When Lannin Braddock, COO of The Braddock Group, a real estate company she co-founded with her husband, Michael, in 2019, heard about the development happening in the Soda Pop District of downtown Wilmington, she knew she wanted to be involved.
Michael, originally from Wilmington, had previously shown Braddock this part of the city. Braddock kept her eye on the prize for years. “We always said this area could really be something one day with the right people involved,” Braddock said.
When Parastream Development, a venture partnership founded by Andy Hewitt and Sandy Thorpe, decided to redevelop the area once home to Wilmington Soda Pop Co., Electric Soda Pop Co. and the Coca-Cola Bottling Facility, Braddock reached out to them to introduce herself.
“I was persistent in staying in touch with Andy and beyond honored to present my ideas to showcase a space for a future restaurant. He wanted a different approach – social media and unique marketing,” she said.
Braddock invited restaurant groups, brokers and the media to a showcase that included food and drinks and worked with Hewitt to create a restaurant concept rendering to be displayed on the exterior of 920 Princess St.
The Braddock Group is also involved in the leasing of future office spaces planned in the redevelopment of 717 Market St. Owned by husband-and-wife team Chris and Natalie Capone, the 13,000-square-foot building is set to welcome its first members in May.
“It’s unlike anything that Wilmington has now,” Braddock said. “Locally owned and locally grown. That’s the beauty of it.
“This gem of a building is intentionally planned to be a community collaborative environment with hyper-small 150- to 250-square-foot offices geared toward startups that don’t need a large space and solopreneurs who are trying to build a team,” explained Braddock.
The amenities include an on-site gym, plunge pool, sauna, locker room, podcast studio, conference rooms, rooftop terrace and onsite parking.
“It’s right around the corner from the Soda Pop District. I say I have a corner of Wilmington where I planted my flag,” said Braddock.
Braddock’s interest in real estate stems from her childhood. Her father had a career in commercial real estate. “My first interest was on the legal side. That morphed into brokerage in 2007 when I moved to Wilmington,” she said. “I still ask my dad a lot of questions and run scenarios by him. He is my encyclopedia.”
The Braddocks had been involved in real estate for years before starting The Braddock Group. Michael Braddock was involved in on-site residential sales across the Southeast for nearly two decades. The couple first worked together in Brunswick Forest in Leland. Lannin Braddock was hired for property management and sales and leasing for the commercial side of the development, and Michael was hired for on-site new development sales.
“I got a crash course working alongside the regional property manager, over time becoming the property manager at Brunswick Forest,” said Lannin Braddock. “I learned how to look at market comps, costs to build and costs to lease. Working alongside the property manager, who had a wealth of knowledge and years of expertise, was the best education.”
In 2017, Braddock took a break when the couple’s daughter was born, but she never got out of the real estate game, staying involved in Cape Fear CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women), a networking organization, and remaining in touch with the tenant and business community. During COVID, she became an advisor on leasing, including the legal aspects. Seeing the organic growth, Michael, who Braddock describes as “an entrepreneur through and through,” suggested his wife open her own real estate business.
“Spending that time making connections was the right recipe and ingredients to open my own business,” Braddock said.
She got her broker in charge license in 2019, opened the business in 2020 and convinced Michael to join in 2021.
In March, the Realtors Commercial Alliance of Southeastern North Carolina bestowed Braddock with its 2024 Real Estate Rockstar Award.
“She’s been a dynamic force in the industry, and her journey thus far is nothing short of remarkable,” according to the award announcement.
The commercial side of The Braddock Group handles traditional buying and leasing, representing tenants, buyers, sellers and landlords, and every side of traditional commercial transactions. The residential team handles traditional buying and selling of homes, connecting with builders and developers for land acquisition, scattered lot programming and sales and marketing.
“We act as developer consultants offering expertise and knowledge of the market. Most of our developer clients have been out of state, and we have local market knowledge and connections. We are a rolodex to developers,” Braddock said.
That ability to make connections is key, Braddock said. “I have spent years developing relationships, helping people find the synchronicity to work as a team and deliver the outcomes that clients expect. That is also the most fun,” she said. “I love a good project.”
