April 3, 2015
Silver Phoenix – Stowers focuses on relationships
By: Martin Sinderman, Contributing Writer Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors
Silver Phoenix Award winner Mel Stowers is president of Stowers & Co., a commercial, industrial and investment real estate firm. A native of Dawsonville, Ga., Stowers graduated from The University of Georgia in 1977 with a bachelor of business administration degree in marketing. One of his first jobs was as undercover investigator for The Coca-Cola Co., working to uncover instances of trademark infringement.
Stowers turned to commercial real estate in 1980. Following the advice of Ken Griffiths of Cygnet Properties LLC, and taking advantage of an opportunity presented by Ralph Edwards, formerly with Ackerman & Co., he became a general partner in a foreign real estate investment group. During the next four years, he helped the group purchase and develop some $60 million of projects.
In 1984, Stowers broke into the brokerage business, joining with Mitchell Brannen of what was then Brannen Butler Co. In 1988 he opened his own firm, Stowers & Co. He served 10 years as real estate representative for Nortel Networks Corp. and has been involved extensively in the redevelopment of downtown Atlanta, including brokering a 1991 sale that became the Pioneer Neon lofts.
Mel Stowers
President Stowers & Co.
Q: What is your favorite aspect of deal-making?
The best part is the repeat customers. You don’t often get a ‘pat on the back’ for doing a good job in this business — but when a client calls you back a second time, you know you did the job right the first time around.
Q: In what non-commercial real estate job did you learn the most, and what did you learn?
Working as an undercover investigator job right after college was a tremendous experience. I was not directly supervised, so I had to be a self-starter. And I learned a lot of interpersonal skills that have helped me in the sales business.
From the Atlanta Business Chronicle :http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2015/04/03/silver-phoenix-stowersfocuses-on-relationships.html
