Business Editor
Cindy Gregory remembers doing everything by hand when she started out as a Realtor nearly four decades ago.
Ms. Gregory recalls hand writing each listing, taking her own pictures of houses and getting them developed before delivering them herself to the Greater Tyler Association of Realtors.
Ms. Gregory, of Gregory Real Estate, has been a member of the Greater Tyler Association of Realtors for 34 years. This week she recalled how times have changed and compared the association’s old facility, located on South Broadway Avenue, to the new state-of-the-art OneREALTORCenter, 2772 SSE Loop 323, which celebrated its grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday.
The new center has state-of-the-art technology throughout, while in the old building, “you could yell at each other from room to room,” Ed Moore, executive vice president of the association, said. Employees now have private offices to hold meetings in, while the old facility had a community-style office that resembled a bullpen, he said.
“And it will give us a platform to be visible in the community … and the opportunity to bring something new and different and better to Tyler,” he said.
The plans for OneREALTORCenter already were laid when Moore moved to Tyler to head the organization two years ago, but he has been heavily involved in the project.
“This was built on the shoulders of all of our past members and board members,” said Jonathan Wolf, president of Greater Tyler Association of Realtors, during the celebration Thursday.
Wolf said they hope to have built the facility so well that his 5-year-old son Luke would be able to go there when he’s selling real estate.
He said when the organization bought the land, it was heavily wooded, so now to see the project done “is cool.” The first word that comes to his mind about seeing the building completed after five years is — proud. “I’m just proud we accomplished it,” Wolf said, adding that the vision of the board members was to have a better facility to educate.
The new center is like having two buildings in one, Moore said. Half of the building serves as the headquarters for the association’s staff, made up of himself and four employees, and day-to-day operations, while the other half offers event and meeting space.
OneREALTORCenter, a “high-tech services and event space,” will be used for the association’s training and meetings, as well as rented out for conventions, receptions, weddings, fundraisers and other events to raise extra income, he said. It offers a full catering, commercial kitchen and a large event room that can hold about 200 people.
The center also has two high-definition projectors and two SMART boards, a new concept that came out in November that allows two people to work on a white board at the same time, he said.
“There’s nothing like it in Tyler,” he said.
The center has been in the works for at least the past five years, Moore said.
“This building will give us the resources we need to ensure the survival and success of real estate professionals in Smith and Wood counties, as well as protecting private property rights,” Moore said.
Ken Killian was the architect for the project. Born in Tyler, he now lives in Dallas but considers the center as his flagship project to moving back home to Tyler, Moore said. The interior designer for the facility was Patricia Canfield.
OneREALTORCenter is a modern cathedral-type building with tall glass walls and windows and ceramic-tile floors that almost look like the sea, Moore said.
Even on a cloudy day, the inside lights don’t need to be used, he added. The outside of the building is designed with Brazilian oak, white special stone and aluminum ipex.
Breedlove Nursery & Landscape landscaped the property, using the natural trees that were already on the property and Texas-style native landscaping, Moore said.
Adding a rentable space to the center gives them the opportunity to raise more income and provide additional resources needed to help the real estate professionals in the area.
With the new center, the association can offer more local training and technology for all the realtors here, Ms. Gregory said.
“As Realtors, we have to keep up and be able to renew our licenses,” she said.
To do that, they must attend training, which now can be done in Tyler instead of traveling to Houston or Austin. Local training will save Realtors money and bring in more revenue, she said.
The association built the new center on Loop 323 so out-of-town Realtors, such as those coming from Wood County, as well as other East Texas cities, could access it better.
“We felt it was our job to help grow and develop Tyler,” and the new location would be a good incentive for growth on that side of town, she said.
“As long as I’ve been in real estate, I’ve always been proud of our organization and how we strive to be professional. … Realtors are real active in this community in doing good for Tyler,” Ms. Gregory said.
Ms. Gregory, 62, was born in Wichita Falls and moved t
o Tyler when she was 5. She became a Realtor when she was 24 and is past president of the board of the Greater Tyler Association of Realtors.
Moore, 62, said he looks forward to the future of the association in the new center.
“I’m proud and pleased to head up such a professional organization,” he said. “It is one of the most professional organizations I’ve had the opportunity to work with in 37 years.”
Moore grew up in Tennessee, where he went to college and entered the real estate field in 1974. From there he moved to Illinois, where he served as assistant commissioner of real estate for the state of Illinois, then executive vice president for a real estate board. He also served as executive vice president for real estate organizations in Florida and Massachusetts before moving to Tyler.