Making it Work
In 1986, at the beginning of a major recession and collapse of the commercial real estate market, Debra Viol founded a commercial real estate company without a book of business. Twenty years later, while speaking to a real estate group, she was asked, “Weren’t you afraid you would fail?”
Surprising herself as well as her audience, Debra quickly replied, “Well, until just now, I had never thought about it!”
“I was taught to believe in myself and my abilities,” Debra explains. “I knew that if things started going awry, I would figure out a better or different way to get it done. Then, as now, the highly capable group of commercial real estate professionals that make up The Stanton Group, Inc., keep plugging away and investigating new ideas and ways of delivering services to clients. Our biggest compliment is that our clients trust us enough to allow us to deliver those services.”
The entire SGI team, led by Sharon Greaves, has adopted the business philosophy which today remains the same as it did on the first day: assist clients in their quest to achieve their real estate-related objectives in a personalized, hands-on, and cost-effective manner.
Sharon Greaves, CEO
Debra Viol, Founder/President
Serving Clients Through Innovation, Technology, and Education
Nashville, with a population hovering around 985,000 between 1980 and 1990, was vastly different from the hotbed of real estate activity that characterizes the Music City today. With a steady influx of new companies and people, the population has now soared to an estimated 1.75 million in 2016. The early years also witnessed enormous changes in technology and the use of information.
Debra realized that most of the commercial real estate firms in Nashville were encumbered by corporate overhead and rigidity. She took advantage of the opportunity to carve out a specialized niche in the market as the firm that can embrace the latest technology without losing hands-on, personalized service. That commitment to solutions, tailored to suit a myriad of client requirements, has become the hallmark of SGI and the 12 professionals who make up the SGI team.
LBMC Headquarters, Hill Center, Brentwood, TN
A Commitment to Service
Today, The Stanton Group remains a locally female-owned, full-service commercial real estate and property management firm. The diverse services it provides include property/asset management, real estate accounting, acquisitions and dispositions, leasing, facility management, maintenance, consulting and construction/development coordination.
Every SGI professional approaches each assignment from the client’s point of view. The firm’s success is attributed to not only the hard work of the SGI sales and support professionals, but also on the philosophy that value is first created and then enhanced by the implementation of a strategic plan.
Every client has a different set of objectives for their real estate needs – whether locating office space, managing an investment, or positioning properties for long-term generational wealth, SGI executes each assignment accordingly.
SGI has placed its distinctive signature on several of the area’s most well-known landmarks. The firm renovated the Cumberland Bend Office Center, a 100,000 square foot Metro Center building which was purchased by a local investment group in 1992. SGI has managed the building and maintained a near perfect record of 100% occupancy for the past 24 years.
Cumberland Bend Metro Center, Nashville, TN
For more than two decades, SGI has worked for and with LBMC on their real estate needs. Most recently assisting them in securing the anchor tenant lease for the Hill Center Brentwood, currently under construction. As LBMC’s latest and largest corporate headquarters, the 80,000-square foot lease kicked off the new era in real estate development in Brentwood.
“Debra’s ability to stay connected to and work collaboratively with her clients to help them anticipate growing needs has earned her a position of respect as their real estate partner, from both a space and development standpoint,” noted Leisa Gill of LMBC.
“As commercial real estate becomes more corporate, there are fewer firms on a local level that offer the complete services we feature,” stated Sharon Greaves, CEO of The Stanton Group. “Our commitment to personalized and meticulous services is what has led to our success and longevity as a woman-owned business in a traditionally male dominated field. I am proud to say that our portfolio continues to grow because of the loyalty of our clients.”