About
Our People
William R. Nicholson
Principal
William R. Nicholson has 30 years of diversified experience in real estate. Before joining Heritage Capital Group, he was a managing director for Chatsworth Securities. While at Chatsworth, Mr. Nicholson worked on entity and project financings for homebuilder and apartment clients of the firm. He also was involved in acquisition, divestiture, and advisory assignments with public real estate companies and opportunity funds.
After the acquisition of Barnett Banks by Bank of America, Mr. Nicholson joined Banc of America Securities as managing director, responsible for the real estate advisory group – the firm’s national investment banking practice serving private real estate companies and investors. He managed offices located in San Francisco, Charlotte, Dallas and Chicago from his Jacksonville location. Selective transactions, initiated in Florida by Mr. Nicholson, include an equity raise/sale of assets for Stiles Corporation, advisory work on behalf of the St. Joe Corporation, and an M & A assignment related to the sale of Heritage Homes of Orlando to a publicly traded national homebuilder.
In January 1992, Mr. Nicholson joined Barnett Banks of Florida, Inc. from PNC Bank. He served as director of commercial real estate from the beginning of 1992 until Barnett was acquired in late summer of 1997. He was chairman of the bank’s Community Development Corporation; vice chairman and director of Main American Capital, a mortgage banking joint venture involving commercial real estate loan securitization and a member of the bank’s seven member executive loan committee, which reviewed and approved all bank credits from $25 million to $200 million. While at Barnett, Mr. Nicholson formed Barnett Realty Partners, a mortgage banking and real estate investment bank, which represented Salomon Brothers and other institutional capital providers as exclusive Florida correspondents. Additionally, he managed the bank’s real estate syndication activities, and worked with Barnett’s larger real estate clients to provide innovative capital raising solutions. Representative Barnett Realty Partner transactions include a $300 million revolving credit facility for Olen Residential, originated jointly with Salomon Brothers, debt placement for Rooms To Go, and a $100 million multi-facility financing for Arvida/JMB Partners.
Mr. Nicholson spent ten years with PNC in Pittsburgh , managed the bank’s national construction lending group, and supported the international division on select overseas real estate transactions. In addition to directing the U.S. sales force and loan administration, he led the bank’s efforts in originating the closing of the largest multi-property real estate debt transaction in New Zealand in 1984; underwriting, syndicating and financing the Charles Hotel, retail and condominium complex in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and representing the bank in a $728 million financing for Olympia and York for the World Financial Center.
Mr. Nicholson is a member of the board of directors of Levitt Corporation (NYSE-LEV). He serves on the audit committee and the investment committee, in addition to his general board responsibilities.
Mr. Nicholson graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut and earned a master’s degree in finance and real estate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Mr. Nicholson holds Series 7, 24, and 63 securities licenses as well as a Florida real estate license. He is the director and first vice president of the Council for Sustainable Florida, past chairman of the American Bankers Association Real Estate and Finance Committee, and head of the ABA ’s environmental task force. He is a Vietnam veteran and former captain in the U.S. Marine Corp.
Contact Bill Nicholson at Heritage Capital Group, Inc.
Phone: 904-354-9600
E-mail: wnicholson@heritagecapitalgroup.com