A Greenville-based commercial real estate firm, The Overton Group, is setting up shop in Wilmington through a partnership with local developers.

Wilmington-based development firm Clarendon Properties and The Overton Group recently announced the partnership and that they will be opening a new commercial real estate office in the Wilmington market.

Troy Demers, a partner in The Overton Group, is in the process of moving to the Port City and will be the broker in charge of the new office. Demers will assist Clarendon Properties and will be working closely with John Sandlin and Gale Wallace of Clarendon to establish and grow the firm’s business.

For now, Demers will be based out of the Clarendon office at 107 Stokley Drive near Wrightsville Beach. Wallace said eventually, Overton and Clarendon plan to relocate to office space the organizations will share.

“We identified maybe two or three years ago that we really want to be in Wilmington,” said MIchael Overton, founder of The Overton Group.

He said COVID postponed their efforts last year, but eventually they were introduced to Sandlin and Wallace, finding out that the two wanted to partner with a brokerage firm.

Additionally, Overton said, “Troy was looking for an opportunity to take more of a leadership role. So this gave him an opportunity to start from the ground up in a new market.”

The Overton Group has been active in Wilmington and surrounding areas not just in brokerage but also as members of Realtors Commercial Alliance of Southeastern North Carolina (RCASENC), according to a news release. 

Overton said in a release, “With the respective strengths of both of our organizations, I am optimistic that we will make a strong impact in the Wilmington area. Having offices in both Greenville and Wilmington and serving the areas surrounding those great cities, we are now truly a regional firm who can serve our clients in any part of the life of a property over a large geographic area.” 

Demers said working for The Overton Group “has proven to be a life-changing experience for me, and my hope is to replicate this experience with everyone who joins our team.”

Since its founding, Clarendon Properties has been active in hotel and dental/medical retail development, according to the release. Clarendon is currently entering into apartment and self-storage development.

Of The Overton Group, Sandlin said in the release, “Our association will strongly enhance Clarendon’s brokerage efforts as well as bring property management to our services. Our development experience will also be improved by our association. They bring knowledge and systems which will only improve our ability to serve our clients.”