"Slices of 30A"

With mixed emotions, and after 11 years in Seagrove, this week Larry Davis, owner and broker of Davis Properties of NW Florida announced that he sold his Seagrove Beach office building (not the business) to another local firm.   In 2011 Davis had been in search of an ideal location to purchase and set up shop for his real estate company. When the vacant lot in Seagrove came available for purchase, he went and sat on the property in his Smart Car watching traffic and pedestrians go by. Davis recounts that within 10 minutes he counted over 70 bicyclists, runners, and walkers going past and he knew right then he found the ideal location.

His vision for the property was driven by an ardent desire to make the building and grounds something special and unique. A place that would draw the community in and be a welcoming place for visitors and residents alike. When asked, Davis unabashedly confesses that he got some of his inspiration for the exterior grounds from neighboring Clay Garden and Gifts. The building was designed to include a spacious covered porch with a table and chairs. There are several raised bed gardens on the grounds, an exterior water fountain with a dog water bowl below, a bike rack, and a bicycle pump. The most notable feature of the property however is the “Watermelon” themed bench with oak trees on either side providing a shady welcoming spot to sit. Over the years the Watermelon bench has become an iconic spot along the 30A bike path. One family that stopped by the bench for photos recently shared that their trip to the beach wasn’t complete without a stop for their annual photo on the bench with the kids. What Davis’ envisioned in creating a “sense of place” for Seagrove and 30A as he sat on the vacant lot in his car back in 2010 seems to have come to fruition.

A couple of years ago, Davis began to think about selling the building but wasn’t sure the timing was right and then COVID hit. “One positive lesson that we’ve learned firsthand is we know for certain that we really can successfully serve our clients’ needs and do our work from anywhere.” Davis recounts. “We meet our clients wherever they are be it at their vacation rental house, on the beach, or at a coffee shop. A physical office has rapidly become less and less integral to that process. Through the years the real estate industry has changed so much. When I first started, we had pads of contracts to fill out, there were paper roll-fax machines, then hard paper faxes, and now electronic signatures are the norm. Communication has evolved from sack phones to flip phones, and today we literally carry a computer in the palm of our hands! Back in the day, property listings were published catalog-style on newspaper print bi-weekly and now property information is a few keystrokes away.”

At the beginning of 2022, Davis decided that the time was right to sell the property and keep moving forward in new ways with his real estate business. “With my many agents over the last twenty-nine years, we have been able to help a lot of amazing people along the way. It is one of my greatest joys to help people. My team and I will continue to provide the same level of service in Seagrove, Seaside, along 30-A, and throughout Walton and surrounding counties. A physical building can’t define us – it’s our clients who are and will always be at the very heart of what we do.”  

Davis Properties started out in 1993 in a 10’ x 9’ kiosk on the Seaside Amphitheatre and is one of the few remaining, independently owned real estate firms in the area. Reach out to Larry Davis and any of his team by phone at 850-231-2025, on their website Davisprop.com and connect with them on Instagram and Facebook.