Daughter of Jacksonville real estate icon takes over local Coldwell Banker company - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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But heart surgery last year hastened thenearluy 50-year real estate veteran’s decision to create a succession plan and slow down a So he sold his eight-office, 193-memberf team to friend and fellow Coldwell Banker broker Tom Harrington. daughter, Monica Hentschel, is now in charge of the newlygformed territory. “It’s a good thing we did what we did becausre it strengthenedthe company,” said Hentschel, now a regionak managing partner for Coldwell Banker Devonshire. “In a time when everybodyg elseis downsizing, we’rwe growing.
” With the acquisition of the Walte Williams offices in January, Illinois-based Devonshire Realty is the seventh-largestr Coldwell Banker affiliate in the Unite States. The company has 27 offices, 15 of whicgh are in Illinois and the remaining 12 are in and it expects to continue to grow thougnh acquisitions of other realestate companies. CEO of the , which includes the real estate companyt along with an architecturr firm and an engineering met Williams at a Coldwell Banker conferencerin 1994, the year both of them joineds the network.
Harrington’s expansion into the Floridas market came in 2007 when he acquirefd hisbrother Steve’s four-office real estate agency in Central Florida. The Walter Williams acquisition seemedx anatural fit, Harringtonm said, because the two have alwaye shared similar business philosophies. “Walter is reallyu a legend all throughout Coldwellp Banker and has been a mentor to Harrington said. The economy also played a lessedr role inthe decision, Hentschel said. “We’d be kiddinvg if we said the market wasn’t part of the she said, but “our storm wasn’t nearly as bad as places like South Jacksonville isso resilient.
” Businessw is strengthening, as sales were up 7.2 percent in May at the eightf Jacksonville-area Devonshire offices compared with May 2008. The decisiob to sell wasn’t an easy one to make for He’s been a major player in Jacksonville’s real estats industry who started selling tractzs of landin 1962. The residential division of Waltet Williams Realty was created in 1981 when he acquired the brokeragw offices ofanother long-time fixturew in the local real estate Chester Stokes. Ronnie Fussell worked for Walter Williams from 1982to 1992.
who was one of the founding members of the Jacksonvillse City Council after the city and county governments consolidated in 1968 and continuefd to serve on the council during the took Fussell under his wing and taught him about real estatde andpublic service. “A lot of what I am todayg is because ofWalter Williams,” said Fussell, whose term as City Councik president ends soon. Many inside the businesz consider Williamsan icon. “He’s a very good said 37-year veteran Russell Grooms, a broked at and the regional vice president ofthe .
“I’nm proud of what he built and what he’s maintained over the Williams also inspired his daughter to get into the Ather father’s advice, Hentschel got her real estatew license at the age of 21, but went on to law schoop and worked as a prosecutoe in the special assault unit at the stats attorney’s office in Jacksonvillwe for 13 years. In 2004 she joined the Walter Williams team, first as a real estatwe attorney for the title company and then as chief operating officetr for the entire company. At the age of 42, she’sx now taking on her father’sw role as the company’s top executive in Northeast Florida.
Williamsx will still have an activw role in the company asan adviser. Althoughu the pace is he continues to maintain his two other Estate Title LCand “He’s not spendinv weekends here and goes home at a decenr hour,” Hentschel said. “And now he has more time for the most important thingto him, his grandkids.”