Jacksonville State of the Market

Laura Phillips Edgecombe is the Principal, Downtown Public Spaces for the Jessie Bal duPont Fund, a Jacksonville-based private foundation that seeks to create communities of belonging for the people, institutions and communities that its founder Jessie Ball duPont knew and loved. She is an Executive on Loan to the City of Jacksonville, responsible for facilitating the activation of Downtown public spaces for the benefit of all Jaxsons. With a degree from The University of Florida, Laura's career in community development, advocacy and large-scale event production spans almost two decades. As a creative and versatile leader, her success is directly attributable to her ability to conceptualize the “big picture.” She brings a wide range of professional and community experiences, and takes pride in delivering the intended results to the satisfaction of all stakeholders. Named a Business Journal Jacksonville Woman of Influence in 2024, her demonstrated professional history includes: Cultivating relationships with senior leadership of Jacksonville’s business, civic and philanthropic communities; Collaborating with clients and other stakeholders to create successful programs, events and projects; Effectively communicating with all levels of client management and their customers, guests and beneficiaries; Civic and philanthropic engagement; and Successfully managing projects of all sizes and budgets, including development, planning, marketing, production and execution, post-event analysis and post-planning. The Jacksonville business community is a very important focus for Laura, and she serves as a JAX Chamber Downtown Council Board Member and as the organization’s current President and former Speaker Programming & Engagement Liaison. She is in Leadership Jacksonville Class of 2024, a JAX Chamber Hightower Emerging Leaders Fellow Class V (2021), a member of the Jacksonville Women’s Network, an Urban Land Institute UrbanPlan Facilitator and a University of North Florida Taylor Institute of Leadership Mentor. Laura is an actively engaged member of Northeast Florida Builders Association, Urban Land Institute (Advisory Board) and Gator Bowl Sports (Green Jacket). A third generation Jaxson, the community overall is an equally important priority. Laura currently donates her time and expertise to local organizations such as Friends of James Weldon Johnson Park, Painting of the PawPrints, United Way of Northeast Florida, The Florida Theatre (Board of Directors), The American Cancer Society, UF Health, READ USA, Inc., Pink Ribbon Jax, The Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, Ritz Chambers Players, Downtown Vision, Inc., Riverfront Parks Now, Jacksonville Venture Competition, Epping Forest Yacht Club (Board of Governors) and her son's school parent association. She chooses these organizations specifically as their successes are pivotal to equitable quality of life opportunities for all populations. Her equally community-active husband and sixteen-year-old son are her biggest cheerleaders and foundation of support.

Mr. Bicho is the President and Founder of The Landings Real Estate Group. The Landings Real Estate Group is an owner and operator of commercial real estate executing development, construction, and property management functions in the residential multi-family, single-family, office, and retail sector. Landings Real Estate Group is headquartered in Newport, RI with over 100 employees and operates more than 1,900 multi-family residential units Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Florida with an asset value more than $350 million and owns and operates commercial retail and office properties located in Newport, Rhode Island. In addition to the multi-family portfolio, Landings Real Estate Group has developed a boutique luxury lodging portfolio with an estimated value of $50m in Newport Rhode Island comprised of 27 properties and 168 rooms and is developing a one-hundred-acre site in Portsmouth, Rhode Island with 91 single – family homes and a 48 unit Assisted care facility. LREG also executes approximately $10M of construction and is a registered General Contractor in the State of Florida and Rhode Island. Currently, LREG is developing 270 units in Jacksonville, Florida, 104 Units in Tampa, Florida and has two developments in the approval stage in St Petersburgh, Florida. Over the past 17 years, Landings Real Estate Group has delivered above market returns to of more than 20% to its investors. At its founding back in 2007, our capital base started with institutional investors and has migrated towards high-net-worth individuals as the company has purchased the interests from original institutional investors and has supplemented the capital stack with high-net-worth investors in some assets. The future of LREG is setup to leverage the democratization of real estate investing. In 2016, we launched the investor platform IMS that allows the accredited investor to take advantage of no fee and transparent real estate investments in the multi-family sector without the middleman advisors taking a portion of the investors returns. Prior to founding the Landings Real Estate Group in January 2006, Mr. Bicho was a real estate development and financial professional and served as Chief Financial Officer for Picerne Military Housing a/k/a Corvias from 1992 to 2005. In 1993, he initiated a new multi-family housing business in the Northeast region for Picerne targeting the development of affordable housing utilizing Low Income Housing Tax Credits and 1997, he founded a new division to acquire, develop, construct, and manage family housing for the US Army under the Military Housing Privatization Initiative. As one of the founders of the military housing division, he developed and executed a business plan that achieved the initial goal to acquire 20,000 homes two years ahead of schedule and created an organization that expanded from four employees to 500 employees located across the country. Mr. Bicho lives Portsmouth, RI with his family and holds an M.B.A. in Corporate Finance from Boston College (1992) and B.S. in Business Administration from University of Rhode Island (1989).

