Brokers recently launched a new commercial real estate team based in Wilmington.

Adam Nicholas and John Sandlin have started Clarendon Commercial, which is affiliated with KW Commercial, as well as Clarendon Properties, a firm that is primarily focused on hotel development in North Carolina and South Carolina and medical and dental offices throughout the state.

The Clarendon Commercial team, which includes seven full-time brokers and two support staff members, evolved from the goal of Clarendon Properties to form a brokerage division, Sandlin said.

"We're just starting out; however, we're starting off pretty strong, and we're planning to grow pretty quickly over the next year," Nicholas said.

The team chose to stay affiliated with KW Commercial, the commercial arm of Keller Williams Realty Inc., for several reasons, Nicholas said.

"They've got a lot of training and all kinds of great resources. On top of that their branding is well-recognized around the country," he said. "It's nice to be part of that network."

Nicholas said the new brokerage team is equipped to take on just about any brokerage task and specializes in land and development, office, retail, multi-family, industrial and hospitality.

The group already has plenty of experience, said Nicholas and Sandlin, who has more than 30 years in real estate development and site selection and is also president of Clarendon Properties.

In 2017, members of the Clarendon Commercial team completed transactions that equaled $8.5 million in volume in leasing and sales, Nicholas said.

"We're bringing that level of volume, expertise into Clarendon Commercial from the get-go and then we're planning on doubling that over the next year," Nicholas said.

Clarendon Commercial is located at the office of Clarendon Properties, the company that is also currently planning a 150-room dual-branded hotel in Ogden, at 107 Stokley Drive in Wilmington.

"I guess the bottom line is it really started out with us trying to be the driving force, and basically KW Commercial came in and really made it better than what we expected it to be," Sandlin said.