Zen-like developer covets stimulating projects

In a business that sometimes requires cutthroat tactics, James Brearley, with a non-conflict personality, has risen to the top.

By Mark Gordon
| 6:00 a.m. February 7, 2020
| 0 Free Articles Remaining!

Mark Wemple. Sarasota-based developer James Brearley has undertaken a variety of projects in Florida over the past decade, including converting a gas station into a restaurant on Longboat Key.

Commercial Real Estate

Atlanta commercial real estate investor Jay Weaver needed some help leasing a 300,000-square-foot industrial park project, Peachtree Square, in 2004. Through his then-girlfriend, now wife, Weaver met James Brearley — a recent Georgia Tech grad who was an odd combination of laid back, chilled, Zen-like philosopher and ambitious, focused, goal-oriented nascent developer.

Weaver sized up Brearley, armed with his bachelor’s in civil engineering-construction. He offered him a deal: Weaver would pay Brearley either $3,000 up front or 1% of the profits in leasing the 16-unit complex, with buildings ranging in size from 13,000 to 26,500 square feet.