, fishing and beaches.”
Stanly said he’ll be trying to figure out what it all means for a while and described the survey as “Just a thought exercise and a fun experiment.” He also said he’s interesting in gathering more data, so anyone who would like to answer the question, ‘Which building would you choose?” is invited to e-mail their response to: [email protected].
Trip Stanly’s Northeast Florida building survey
Buildings that received 1 vote: 11 E. Forsyth, 1515 May St., Aetna Building, Amelia Island Plantation, American Enterprise Bank, AT&T Tower, Blount Island Industrial, Casa Monica Hotel, Col. Cay’s Carriage House, Costco, Cummer Museum, Deerwood South, Dozier Building, DuPont Trust Building, Duval County School Board, East San Marco, Government House, Hercules Campus, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Imeson Park, John Gorrie Middle School, Julington Square, LaVilla II Medical Building, Livery Building, Masonic Grand Lodge, Metro Square, old Avondale Shell Station, old JEA Building, One Ocean, Orange Park Mall, Prudential Plaza, Roosevelt Square, San Jose Hooters, Saxelby Building, Seminole Club, SOS Lounge, South Beach Parkway, St. Johns Village, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Villas of St. Johns, Westside Industrial Park, Williams House Inn, World Golf Village Hotel, Wyndham Riverwalk
356-2466