General
Savannah’s Mopper-Stapen, Realtors separates commerical arm, NAI Savannah, and auction services
Jan 25th
by Adan Van Brimmer, Savannahnow.com
Mopper-Stapen Realtors made its name as a residential brokerage, capitalizing on the historic district’s renaissance over the last 31 years.
The firm was founded to serve the commercial sector, however, and has always been a player in the retail, office and industrial markets as well as in housing.
To better market all the services the company offers, Dicky Mopper has broken the firm he and partner Mike Stapen started into three parts: Mopper-Stapen, Realtors on the residential side; NAI Savannah for commercial real estate; and Value Auction Company, which handles both property and estate sales.
“We’ve gotten to the point where we felt like our commercial side wasn’t getting the play it deserves,” Mopper said. “It’s hard to be both a residential and commercial brokerage because if people know you mainly as one thing they question your expertise in the other. So it’s important to differentiate and end the confusion.”
Mopper and Rex Benton head NAI Savannah, with Benton managing the day-to-day operations of the commercial brokerage. Benton is a Savannah native who returned to his hometown four years ago after working 15 years in Atlanta.
Benton helped Mopper affiliate with NAI, an international network of commercial real estate firms with 375-plus offices in 55 countries. Mopper rebranded the firm’s commercial arm as
NAI Savannah in February 2010 with the intention of spinning it off.
The NAI membership gives Mopper, Benton and their five-person team of agents access to NAI’s resources
and contacts.
“Savannah is an international city with the port, and the world has changed with technology,” Benton said. “Before you had pocket listings, where you didn’t need a name that could be recognized beyond your local market behind you. Now everything is global.”
read entire story here: NAI SAVANNAH COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
Savannah to Get World Trade Center
Sep 26th
Savannah to Get World Trade Center
Trevor Williams
Atlanta – 09.14.11
Savannah economic developers are pursuing a World Trade Center designation they’re calling a tool for job creation in coastal Georgia.
The Savannah Economic Development Authority board of directors voted unanimously Sept. 14 to apply to become one of more than 330 licensed centers in 98 countries. Atlanta is the only other World Trade Center city in Georgia, though there are more than 50 across the U.S.
The non-profit World Trade Centers Association, based in New York, aims to foster cross-border business and trade by linking metropolitan areas around the world. The organization’s board is expected to put SEDA’s application to a vote by mid-October, said Steve Weathers, SEDA’s president and CEO.
See entire article below…
Waterfront dining coming to River Street | NAI Savannah new Retail Listing
Nov 10th
- excerpted from an article By Adam Van Brimmer (savannahnow.com Savannah Morning News)
Traci O’Donaghue pauses mid-sentence as the hulking freighter slips by the River Street MarketPlace on its way to the Georgia Ports Authority terminal.
“Look at that,” O’Donaghue says after a moment. “I’m from Savannah and seen ships go up the river for decades. But I’m still in awe every time I see a ship go by. Imagine watching one go by from a table right here.”
The developers plan to develop the riverfront property just east of the open-air marketplace into a retail and restaurant complex. The site’s current occupant, Moran Towing, will move its offices and tugboats across the river to Hutchinson Island when its lease expires next spring.
O’Donaghue’s group, RPD, will begin redeveloping the site the day Moran moves out. Plans call for a 26,000-square-foot complex of two-story buildings that will link the River Street MarketPlace, which RPD developed and opened in 2003, with Morrell Park.
O’Donaghue and her leasing agents, NAI Savannah’s Rex Benton and Dicky Mopper, see the complex as the gateway to opening up the east end of River Street. The Moran complex sits across from the most easterly storefront building on River Street — the building houses the Olde Harbour Inn as well as small retail shops — and marks the unofficial commercial end of the street.The only business located east of the site is the Savannah Marriott Riverfront, although the old Georgia Power Building is for sale and is likely to be re-developed for retail or hospitality use. And the riverfront commercial district will eventually extend further east with the Savannah River Landing development.
Rex Benton is Savannah Commercial Real Estate agent with NAI Savannah, the commercial division of Mopper-Stapen, Realtors and is a contributing columnist for “BiS-Business In Savannah” weekly business publication. www.naisavannah.com 912.358-5600 Office Retail Industrial Investment Real Estate
Power of Existing Relationships
Oct 28th
There is power in existing relationships. The power results from the interaction and trust that builds as two parties work together to accomplish a common goal such as selling or leasing property. During the various phases of the interaction, the parties can view performance, attitude, work ethic, general ethics, critical thinking skills, organizational skills, commercial skills, drive, achievement of results, oral and written skills and a host of other components of performance. Successful results coupled with common attributes of performance lead to repeat business.
The statistics bear this out. Government research shows that long term incumbent suppliers are successful 80% of the time in retaining the business. Organizations with strong existing working relationships are successful 40% of the time. Organizations without a meaningful existing working relationship are successful only 10 to 20% of the time.
There are two critical lessons from these statistics and thought process:
- Build meaningful relationships to secure long term business
- Cautiously bid for new business where existing relationships have not yet been formulated
NAI Global has a strong track record on long term performance with our clients who have worked with us over multiple decades. Our results mirror the analytical results shown above. Wouldn’t you rather work with someone who is interested in your long term success rather than short term gratification?
-Ted Parcel
Ted Parcel is Executive Vice President of Corporate Services for NAI Global.
