Frank and Frankie Gatlin moved their development headquarters, families and futures to Jacksonville three months ago, quietly settling in while setting their sights on significant growth.
Father and son see the potential for a Downtown grocery store, redeveloped community centers that now struggle with vacancies and new shopping plazas.
Their focus ranges from Fernandina Beach south to St. Augustine and from the Beaches west to OakLeaf.
“I see a very bright future for Jacksonville,” said Frank Gatlin, a New Orleans native who spent the past almost 40 years developing residential, hotel and commercial projects from headquarters in New Orleans; Del Mar, Calif.; Tennessee; and, most recently, Fort Lauderdale.
Frank III and Frank IV are the principals of Gatlin Development Co., a nationwide developer with a commercial portfolio of 2.5 million square feet of retail space under ownership or development.
Since 1984, the company has developed more than 15 million square feet of retail shopping centers.
The Gatlins are new to Jacksonville, but Gatlin Development isn’t.
Its portfolio includes six Jacksonville area properties comprising five shopping centers redeveloped with Walmart Neighborhood Markets and a new Walmart Supercenter project under construction in Southwest Jacksonville.
Gatlin has been a Walmart developer for almost 30 years and introduced the Neighborhood Markets to Jacksonville in Arlington, Westside, Mandarin, St. Johns County and Clay County.
Gatlin Development bought half-filled shopping centers with vacant Food Lion grocery stores and redeveloped them with Neighborhood Markets and other tenants, raising occupancy to almost 95 percent. The first two markets opened in 2013.
Gatlin Development owns 700,000 square feet of space in Northeast Florida.
The Gatlins see the possibility of developing at least 1 to 2 million square feet more in the area. Here’s what they plan:
• They envision redevelopment of largely vacant shopping centers that need rejuvenation, perhaps some with Walmart Neighborhood Markets. Gatlin said they are looking at several opportunities of 100,000 to 150,000 square feet, but declined to identify them.
• Gatlin said he is committed to finding a Downtown area location he hopes Walmart would approve for a Neighborhood Market. He also hopes to identify several more sites for markets in the metro area, pending Walmart, city and community approvals.
• They are looking for opportunities to develop or redevelop community shopping centers to bring in tenants desired by the neighbors.
“There is nothing I like more than to bring a community services and tenants and restaurants that are needed and that they want,” Gatlin said.
The Gatlins work with many big-name retailers, including Home Depot, Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl’s, PetSmart, Michaels and others, in addition to Walmart.
They also want to bring new names to Jacksonville. Frankie Gatlin is creating “void reports” to assess which retailers are not in Jacksonville and where they might want to locate.
Frank Gatlin said every site they develop undergoes a void review to determine which retailers might fit best.
Gatlin Development’s experience also includes housing, hotels, light industrial and self-storage facilities.
Frank Gatlin isn’t ruling out any type of opportunity. He also intends to continue development in other communities.
One of Gatlin’s largest redevelopments is Shingle Creek Crossing in the Minneapolis area. Much of the large, indoor Brookdale Mall, a 65-acre project built in 1962, was demolished and rebuilt as an open-air retail plaza, a popular move even in the wintertime freezing Upper Midwest.
Ken Wilson, vice president with Jacksonville-based Gate Petroleum Co., a significant landowner, said he met Gatlin four years ago “by happenstance” when Gatlin called to talk about potential sites in Northeast Florida.
He said Gatlin sees the long-range potential in a development site, “knows exactly what he’s looking at and how to get it out of the ground faster than anyone I’ve ever met.”
Wilson said Gatlin’s reputation with large national retailers is another plus. “I think Frank will bring some excitement to Jacksonville’s retail economy,” he said.
Wilson said that in his 35-year career, Gatlin “ranks as possibly the most expeditious and efficient retail developer I have ever encountered.”
Moving north to return south
The Gatlins had not visited Jacksonville before their Neighborhood Market developments. They liked what they saw, but it wasn’t until they rented a Ponte Vedra home for Thanksgiving last year that they decided to relocate.
It was a long road for Frank Gatlin, who turns 60 in May. He grew up in Metairie, La., near New Orleans and dropped out of school in 10th grade.
Gatlin said he worked a $1.65-an-hour job as a brick mason, forming a masonry business, which led to homebuilding and then hotel and commercial development.
“Those houses turned into real estate and that evolved into where I am today,” he said.
He has been self-employed since he was 17. He never returned to school.
His father, a disabled veteran, sold insurance but quit working in his 50s and died in his 70s. His mother died of breast cancer at 54, when Gatlin was 25.
Gatlin said he was raised in a middle-income family with one sister, but didn’t see an opportunity to attend college.
He married at 18 and had two children, Frankie, now 34, and his older sister, Shay, 38.
He formed Gatlin Development in 1976. “I’ve been a visionary all my life. I had a passion to develop,” he said.
Ties to Northeast Florida began back then.
He said Jacksonville-based Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. anchored the first center he developed in New Orleans in 1984.
Gatlin and his young family left New Orleans in 1989 for California, his development base for 20 years. He then headed back to the Southeast, stopping for a few years in Nashville, where he owned a farm.
That was during the recession. He said he saw much opportunity in Florida and the Southeast.
In 2011, he moved to Fort Lauderdale, where he maintained his headquarters the past four years. Looking for a move north, but still within the Southeast, he said they considered Charleston but chose to spend a holiday week in that rented Ponte Vedra home.
He was familiar with the area because of his Walmart developments.
The Gatlins said Jacksonville offered the oak trees, historical architecture and waterfront scenery like New Orleans, while the temperate weather offered a taste of four seasons.
Being from Louisiana, Frank Gatlin also was familiar with the Panhandle and its beaches. Still, Jacksonville was different.
“I never thought we would travel 300 miles north to return to the south,” he jokes.
Both Gatlins say Jacksonville’s lifestyle and educational opportunities for their children were driving factors in the relocation decision.
Gatlin, who is divorced from Frankie’s mother, married Christina 10 years ago and they have two sons, Dylan, 6, and Elton, 3.
Frankie Gatlin and his wife, Jenna, are raising 2-year-old Franklin Charles Gatlin V and are expecting another child in March. His older sister remains in California.
Frank Gatlin’s move to Jacksonville surfaced publicly when office space for the company was being prepared on the 19th floor of the Southbank Riverplace Tower.
He also made news in June when he and Christina bought the riverfront Swisher estate, built in 1931, along River Road. The $4.2 million purchase was the largest sale of a single-family home in Duval County this year.
Frankie and Jenna Gatlin also bought a home in San Marco, and an entourage of relatives and employees moved as well.
Frank Gatlin’s sister, two nephews and niece; his father-in-law; and Christina’s grandmother moved to Jacksonville. Frankie Gatlin’s mother-in-law relocated from Georgia.
Frank Gatlin said 15 staff members followed him in a third corporate move, while a few remained in South Florida.
In his first week at River Road, four neighbors stopped by to welcome the family.
“We’re very humbled and grateful for the reception we’ve received here from the personal and business community,” Gatlin said.
“It’s been an extremely warm welcome to Jacksonville.”
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