Bill Clark
Title: Senior vice president, The Geenty Group Realtors
Age: 80
Experience: 31 years
As one of the New Haven area’s most prolific commercial real estate brokers, Bill Clark is living proof that getting the jump on the competition gets results. Clark’s reputation for early-morning meetings with clients has paid off during three-plus decades at Branford-based The Geenty Group. Clark was recognized by the New Haven Middlesex Realtors Commercial Investment Division at its annual awards banquet in December for most transactions brokered in 2017. It was the 13th time Clark has walked away with the distinction since the awards ceremony was created in 1998.
Q: What brought you to The Geenty Group in 1986?
A: Actually, I knew (founder) Kevin Geenty previously. I belonged to the rod and gun club he belonged to. I was in corporate America and then I bought my own company, Milford Blueprint Co. When I bought the business, I built it up so it was doing pretty well. And I realized I’m working seven days a week and I’ve got people working for me making money, but I’m not making anything. So I took a real estate course and got my license and I sold the business. I’d been in sales for a long time already and Kevin said, “You’ve got to come and talk with me.” So I went and joined Kevin at Dow Realty in New Haven. He was a partner and then six months later, he opened up (Geenty Group) in Branford in 1986.
Q: What appealed to you about commercial real estate brokerage?
A: In residential, you’re dealing with emotions. When you’re dealing with commercial, it’s a business thing. I had experience working with businesspeople so I said, “That’s for me.”
Q: What property types attracted the most demand in your market area in 2017?
A: I found it to be a very funny market. It was up and down the whole year. When I hit the summer months, I did 25 deals in a three-month period. It was hot. And then it just cooled off. Industrial and flex space was the hottest. A lot of people want to buy an industrial building, not lease, and those buildings are premium and hard to find. Good ones, anyway.
Q: What are some of your notable current listings?
A: I have a listing for a strip center at 71 West Main St. in North Branford. It’s a nice center, and the listing is for 857 square feet for office or retail. The problem is you can’t a restaurant in there or anything that requires a lot of parking. But it’s a nice center that was almost full at one point. Retail has been slow and I don’t know why, other than I think a lot of it has to do with online shopping. It affects everybody.
I have a listing at 100 North Branford Road for a 3-story building with two apartments. The first floor was a dentist. It’s set up perfectly for another dentist. And this is kind of a hard sell, because you’ve got to find someone who uses that for his own business and take the rent from the other two. It’s a nice location on a half-acre. But it’s not an investment property, because you don’t have a tenant on the first floor.
Q: What are the traits of a successful broker?
A: First of all, you’ve got to be there. I’m an early riser. I found out that developers, most of them, start real early in the morning. So I started calling on people at 6:30 in the morning, believe it or not. They were having their cup of coffee and I’d have a cup of coffee and that’s how I started getting involved with them. In the mid-1980s, there would be 10 guys waiting to see them in the middle of the day. Meanwhile, I’d already met with them at 6:30 in the morning.
I’ve been working with some of the same developers for 30 years. That’s the key. D’Amato Brothers Builders of Milford, almost 32 years now. And I’ve probably done 25 deals with them. A lot of brokers don’t want to bother with the little things, because there’s no money in it. But I started out with one guy with an 800-square-foot unit and later I sold him a 20,000-square-foot building and a few years after that I did a 50,000-square-foot lease with him. That’s the same story with a lot of people that I’ve dealt with. You’ve got to find a niche in this business, because there’s a lot of good brokers.
Clark’s Five Favorite Golf Courses in Connecticut:
- Tashua Knolls Golf Club in Trumbull
- Richter Park Golf Course in Danbury
- Stanley Golf Course in New Britain
- Racebrook Country Club in Orange
- Elmridge Golf Course in Pawcatuck