Aaron joined FPL in April 2021 as a senior economic development project manager. In this role, he works with growing businesses looking to expand or relocate across the Sunshine State. Assisting all industries—while focusing on advanced manufacturing—Aaron assists companies in identifying available sites and buildings, educating on incentive rates and benefits, providing electric and infrastructure assessments and overall project support. Prior to joining FPL, he was senior advisor at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). During his time at DOE, he was instrumental in connecting the private sector with available resources at the department. He led several efforts that resulted in new avenues for collaboration, including the department’s first sustained presence at the Consumer Electronics Show. He was also influential in establishing a new memorandum of understanding between the DOE and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Aaron holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Palm Beach Atlantic University and a Master’s in Business Administration from Lynn University. He is a native Floridian and resides in Palm Beach County with his wife and daughter.

Bryan Moll is the CEO of Gateway Jax in Jacksonville, a local real estate investment and development company. Bryan has nearly 20 years of real estate development experience across multiple asset classes, specializing in large-scale, mixed-use projects. He has entitled, designed, capitalized and/or constructed over $6 billion in stabilized value in multiple jurisdictions, including in the Tampa, FL and Washington, DC metro areas. Prior to Gateway Jax, Bryan was an Executive Vice President for JBG Smith where he led a team overseeing numerous mixed-use development projects in the Washington, DC area. He was primarily focused on National Landing in Arlington County, VA, adjacent to Amazon’s HQ2. When fully built out, JBG Smith’s portfolio in National Landing will include over 5,000 multifamily units, 200,000 square feet of retail and more than 500,000 square feet of trophy, class-A office space. In addition to National Landing, Bryan also oversaw the master planning, entitlement, and design of the Gallaudet project in Washington, DC’s Union Market submarket. This approximately $700 million project will deliver over 1,500 multifamily units and 100,000 square feet of retail across three city blocks in a unique partnership with Gallaudet University, the nation’s largest deaf and hard-of-hearing university. Prior to JBG Smith, Bryan was the Executive Vice President for SPP in Tampa, FL. SPP is the owner and developer of Water Street Tampa, a $3.5 billion development in downtown Tampa. Bryan assembled and managed a team responsible for the entitlement, design, capitalization, and construction of its first phase, including 1,325 units in four buildings, 360,000 square feet of trophy office space, 175,000 square feet of retail, restaurant, and amenity space, and 800, 4- and 5-star hotel keys in two separately flagged buildings. Bryan received his bachelor's degree in Planning and Environmental Design at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and he remains an avid Buffs fan. He and his husband, Matt, have been married for over 6 years. Together they reside with their dog Bailey, whom they rescued 10 years ago. Bryan and Matt actively support Feeding America programs, along with Habitat for Humanity and other local community programs focused on improving people’s lives via the built environment.

Mr. Klotz is nationally recognized as a highly successful real estate entrepreneur. While only in high school, Mr. Klotz started an investment real estate business purchasing single family homes. He then ventured into the contracted construction-related services, with the company experiencing exponential growth, becoming the third largest such company in Jacksonville, Florida. He employed more than 125 employees servicing the multifamily industry, becoming one of the “fastest growing businesses of 2000”, managing repair and renovation contracts for the apartment industry. Thriving real estate brokerage, financing, property management and investment businesses were simultaneously launched with an equally successful track record. Organizational growth has led to the formation of The Klotz Group of Companies, LLC, a parent company resulting from the formation of other numerous entities to now include AmveStar Capital, LLC and its series of AmveStar Affordable Housing Funds and Investment Ventures, American Management Group of North Florida, LLC, Just Multifamily, LLC and Tierra Linda Development, LLC. Markets include: multifamily, residential, retail, office/warehouse, as well as ground up development & construction. Commercial asset and investment company ventures led to recognition as an Industry Award Winning Business leader. Cumulative successes have resulted in significant property management and commercial investment holdings with a portfolio to include executive, corporate & operational staff of more than 400 to meet the needs of more than 20,000 tenant units. Mr. Klotz’s ability to formulate a paradigm that generates exponential success has earned the attention, respect and confidence of some of the world’s most prominent investors and businessmen.

Born and raised in Neptune Beach, Jaime Kennedy is a lifelong surfer turned insurance leader. With 15+ years of experience, she specializes in strategic risk management, helping clients reduce liability costs through prevention and risk avoidance in P&C and Employee Benefits. Since joining NFP in 2012, Jaime has been dedicated to providing consultative guidance and coordinating expert teams to support client success.