John Jewell had two weeks to market, sell, and close a commercial building in downtown Chattanooga. If he couldn’t find a buyer, the wrecking ball was going to arrive as scheduled. Fortunately, the sellers picked the right Realtor for the job.
Today, the building is the home of Terminal House – and some of the best lunches in Chattanooga.
Jewell’s marketing expertise not only helped him save a doomed building, but also has enabled him to sell and lease a variety of commercial space throughout Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia. From helping multibillion-dollar national companies like Schott Glass Solutions to assisting small entrepreneurial concerns like Sing It or Wing It, Jewell has run the gamut of commercial deals.
“I like the proficiency of commercial real estate,” he says. “It’s numbers oriented and analytical, which appeals to the way I think, versus wallpaper and paint. I would rather discuss how the demographics of an area would be a good fit for a business than aesthetics,” he says.
As Jewell speaks, his baritone voice fills the North Shore retail space he’s hoping to lease. The place is under construction, so there’s no carpet or cushy furniture to absorb the sound, just cement and dry wall. He’s in his element.
Jewell enjoys putting his clients in theirs. “I like saying, ‘You’d have highway access for tractor-trailers, or you’d have pedestrian traffic, and your rent would be this much, and your modifications would cost this much,’” he says.
Outside, a blue and white sign on the window reads, “For Lease, Boehm & Jewell, Real Estate Company,” with Jewell’s full name and phone number in large font at the bottom. In the ten years Jewell has been in the real estate business, he’s worked for Crye-Leike Commercial and, most recently, Keller Williams Commercial. But now he and his business partner, Kevin Boehm, have started their own concern.
“We decided it was time to define our own destiny. We both have significant name recognition, so we don’t feel the need for the corporate branding for which a lot of regional and national companies charge,” he says. He speaks slowly, pausing every few words, as if to ensure he chooses the right ones.
Jewell has been preparing for this moment since opening a sporting goods store with his father as a pre-teen. His dad was a “regional man” with McDonalds, but the two of them had a passion for the outdoors and an entrepreneurial itch to scratch, so they started a business together. Jewell, who grew up on a 400-acre farm in South Carolina, taught archery lessons, water-skied competitively, and learned to enjoy the taste of working for himself.
His career, however, initially went in a different direction. After graduating from Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., with a business and economics degree, Jewell went to work for Merrill Lynch as a financial advisor and started climbing the company ladder. Several promotions and physical moves later, he was in Chattanooga, directly overseeing 76 employees in three states.
When the time came to move again, Jewell said no. “I had fallen in love with the city, and I liked the proximity to my family versus being in California,” he says.
Jewell’s father had become a commercial broker, and talked with his son about real estate. Jewell, who had already considered and rejected the idea of becoming a commercial airline pilot, liked what he heard. “I thought real estate would afford me everything I want, which is some degree of personal freedom and the potential for wealth,” he says.
Jewell was right. Most of his clients work business hours, allowing him to golf, fish on the Tennessee River from his backyard, and spend time with his 7-year-old daughter, Caroline. Generally having evenings and weekends free has also allowed him to coach his daughter’s Little League baseball team and serve on the board of the Cherokee Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. “Once an Eagle, always an Eagle,” he says.
Jewell has also managed to stay solvent in an industry that has had its ups and downs over the last decade. “My first few years in the business were a big purchase and sale period. In 2007, I shifted my business to leases because of the fewer number of purchase and sale transactions. Leases come due and people move regardless of the condition of the economy. Now we have more of a balance between leases and sales, so I’ve been able to do well regardless of the condition of the market,” he says.
Jewell might seem hard to peg. His suit fits him like he was born wearing it, and his demeanor is strictly business-like, but the love of the outdoors has never left him. He’s not complicated, though. Instead of immersing himself in one world or the other, he exists comfortably in both, donning the suit, firm handshake, and keen business intellect during the day, and casting off from the edge of his backyard in the evening. One feeds the other, giving Jewell balance in a business in which maintaining equilibrium can be challenging.
For his clients, this means Jewell comes to work recharged, focused, and the right Realtor for the job.