Commercial brokerage swings to the inside

Two well-known commercial realty brokers in the Sarasota-Manatee market, Diane Lawson and Anthony Homer, have left their firm, Lakewood Ranch-based LWR Commercial Realty.

The moves are part of an overall strategy shift at LWR Commercial, a subsidiary of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch. “We internally made a decision only to focus on the Lakewood Ranch portfolio,” LWR Commercial President Brian Kennelly tells Coffee Talk. “We feel there is a lot of momentum” in Lakewood Ranch.

SMR is the developer behind Lakewood Ranch, one of the largest master-planned communities in Florida, with a presence in Sarasota County and east Manatee County. Founded in 1996, LWR Commercial Realty has traditionally focused on a variety of SMR-held properties, from office space and industrial buildings to retail stores and land.

But Homer and Lawson brought a host of non-SMR listings to the firm when they joined it in 2009. The idea was for the agents to work both SMR properties and their own listings, which spread to other parts of Manatee County and downtown Sarasota. Homer worked at Hembree & Associates prior to LWR, while Lawson was an agent with Abbey Realty & Management.

Homer is now with Ian Black Real Estate in Sarasota, while Lawson took a position with Sperry Van Ness, also in Sarasota.