By Carole Hawkins, [email protected]
Rick Ray looked comfortable as he stepped across the stage to accept the developer of the year award.
He’s had a lot of practice. It’s the 10th consecutive year The PARC Group, developer of the master-planned community of Nocatee, has won the honor.
“It hasn’t become routine and we don’t take it for granted,” Ray, the company’s president and CEO, said a few days later.
The winners list for the 2016 Laurel Awards ceremony was filled with names seen many times before, as some of the industry’s most iconic players returned to the stage.
Sponsored by the Sales and Marketing Council of the Northeast Florida Builders Association, the event honors regional homebuilding’s top marketing professionals.
The cruise ship-themed event sailed through a tour of Caribbean ports. To Cuba, where salsa dancers sizzled across the floor, and Jamaica, where Rastafarians shared jokes and a smoke. To Puerto Rico, ancestral home to pirates, and to Mexico, home to the most interesting man in the world.
The theme may have been new, but winners were familiar. It didn’t abate their excitement.
ICI Homes North Florida reprised last year’s win of the top award — the Grand Laurel — for all-around excellence in marketing.
“We’re feeling very good about it,” sales manager Lisa Sarraf said. “Don was saying he doesn’t know if that’s ever happened before. And Don has been here for a long time.”
Led by 40-year building veteran Don Wilford, ICI Homes North Florida is building in five communities in the Jacksonville metro area, including its solo effort, Tamaya, a 1,000-home master-planned community near the Intracoastal Waterway.
CornerStone Homes won the Golden Service award, given for excellence in customer service. It’s the sixth time the Jacksonville-based builder has received the honor.
Sales and Marketing Director Candy Harvison said it’s still a very big deal and they are proud of it.
“A lot of people say they deliver customer service and it’s important to them, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t always come across,” she said.
CornerStone Homes is a semi-custom homebuilder that shepherds buyers through as many as 14 design meetings, ensuring whatever level of customization they desire in their home.
The company tracks strong on customer ratings, with 70 percent of buyers responding to a satisfaction survey and 100 percent of those saying they would recommend the company.
Ron Harris of Harris Realty Partners took the Humanitarian Award. Formerly called the Dick Baker Memorial Award, the honor recognizes a person who’s provided longtime support for the homebuilding industry.
Harris is a real estate agent, general contractor and former homebuilding sales manager who served as SMC’s chairman in 2014. This year he heads Florida’s SMC.
He stands out for his longstanding contributions to SMC, said Carrie Budds, vice chair of SMC in Northeast Florida.
“After the downturn, Ron helped us kick off a membership drive that brought SMC back to life,” Budds said. The group added 100 new members under Harris’ leadership, up from a post-recession low of 200.
No company, though, has become more a fixture in Northeast Florida homebuilder than The PARC Group. The firm is best known as the developer of Nocatee, a community that will have 12,000 homes at build-out.
Nocatee in 2015 ranked third nationally for sales among master-planned communities. It’s the community’s second year at the number three spot and its fourth year placing in the top 10. It’s an extraordinary achievement, considering other top 10 peers are near large metros like Los Angeles, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas and Phoenix.
“Nocatee’s clearly a very vibrant community for Northeast Florida and we really enjoy watching the vision come to life,” Ray said.
It was a vision that was conceived in the 1990s, continued when the community broke ground in 2005 and then was challenged by the recession that followed.
Success came by staying true to the vision and continuing to invest in promised amenities during real estate’s dark years, Ray said.
“It allowed us to take advantage of the recovery very quickly,” he said.
Communities all say they sell a lifestyle. Nocatee delivers, with a near-beach location, Class A amenities and events programming that brings residents outside their four walls and into the neighborhood.
