A commercial real estate firm started two years ago by a Wilmington family has expanded into bigger offices with nearly three times the space of the company’s previous location.

Eastern Carolinas Commercial Real Estate recently moved from Oleander Drive to 432 Landmark Drive, Unit 4, going from 1,000 square feet to 2,800.

The new location allows the company to be near areas of rapid growth and continue expanding, ECCRE officials said Wednesday.

“I’ve been here since 2003. When I moved here, Mayfaire was the area … that was the biggest area of growth,” said Garry Silivanch, broker in charge of ECCRE.

Silivanch said New Hanover County has two main areas of growth: Castle Hayne, which he said is taking off now and expected to continue expanding in the next four to five years, and southwestern New Hanover, where housing, commercial space and a movie theater – Barclay Point 14 by Stone Theatres – are underway.

Another partner in the ECCRE and its vice president of retail sales and leasing, Garry Silivanch’s son Nicholas said, “We’re in the heart of the new development in New Hanover County/the city of Wilmington.”  

Also in recent months, ECCRE has expanded its geographic footprint to include Fayetteville, Jacksonville, Elizabeth City and New Bern, where the firm has listed more than $40 million in properties. Their Landmark Drive office will also allow the company to focus on downtown Wilmington and Brunswick County, Garry Silivanch said.

After five years with Coldwell Banker Commercial SunCoast, the Silivanches, including Bernadette Silivanch, ECCRE’s vice president of administration (who is also a broker and Nicholas Silivanch’s mother), started their own firm in August 2014. Their staff includes broker David Branton, who started July 1; office manager Julie Stephenson, who has been with the company from the start; and administrative assistant Sara Pearce.

Along with the office expansion and geographic growth, ECCRE plans to add three new brokers and two brokers' assistants to the staff, Nicholas Silivanch said.

The Landmark Drive office space includes nine offices, a conference room and a spot where the Silivanches plan to set up a workspace for out-of-town clients who travel to Wilmington.

ECCRE leased the office from owner Joel Tomaselli, and is the listing company for the office property. The space was formerly a State Farm Insurance office that recently moved to 507 Shipyard Blvd. With the ECCRE lease and other tenants ECCRE helped place, the Landmark Drive building is completely occupied.

While ECCRE still handles leasing, the firm is also focusing on other commercial real estate opportunities.  

“We’re evolving as a company,” said Nicholas Silivanch. “Now we’re pivoting to development and investment sales.”