Connecting with Carrie Smith - Jacksonville Business Journal
1 of 3
http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/print-edition/2012/01/13/connec...
This was printed from Jacksonville Business Journal
Connecting with Carrie Smith
New regional managing partner at Franklin Street, 30, shares
her secrets to success
Premium content from Jacksonville Business Journal by Ashley Gurbal
Kritzer, Reporter
Date: Friday, January 13, 2012, 6:00am EST
Related:
Commercial Real Estate
Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Reporter - Jacksonville Business Journal
Email | Twitter | Facebook
It’s been almost a month since Carrie Smith took over as the regional managing
partner of the Jacksonville office of Franklin Street , but she still hasn’t had time to
move into her new office.
Her already hectic schedule got even busier when she took the helm at the
commercial real estate firm Dec. 12. Business development and recruiting new
brokers were added to her duties, and she’s still doing the retail tenant and landlord
representation work she loves.
“I can’t tell you how exciting it is to watch a mom-and-pop shop open their dream
business,” she said. “You see all the people involved with the deal, how many people
will get to work. I don’t know if I’d be this excited if things were rolling and times
were good, but we’re doing what everybody says they’re doing — we’re stimulating
the economy.”
Getting started
At 30, Smith didn’t intend to be running a regional office — or even be in commercial
real estate. She studied international business at Florida State University and
planned to go to law school.
1/13/2012 10:44 AM
Connecting with Carrie Smith - Jacksonville Business Journal
http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/print-edition/2012/01/13/connec...
At FSU, Smith worked part time as an apartment property manager. After graduation
in 2004, her boss asked her to stay on and help him sell one of the apartment
buildings.
“That was the catalyst, my introduction to the industry,” she said.
It was a position selling apartment buildings and other multifamily properties that
brought Smith to Jacksonville, to the office of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate
Investment Services .
After a few years there, Smith ventured into retail leasing with Murphy Land and
Retail Services Inc.
Jumping at opportunity
Smith wasn’t planning to make a move when David Hsieh, the former regional
managing partner of Franklin Street and a colleague from Marcus & Millichap, asked
her to join Franklin Street.
It wasn’t a snap decision. Smith met with Franklin Street brokers in Atlanta and
Tampa, as well as CEO Andrew Wright, who founded Franklin Street in 2006 at the
age of 26, before making her decision.
“When an opportunity comes, you have to be prepared and ready to go,” she said.
“You never know where you’ll end up.”
Smith joined Franklin Street in September 2010. A little more than a year later, Hsieh
had to return to his home state of California for family reasons, and Wright asked
Smith if she would step up.
“At first, I was reluctant to take it on,” she said. “I consider myself a deal maker, and
I love what I do.”
Wright assured Smith she’d still be able to handle retail leasing, and she accepted the
top role. Franklin Street intends to add two to five people to the Jacksonville office
this year alone, with plans to eventually have 10 to 12 brokers on staff.
Smith is responsible for filling those positions.
“I’m also an integral part of business development,” she said. “I have to make sure
there’s enough in the pipeline, so that everyone here can make not just a decent
living, but a great living.”
Never stop networking
Retail leasing, like all of commercial real estate, is relationship-based.
“Networking is the biggest part of my job,” Smith said. “Whether it’s picking up the
phone and talking to someone I haven’t talked to in a year and catching up, or coffee
2 of 3
1/13/2012 10:44 AM
Connecting with Carrie Smith - Jacksonville Business Journal
http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/print-edition/2012/01/13/connec...
or drinks with other brokers. If you’re not networking in this business, you might as
well be gone.”
Smith is a member of the Jacksonville chapter of the International Council of
Shopping Centers and for a few years was a member of ICSC’s young professionals
group, Next Generation.
“The people I was involved with there, I still do business with,” she said. “Networking
is really more than just making new contacts — it’s keeping up with old ones. It gets
easier, the longer you’re in the business, because you know everyone, but it never
goes away.
“It’s ongoing —it never stops. When I come in Monday morning, I might have one
meeting on my schedule and by the end of the week, I’ll have had 15. I’ve never not
returned a phone call, and if someone wants to set up a meeting, I’m doing it. It’s
pivotal to know everyone, and you never know where it’s going to lead.”
Ashley covers real estate, sports business, hospitality and health care
3 of 3
1/13/2012 10:44 AM