Grand Laurel: ICI Homes North Florida
Golden Service award: Cornerstone Homes
Humanitarian award: Ron Harris
Member of the year: Donna Bavier and Jaime Bavier
Robin Challberg rookie sales person of the year: Jennifer Ghioto, David Weekley Homes
Developer of the year: The PARC Group
Homeowners Insurance Top Producer: Brightway Insurance, Donna & Jaime Bavier
Lender of the year: Jason Kindler, Bank of England Mortgage
Marketing director of the year: Kelly Ray, The PARC Group
Realtor of the year (individual): Cole Slate, Exit Real Estate Gallery
Realtor of the year (team): Welch Team, Keller Williams Jacksonville Realty
Realtor of the year (partnership): Matt and Naomi Wilkinson, Re/Max Unlimited
Sales manager of the year: Lisa Sarraf, ICI Homes
Site agent of the year: Kelly Hofelt, Toll Brothers
General real estate agent representing a builder: Ross Fanti, LMH Realty
General real estate agent representing a buyer (individual): Cherya Cavanaugh, Re/Max Unlimited
General real estate agent representing a buyer (partnership): Matt and Naomi Wilkinson, Re/Max Unlimited
Mortgage broker/loan officer/outside lender, new home loans: Jason Kindler, Bank of England Mortgage
On-site agent representing a builder (multi-family): Anastasia Haney, Pulte Homes
On-site agent representing a builder (single family): Ian Kanady, Del Webb
Internet sales consultant representing a builder: Melissa Matthews, Providence Homes
Best architectural design $300,001-$400,000 (detached): ICI Homes, The Vienna at Tamaya
Best architectural design $400,001-$450,000 (detached): Pulte Homes, The Eastfield
Best architectural design $451,001-$500,000 (attached): Mattamy Homes, The Abbott
Best architectural design $500,001-$550,000 (detached): Vintage Estate Homes, The Toni
Best architectural design $550,001-$600,000 (detached): Dostie Homes, The Hemingway Coastal
Best architectural design $550,001-$600,000 (attached): Toll Brothers, The Delmonico Coastal at Julington Lakes
Best architectural design $650,001-$700,000 (detached): ICI Homes, The Marabella at Tamaya
Best architectural design $850,001-$900,000 (detached): ICI Homes, The Biltmore II
Best ad campaign (developer/community): GreenPointe Communities LLC, Discover
Best ad campaign (builder): D.R. Horton, Home for the Holidays
Best ad campaign (associate): Clockwork Marketing Services, elacora at The Plantation at Ponte Vedra
Best billboard: Markland
Best brochure (developer/community): GreenPointe Communities LLC, TrailMark
Best brochure (associate): The Montello Agency, Dream Finders Homes
Best direct mail piece (builder): D.R. Horton, Express Homes
Best Facebook page (developer/community): Nocatee
Best Facebook page (associate): Bank of England Mortgage
Best Facebook page (national builder): D.R. Horton
Best Facebook page (local builder): Dostie Homes
Best logo (developer/community): H. Smith Inc., River Story
Best logo (lender): Bank of England Mortgage
Best logo (associate): Housing Design Matters Inc.
Best marketing video (developer/community): Palencia
Best marketing video (builder): Dostie Homes
Best marketing video (associate): Beson4
Best Pinterest page: Nocatee
Best print ad under 1/2 page (associate): Clockwork Marketing Services, The Palazzo on St. Johns
Best print ad over 1/2 page (developer/community): Palencia, The Last of Their Kind
Best print ad over 1/2 page (associate): The Montello Agency, Exit Real Estate Gallery
Best promotion (developer/community): The Palencia Street Festival
Best promotion (builder): Dream Finders Homes, Realtor Christmas Bash
Best publication: Bailey Publishing, Realty~Builder Connection
Best radio commercial: Bank of England Mortgage
Best sales office over 800 square feet: Toll Brothers, Julington Lakes Sales Center
