William R. Nicholson

Principal

Bill Nicholson has 35 years of diversified experience in real estate. Before joining Heritage Capital Group, he was a managing director for Chatsworth Securities where he worked on entity and project financings for homebuilder and apartment clients. He was also involved in acquisition, divestiture, and advisory assignments with public real estate companies and opportunity funds.

Bill’s career has included senior management positions with:

• PNC in Pittsburgh, where he 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 as well as other large domestic and international transactions.
• Barnett Banks of Florida, where he served as director of commercial real estate, the chairman of the bank’s Community Development Corporation and the vice chairman and director of Main American Capital, a mortgage banking joint venture involving commercial real estate loan securitization. He was also 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, Bill 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. Transactions Bill managed 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.
• Banc of America Securities, as managing director, responsible for the Real Estate Advisory Group–Bank of America’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. Transactions, Bill initiated in Florida 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.

Bill is a member of the board of directors of BFC Financial (NASDAQ - BFCF). He serves on the audit and the compensation committees, in addition to his general board responsibilities.

Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, Bill went on to earn a master’s degree in finance and real estate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Bill holds Series 7, 24, and 63 securities licenses as well as a Florida real estate brokers license. He is the past 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.

C. Donald Wiggins | Howard C. Serkin | S. Mark Hand | William R. Nicholson
Douglas M. Kravet | Melissa Ann Lockhart | William D. Sorenson