FEATURE ARTICLE, MAY 2004
A Growing Group
The Shopping Center Group grows by concentrating on all
the services retailers and owners need.
Randall Shearin
What began in a one-office, two-desk executive suite has developed
into a dominant retail real estate services company operating
in nine states in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. Today, The
Shopping Center Group (TSCG) employs more than 140 people
in 15 offices; it is a company where brokers rarely leave
and whose potential for growth is practically unlimited.
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David Birnbrey, chairman of
The Shopping Center Group.
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Southeast Real Estate Business recently met with David
Birnbrey, chairman, and Sam Latone, president, at The Shopping
Center Groups headquarters in Atlanta to find out more
about one of the Southeasts largest retail services
firms.
The Shopping Center Group was founded in 1983 by Frank Buonanotte
and Jeff Langfelder. Both men were directing the real estate
expansion programs for retailers prior to forming the company.
At the beginning, Buonanotte worked full time for TSCG, while
Langfelder continued in his other part time job
of running the real estate program for a new home improvement
company, The Home Depot. Langfelder would leave The Home Depot
about a year later and join TSCG on a full-time basis. Langfelder
has since left TSCG and Buonanotte is retired, but remains
a principal in the firm and serves on the companys board
of directors.
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Sam Latone, president of
The Shopping Center Group.
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During its first year of operation, TSCGs most notable
accounts were its property listings of the six Atlanta-area
Drug Emporium centers known as Exchanges, and
an exclusive tenant representation assignment with Pace Membership
Warehouse, one of the early pioneers in the membership warehouse
industry. Other listings and other retailers would quickly
follow.
As retailers and developers interests grew beyond Atlanta,
TSCG began opening satellite operations to better serve the
needs of its clients. Over time, these operations would include
Virginia (with offices in Norfolk and Richmond); Tennessee
(offices in Nashville and Memphis); the Carolinas (offices
in Charlotte, Raleigh and Charleston); Alabama (offices in
Birmingham and Huntsville); and Florida (offices in Miami,
Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville). In each
case, a separate, independent company was created with an
established and credible broker (or brokers) who was firmly
entrenched in that area, and who, most importantly, had a
real and complete understanding of that particular retail
market. These offices would, by design, be incubated out of
the Atlanta office, avoiding the troublesome and potentially
lethal expenses typical in an independent start-up business.
In 2002, what had become seven separate companies were merged
together to create a single operating company, which would
be the platform to take TSCG into the future. Operations were
consolidated to eliminate redundant activities. This allowed
all the companys offices to enjoy the resulting economies
of scale. Additionally, marketing and branding were consolidated
so that existing and new clients would enjoy a consistent
quality of service from office to office.
The result is that the company has realized significant
growth in revenue and profits typically seen only in new industries
and companies, says Latone.
Its most important to pay careful and close attention
to local nuance and local character, says Birnbrey,
who joined TSCG a few months after it formed in 1983. We
quickly realized the differences between the way business
was conducted in different areas of the Southeast. A great
broker in Virginia may have a completely different approach
and mindset than a great broker in Tennessee.
The clients needs always come first, even to the
detriment of the company, which results in long lasting and
strong relationships, adds Latone.
As such, in an effort to consistently provide the best information
to its clients, The Shopping Center Group has insisted on
perpetuating a philosophy of caring and sharing among its
people.
We like our clients and consider them to be our very
good friends, Birnbrey says. Its not uncommon
for a meeting to be interrupted in our conference room by
people walking in and giving our out of town clients a big
ol bear hug. At the end of the day, the service to the
retailer, landlord or developer is all that matters.
Although TSCG has historically been known as a retail tenant
representation firm, its work on behalf of landlords is extensive.
In fact, today, TSCG is exclusively representing more than
30 million square feet of listed retail space. Under the direction
of Noel Turner, the companys management division is
currently managing more than 6 million square feet of space.
The investment sales group, which operates under the direction
of longtime Atlanta fixture Neil Pringle, is on target to
have more than $300 million in investment sales and financing
this calendar year. According to Birnbrey, investment sales
and management are the two fastest growing areas of the firm.
The way TSCG does business has paid off well for the company
as indicated by the companys $1 billion in transaction
volume in 2003. The focus of the company has been and always
will be as a retail service provider; it has no interest in
becoming a developer or landlord.
We will not compete with the developers and landlords
who rely on our services and who pay our fees, says
Birnbrey.
A perfect deal for the company would be to identify
a potential development opportunity; bring the opportunity
to a developer client; lease it for the developer; bring the
companys tenant clients to it; manage, finance and sell
the center, says Latone.
To make sure its people are committed to the companys
standards and to the perpetuation of its growth, TSCG has
created a very unique partnership program.
Partnership is not awarded based on productivity or
tenure, but rather on an assessment of the value an individual
brings to the reputation of the company and the continuing
commitment to its mission, says Latone.
As a result, several of the more than 30 partners in the company
are not producers, but rather, administrative assistants,
office managers or researchers. As they say, partnership has
its privileges. In addition to sharing in the distribution
of profits of the company and to being involved in major decisions
affecting the company, the family of a partner of TSCG is
protected in the event of death, disability and retirement
by the companys stock redemption program.
The Shopping Center Groups very nature is to make sure
it is a longstanding company. Already on its second generation
of leadership, succession planning is paramount in every decision
made.
David and I look at ourselves as the custodians of this
organization for a period of time, says Latone. Were
managing it today, but our goal is to make sure that weve
got an organization with leadership that we can turn the company
over to so that the company will ultimately survive us.
Training is a hallmark of TSCG, and as such, a leadership
program has been developed along with very detailed training
manuals. In addition, the company has a University
program scheduled once a year where every agent in the entire
company meets in Atlanta for additional training and networking.
There is more growth on the horizon for The Shopping Center
Group.
In addition to the areas within our region that need
to be better serviced with a local presence, we do predict
logical and sensible growth of our company outside of our
present area of operation, says Birnbrey.
With careful adherence to the strictest standards of ethics
and service, a program that rewards people for their contribution
to the reputation of the company, an attitude that makes hard
work good fun, and by providing its clients with better market
knowledge, better relationships, better service and better
results, The Shopping Center Group seems ideally positioned
for sustained growth for many years to come.
©2004 France Publications, Inc. Duplication
or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization
from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints
of this article contact Barbara
Sherer at (630) 554-6054.
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