Best sales office under 800 square feet: Emerald Homes, Isle of Palencia
Best Amenity Center/Clubhouse: Sisler Johnston Interior Design, The Palms at Ponte Vedra
Best signage: GreenPointe Communities LLC, TrailMark
Best website (developer/community): Nocatee
Best website (lender): Bank of England Mortgage
Best website (associate): The Montello Agency, New Leaf Construction
Best website (national builder): D.R. Horton
Best website (local builder): Dostie Homes
Best interior merchandising $100,000-$150,000: Chandler Designs, The Capri
Best interior merchandising $250,001-$300,000: Merchandising Plus, Inc, The Destin Model
Best interior merchandising $300,001-$350,000: Chandler Designs, The Medallion
Best interior merchandising $350,001-$400,000: Chandler Designs, The Katalina Bonus
Best interior merchandising $400,001-$450,000: Chandler Designs, The Magdalen Bonus
Best interior merchandising $450,001-$500,000: Merchandising Plus, Inc, The Egret II
Best interior merchandising $500,001-$550,000: Sisler Johnston Interior Design, The Lucca
Best interior merchandising $600,001-$550,000: Micamy Design Studio, The Somerset
Best interior merchandising $700,001-$750,000: Chandler Designs, The Egret
Best interior merchandising $800,001-$850,000: Barbara Ondo Designs, The Muirfield
Best interior merchandising $850,001-$900,000: Micamy Design Studio, The Anniston
Best interior merchandising $900,001-$950,000: Micamy Design Studio, The Bellingham II
Best interior merchandising $1 million-$1.2 million: Sisler Johnston Interior Design- The Biltmore II
Best interior merchandising $1.2 million-$1.3 million: Micamy Design Studio, The Sterling
Best interior merchandising $1.3 million-$1.4 million: Micamy Design Studio, The Shenandoah
$24 million-$26 million: David Wakefield, PrimeLending
$40 million-$42 million: Jason Kindler, Bank of England Mortgage
$4 million-$6 million: Cole Slate, Exit Real Estate, and Matt Wilkinson, Re/Max Unlimited
$8 million-$10 million: Cherya Cavanaugh, Remax Unlimited, and Matt and Naomi Wilkinson, Re/Max Unlimted
$10 million-$12 million: Ross Fanti, LMH Realty
$24 million-$26 million: Melissa Matthews, Providence Homes
$500,000-$600,000: Shannon Smith, Pulte Group
$2 million-$4 million: Shelly Willford, Pulte Homes
$4 million-$6 million: Anastasia Haney, Pulte Homes
$400,000-$600,000: Laura Dunham, Pulte Group
$2 million-$4 million: Gayle Fremont, ICI Homes; Shelly Willford, Pulte Homes and Georgia Bosso, ICI Homes
$5 million-$6 million: Tom Koulermos, ICI Homes; Shannon Smith, Del Webb; Linda Moore, Toll Brothers; and Juliana Toohey, ICI Homes
$6 million-$8 million: Adrian Shepherd, David Weekley Homes; Sydney Blount, D.R. Horton; Emily; Thompson, ICI Homes; Mark Bohlmann, D.R. Horton; Cathy Cate, D.R. Horton; Marilyn Bennett, D.R. Horton; and Shawn Fussell, Del Webb
$8 million-$10 million: Bobbie Osborne, D.R. Horton; Bridget Tanchak, D.R. Horton; Kathleen Butcher, D.R. Horton; Andrea Meide Johnson, ICI Homes; Amanda Lee, D.R. Horton; Nancy Beaudry, D.R. Horton; Jeff Nickerson, Pulte Homes; Katrina Watkins; Bill Rowe, D.R. Horton; Morgan King, Toll Brothers; Suzanne Massey, D.R. Horton; Marcus Israel, D.R. Horton; and Jaimie Smith, Del Webb
$10 million-$12 million: Chris Breccia, D.R. Horton; Jason Coston, D.R. Horton; Robert Rogers, D.R. Horton; Sam Schneider, Dostie Homes; Kelly Wilson, Del Webb; and Brenda Rabbitt, D.R. Horton
$14 million-$16 million: Eddie Crosby, D.R. Horton; Charlie Rogers, D.R. Horton; Keith Hildebrand, D.R. Horton; Daryl Gilbert, D.R. Horton; Andrew Colavito, Toll Brothers; Dan Callahan,
D.R. Horton; Cindy Voyles, ICI Homes; and Kim Nickerson, Del Webb
$16 million-$18 million: Sarah O’Rourke, Mattamy Homes; Kelly Hofelt, Toll Brothers; and Bill Watson, Del Webb
$18 million-$20 million: Ian Kanady, Del Webb