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Newsmakers of the Year

Real estate was in the news a lot during 2005. But, according to the Jacksonville Homebuyer editorial staff, several stories—and the people behind the stories—stood out. Below are our 2005 Newsmakers of the Year.

By Staff

BILL WILSON
Executive Director, Builders Care
& CHIS SIMMONS
Director of Family Services, Builders Care

Wilson and Simons have taken Builders Care's big heart to the small screen through The Builders Care Show, which airs every Saturday night from 7-8 p.m. on WJXT-TV, Channel 4. Builders Care is a not-for-profit arm of the Northeast Florida Builders Association. Its mission is to renovate homes for the elderly, poor and disabled members of our community. Each TV show is shot in a one-week period, during which a local builder and their its partners join Builders Care in a renovation project. So far, ICI Homes, Engle Homes and Woodside Homes/North Florida Builders, have appeared. Nice idea, but is anybody watching? Apparently so. Nielsen ratings show that The Builders Care Show has drawn more viewers than Seinfeld, Will and Grace, The Weekend Jaguar Report and ABC World News Tonight.

ED BURR
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The LandMar Group

Will Jacksonville's ballyhooed "Billion-Dollar Mile," which winds along the Northbank between Alltel Stadium and Metropolitan Park, ever reach its potential? If it does, much of the credit will go to Burr and LandMar. The company took over the stalled Shipyards redevelopment from TriLegacy Group last year, and observers say if anyone can give this massive project a jump-start, it's the savvy Burr and his all-star team. Plans for the 45-acre riverfront site, which may ultimately encompass the most expensive private real estate development ever undertaken in Northeast Florida, include homes, offices, shops and possibly a hotel. Burr, who founded LandMar in 1987, is also the new chairman of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, and a leader in local charitable activities through the Monique Burr Foundation for Children, named for his late wife.

BRYAN LENDRY
Chief Executive Officer, Custom Homes by Bryan Lendry/Brylen Homes

Lendry helped lead the Northeast Florida Builders Association's Builders Care organization through its biggest—and most high-profile—charitable endeavor ever: building a home in the Hastings area of St. Johns County for an episode of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Lendry, who was president of NEFBA in 2005, enlisted his own company and coordinated the multitude of other builders, subcontractors and suppliers who also had a hand in this made-for-TV miracle. The 4,280-square-foot home, which was built for a deserving family, came together in an incredible 96 hours. "I don't think any other organization could have pulled this off," says Lendry. "Our people just have so much pride in what they do. Nobody dropped the ball. Nobody wanted to let the rest of the volunteers down."

DANIEL DAVIS
Associate Executive Director, Northeast Florida Builders Association, Jacksonville City Council/District 12

Davis helped defeat the proposal for the U.S. Navy to return to Cecil Field—and he bucked some pretty powerful proponents in doing so, including Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. The former air base closed in 1999, and is now an aerospace industrial park. Area residents had opposed reverting the site to military use, and were glad to have Davis, himself a Westside native, on their side. First elected to the City Council in 2003, Davis has impressed his constituents with his straightforward manner. City Hall insiders see a bright political future for this clean-cut graduate of Maranatha Baptist College, who's also a vice president of the Westside Civic Association.

MICHAEL BUGG
Founder and President, Lifestyles Realtors

Bugg has become one of the premier marketers of condominiums in the region—no small achievement in a region where condo construction has caught fire during the past several years. In fact, just four years after it was founded, Bugg's company is now ranked among the region's top 10 residential real estate firms in dollar volume by the Jacksonville Business Journal. Of course, Bugg knows his way around the condo market-he was co-founder of The Condo Store, based in Atlanta, which provided sales and marketing services for more than 70 multifamily developments and generated more than $3 billion in sales. Today Lifestyles Realtors, which also markets single-family homes, has expanded to Tampa, Orlando, Atlanta and Minneapolis. And, in addition to his business acumen, Bugg is also a major patron of the arts on the First Coast.