By Carole Hawkins, [email protected]
It’s not your typical growth plan.
Davidson Realty spent 26 years with its only office in World Golf Village, where the company and the community both began.
Now, though, the company will open its second office at 1500 Beach Blvd. this month and hopes to open a third office in the Julington Creek/Mandarin area by spring.
The reason for branching out is organic growth. Prompted by outside forces, the company realized only a year ago how beneficial those extra offices would be.
The Davidson brand encompasses a development company, real estate agency and property management firm.
It was World Golf Village that kicked it all off.
The community was the vision of Jim Davidson, who as an executive for Arvida, helped develop Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, and before that, eight large-scale communities near Atlanta.
Working with cotton mogul Billy Dunavant, who already owned most of the land, Jim Davidson in 1987 managed development of the 6,300-acre parcel.
It was distant from other communities and had no interstate access.
“All of our consultants kept telling him it didn’t make any sense. He would never be able to do it,” said Sherry Davidson, his wife and the president of Davidson Realty.
But Jim Davidson had already worked with St. Johns County staff while at Sawgrass and he saw the property’s potential.
Located 22 miles from Jacksonville’s Downtown, he knew it was unusual to find so much land that close to a large city.
Davidson Development acquired parcels, built an interstate exit, developed lots and sold them to builders.
In the beginning, the company was the central sales agent for World Golf Village. But the work quickly evolved into a full real estate agency.
There weren’t many other real estate companies in the area. If buyers opted not to purchase at World Golf Village, Davidson helped them find other homes nearby.
Later, as the community matured, some of its residents eventually sold their homes. They looked again to Davidson, the company they trusted, to handle the listing.
Davidson’s property management division evolved similarly. The company found tenants for World Golf Village home owners who moved away but didn’t want to sell their homes.
Today, Davidson has 57 agents working out of World Golf Village, but the realty sells homes all over Northeast Florida. Sherry Davidson has four agents who live in Ponte Vedra Beach. For years they’d been after her to open another location.
But Davidson didn’t consider it seriously until last year, when another real estate company proposed they merge.
The idea was the two companies could better serve their clients with a larger footprint.
The deal didn’t work out, but considering it caused Davidson, a former CPA, to delve deep into the financials. She decided to move forward alone.
After checking six storefronts, she found one that felt like the right fit. A newer strip center with a CrossFit studio, Mojo’s Barbeque, Engine 15 and a 121 Financial Credit Union, all just a stone’s through away from the Beach’s iconic Taco Lu’s restaurant.
“If we have an office at the beach and another in Julington Creek or Mandarin, we can cover most of the areas we already service,” Davidson said.
The Davidson brand is well-known among real estate professionals. But its single office today in World Golf Village doesn’t readily capture the attention of many drive-by home shoppers. Storefront offices along main arteries will.
Also, Davidson said she liked the idea of expanding instead of merging — a move that will keep the company’s culture intact, their biggest asset.
“We’re a very team-oriented environment. Everyone reaches out and helps each other,” Davidson said.
It seems like it could be quite an adjustment to go from managing one office to three.
But then again, this is the development company that opened a real estate agency, and the real estate agency that added a property management division.
“I think we’ll figure it out,” Davidson said.