OBX Commercial Real Estate Newsletter: December 2021

by Larry Lombardi, on Dec 8, 2021 8:53:29 AM

jeff parker colliers international

OBX CRE Spotlight

Jeff Parker

CCIM, Senior Vice-President

Colliers_Logo_CMYK_Keyline

 
Q

Quick Facts

  • Born in Alexandria, VA
  • Raised in Norfolk, VA 
  • Attended Hampden-Sydney College
  • Live in Norfolk, VA
  • Married for 26 years to Beth who was raised in Charlottesville, VA
  • Children: 3 daughters: Aven (22), Blake (20), and Carleigh (16)
  • Dogs: Bali, an 8-year-old rescue from Afghanistan and Banks, a 7-month-old fox hound mix from the Virginia Beach SPCA

How long have you been working in commercial real estate?

22 years
 
How did you first get into real estate?
After five years working for my family in the shipping industry in downtown Norfolk, I decided to change careers. I began to search for an industry that would allow me to stay in the area and where I could use my intimate knowledge of the region and local contacts as a resource. After speaking with a handful of friends who were in commercial real estate, I was offered a position with Robinson Sigma which soon thereafter became the regional CBRE office and eventually Colliers.
 

What was your first CRE transaction?

It was a 600-square-foot, 2-story office lease in the Ghent section of Norfolk that I completed during my first month in the business. I think the lease term was 2 years and the gross commission was around $1,500. I was hooked.
 
jeff parker colliers international - prop
 
What was your most memorable CRE transaction?
I am actually working on it now. It is the disposition of Mitsubishi Chemical America's excess property in the Greenbrier submarket of Chesapeake consisting of approximately 120 acres of land including a 189,000 s.f. manufacturing facility and other buildings. It will have taken nearly 4 years to complete.
 
The property sits directly across Volvo Parkway from Dollar Tree’s Corporate campus and Summit Pointe, the new mixed use town center of Chesapeake, which I am leasing. I’m hopeful for a closing at the end of December. #crossing fingers
 
What's your favorite part of working in CRE?
Being responsible for your own destiny where there is no ceiling on possible income.
 
Each day you operate knowing that you are being paid on a commission-only basis. It causes you to live in the moment and to be acutely aware that you must perform. Accordingly, you rarely have to search for motivation and can create your own schedule.
 
If you had to sell only ONE kind of commercial property, what would you choose? And why?
Multi-family. There are new multi-family developments under construction in every city in the region. There are also many older “value-add” apartment communities under renovation. National multi-family investors are attracted to the region for its low cost of living, quality of life, and moderate weather. This has created historically high transaction volume, record breaking prices, and a seemingly endless supply of product.
 
What's the first question people always ask you when you tell them what you do for a living?
Who do you work for?
 
What’s the biggest misconception about CRE?
That it's easy.
 
What global CRE trend or market segment do you think will have the most impact locally?
E-commerce is rapidly changing the way we live and has disrupted the conventional retail shopping experience causing ripple effects not only locally but globally. It has forced retailers to redesign their stores to smaller footprints, and resulted in explosive growth in the industrial sector driving remarkable demand for warehouse space and pushing industrial rents to new highs.
 
jeff parker colliers international - publix
 
How would you describe the commercial real estate market in northeastern NC and the Outer Banks?
Evolving. Residential growth from Chesapeake to the Outer Banks has changed
the demographic profile and is attracting new retailers from Moyock to
the Outer Banks. Publix recently built a store in Nags Head and Target is slated to open a store there in 2022.
 
Can you share one great piece of advice for someone looking to buy/lease commercial property or land?
Seek guidance from a commercial real estate professional. It doesn't cost the buyer or tenant anything to enlist the support of a knowledgeable broker who may save them a great deal of time and money.

Also, always hire an attorney to review your leases and contracts.
 
You get five acres and an unlimited construction budget. What do you build and where?
A private enclosed surf park with a retractable roof in the mountains of Colorado.
 
What was the last book you read?
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*#k.
 
jeff parker colliers international - prince
What's one movie you love to rewatch?
Purple Rain. Prince was a musical genius!
 
What's one thing most people might not know about you?
I moved to England after college for a few years and completed an extensive management training program with a British shipping corporation. I spent time in their multiple offices throughout the UK and Europe. It was life-changing.
 
Do you collect anything?
Surfboards and guitars.
 
What is your favorite thing about the Outer Banks?
  • The feeling I get when I drive over the bridge into Kitty Hawk from the mainland
  • Art's Place cheeseburger and John's milkshake after a surf
  • Any well placed sandbar on a good swell 
jeff parker colliers international - outrigger
What's your favorite way to spend your free time?
Besides spending time with my wife and daughters, when I get free time, I love to surf anywhere from Sandbridge to Hatteras, kiteboard around the islands in Hatteras sound and fish with my good friend anywhere from behind the Clam Shoal off of Avon to Ocracoke Inlet.
 
On Halloween of this year I paddled 14 miles through the Back Bay from the Baja restaurant in Sandbridge to our friend's house in Carova and back the next day. We strapped 2 Hawaiian outrigger canoes together with 2 x 4's and it took about 3.5 hours stopping at duck blinds and Cedar Island along the way. Being the only boat that we saw in Back Bay for 2 days was awe-inspiring.
 
What inspires you?
My wife. She is extremely thoughtful, gracious, and generous, and she is a friend
to all. She helped start a collective impact initiative in early childhood education
called Minus 9 to 5, that is committed to ensuring that regional families in need
receive reliable health care and education from the time a mother finds out she is
pregnant through the child's fifth birthday.
 
Being by her side as she has balanced work, raised 3 daughters, and kept our family in tune has been incredibly humbling and a huge inspiration to me.
 

Contact Info

Jeff Parker
jeff.parker@colliers.com
(757) 478-9920

 
 

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Topics:Commercial Real EstateEconomic DevelopmentCurrituck CountyOuter Banks

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