Loading
After a 14-year NBA career with eight teams — and an NBA championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 — Dahntay Jones has a new passion: sustainable smart homes.
His way there is with Sarasota-based Pearl Homes, which recently named Jones managing partner and vice president.
Pearl Homes President and founder Marshall Gobuty has known Jones for 15 years. They met when Gobuty’s daughter and Jones trained at IMG Academy in Bradenton. They stayed in contact with each other since then, chatting about Gobuty’s ideas for sustainable housing, and a position organically came together. “I just believe in his concept and what he’s trying to provide for people in different communities around the world,” Jones tells Coffee Talk.
The idea of quality, efficient homes that are also affordable piqued his interest. “When Marshall told me what he was thinking, I said, ‘this would be awesome for everybody, not just for people who can afford a second home or guesthouse,’” Jones says.
Pearl Homes will be front and center at Gobuty’s Hunters Point development in Cortez, a Manatee County fishing village. The company is also planning another community with 720 single- and multifamily homes for lease. And it’s fielding interest from builders and potential partners in the U.S. and around the world. “We’ve gotten calls from people on an international basis,” Jones says. “They want to be able to create these types of communities. We’re trying to manage all of these partnerships and provide it for as many people as we can.”
Based in Los Angeles, Jones will help support Pearl’s development in Florida and its expansion nationally. He says he will use his resources and connections to create partnerships for the company, and keep it on the cutting edge. “We’re going to push ourselves to make it more efficient every day,” Jones says. “Technology allows us to add things to the home and make it more efficient. As products evolve, we have to evolve with them.”
Your free article limit has been reached this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited digital access to our award-winning business news.
Join thousands of executives who rely on us for insights spanning Tampa Bay to Naples.
