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Rummell Transformed St. Joe Co.
Peter Rummell steps down as CEO this month. In his 11 years at St. Joe., he created a real estate powerhouse.
Q&A: Incoming St. Joe CEO Britt Greene
 Britt Green |
Britt Greene will become president and CEO of St. Joe Co. when shareholders meet May 13. Greene joined St. Joe in 1998, served as chief strategy officer beginning in 2006 and as president and COO as of October.
Florida Trend: Do you plan any major changes in business strategy in the coming year?
Britt Greene: Our major shift this year is that we are going after strategic business partners. We’re talking to best-of-breed — from home builders to retail, office and industrial developers.
FT: Has the real estate downturn affected St. Joe’s 2008 development plans?
BG: We plan a small amount of capital expenditures in major products to finish initial phase development so we can go to market. That will take us through this year until hopefully in 2009 we will see some normalcy return.
FT: Will land sales be a bigger focus?
BG: Yes, in the short term. We announced in October that we had identified 100,000 acres of rural land sales; in the fourth quarter, we closed on some 18,000 acres for $28.2 million.
FT: What are plans regarding land donations?
BG: We’ll continue to look at opportunities to induce the region through education or health. At West Bay sector, where the new airport is being built, we will identify parcels to assist in development of schools, fire stations, etc. We know that’s part of growing a region.
FT: To what extent have sales at established St. Joe west Florida communities — for example, WaterColor, WaterSound, Camp Creek Golf Club — been affected by the uncertain housing market?
BG: We had a much better resale volume in 2007 than in 2006, but new-home sales are slow and erratic and not at the level they were in 2004 and 2005. We don’t expect when normalcy returns that we’ll get back to ’04 and ’05 levels. I think northwest Florida is near the bottom of the price reduction; we’re starting to see a trend of some stabilization in niche areas, in price and resale inventory.
FT: Are you seeing any change in buyer profiles?
BG: The demographics are the same, but before the run-up in ’04 and ’05, those (buyers) were end-users, then they became speculators, and now they’re back to end-users.
FT: What are you expecting in a sales trend this year?
BG: I think we’ll see something near to ’07. The good news is the bad news is not getting any worse.
— Charlotte Crane
