One word from Bill Thomas and you know he is one of the fortunate few to truly call Charleston, SC his hometown. Mr. Thomas is a fourth-generation native of James Island, SC and a graduate of The Citadel, where he played football no less. Listening to the accent and cadence of Mr. Thomas is like peeking through a doorway to a time long ago. His stories remind one of sipping iced tea on back porches, strolling under great oaks and days when time – and people – moved much more slowly.
After graduating from The Citadel in the 1970s, Mr. Thomas moved to Virginia to work as a production supervisor for a textile plant, with a starting salary of $13,000 per year. That move started a long and successful business career.
“I always knew I would find my own business model. Since that time in Virginia, I have grown and sold several businesses. I suppose I’m what you’d call an ‘entrepreneurial type.’ I enjoy finding the missing links and developing a way to fill them.” – Mr. Thomas
During his career, Mr. Thomas worked for Abbott Laboratories, a Fortune 100 company, and spent five years working abroad in Europe. He moved back to the Charleston area, for good, in 2001, and currently owns PortWatch Group, a logistics, trucking and warehousing organization.
Shortly after moving back to his hometown, Mr. Thomas purchased a piece of land that would, eventually, become Thomas Hall, a picturesque 125 +/- property on the banks of Rantowles Creek, 13 miles south of downtown Charleston.
“I built Thomas Hall as a place to teach my three sons the value of outdoorsmanship. Almost twenty years later, that lesson is still very much alive. It was just last week when we had three generations of Thomas’ – myself, my sons and grandchildren – out fishing, boating, swimming and shooting clays. It was a beautiful thing.” – Mr. Thomas
Known history on the property surrounding Thomas Hall dates back to the 1770s. It was first part of Grayton Hall, a 20,000-acre parcel, and remained mostly rural until after the Civil War when John Bradley purchased the land. Back then, the Lowcountry was well-known for its production of phosphate used for fertilizer. The process essentially involved separating phosphate from the dirt. Mr. Bradley succeeded in manufacturing phosphate for a number of years.
By the 1940s, the parcels of land became more and more subdivided and in 1969 a gentleman named Speedy Falco presented the county with a plan to build 144 houses on the property. His proposal included turning the historic rice fields into canals to mimic neighborhoods being built in South Florida at the time.
Fortunately, Mr. Falco’s proposal did not succeed and the 60 acres of rice fields at Thomas Hall are now listed on the historic registry. They will remain intact for the next owner to enjoy, and untouched for the stewards that may follow.
Having your cake and eating it, too. That’s Thomas Hall, a scenic home and property reminiscent of days long ago. In addition to the beautiful 125 +/- acres, and the 7,300 square foot main house standing sentinel over serene marshland and rice fields, there is also an entertainment and outdoor pavilion, detached living quarters, fishing pond, skeet shooting facility, and of course, direct access to the intercoastal waterway. Thomas Hall truly offers something special for every member of your family.
Thomas Hall also provides something incredibly unique among sporting properties. It is surrounded by several hundred acres of county land that increases privacy – yet the restaurants, shopping and entertainment of downtown Charleston, SC are all less than 20 minutes away. Rich in wildlife, the property is in a conservation easement with Ducks Unlimited, making it part of nearly 1 million protected acres in South Carolina.
“The possibilities for outdoor enjoyment are endless at Thomas Hall. The hunting is bountiful, the land is beautiful, access to the waterways – and Shark’s Tooth Island for hunting shark’s teeth – is easy. Thomas Hall is truly a place to soak in the outdoors. For the younger generations in your family, doing so will instill innate confidence and pays dividends in society going forward.” – Mr. Thomas
From murky farm ponds to pristine glacier-cut lakes and everything in between, Knox Daniels’ expertise stems from a lifelong fascination of water and the creatures that live in and around it. He recognizes and helps clients appreciate the value water features bring to a property. “My goal is to help buyers realize and sellers maximize the value different water bodies bring to a property, not only in a recreational sense, but also for social storm reasons.” After extensively traveling the country for collegiate BASS fishing tournaments, Knox graduated and worked for the Southeast’s finest fisheries and wildlife biologist, Greg Grimes. With Grimes’ company, AES, Knox managed many of the southeast’s finest private lake estate/impoundment properties, and learned the intricacies of upscale property management. Learning from Greg and other biologists, Knox honed in on the specific conditions and habitat needed for optimal gamefish growth in private lakes. He has also worked as a property manager on several thousand acres and for a commercial developer, facilitating the dirt work and builds of several apartment complexes, but his true passion has always been in the outdoors. “I’ve always had an insatiable fascination with ponds/lakes and am grateful to be able to help to place clients on the properties of their dreams and make their personal fisheries/wildlife goals reality with JKA.” – Knox Daniels
Jason has been assisting landowners for the last 28 years in Georgia and South Carolina obtain achievements the owners did not realize were possible. His degree in Biology from Georgia Southern stemmed from the desire to know how things in nature work. His plantation roots began at just 16 years old outside of Albany, GA and the last 20 years were spent in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. His entire career has been spent developing a global approach to plantation management. That plan included sales. Sales is in Jason’s blood- his mom had a 45-year career as a real estate broker. After college, he chose to pursue his passion of making properties great. In 2011, Jason sold his first plantation. Since then, he has assisted buyers and sellers with over $20 million in sales while most of that time working as a full-time General Manager of a large Lowcountry plantation. Today, he is committed to using his unique skill set and experience to guide landowners through the many challenges of plantation ownership.
Bruce Ratliff is a retired elected official (Property Appraiser Taylor County). Bruce brings years of experience in ad valorem tax knowledge. His property tax background gives JKA Associates & clients a unique insight into the complicated tax process. Bruce held several positions in the Florida Association of Property Appraisers, including member of the Board of Directors, President, Vice-President and Secretary, and served on the Agricultural & Legislative Committees for the Association. The real estate business has been part of Bruce’s life since childhood. His mother, Shirley Ratliff owned Professional Realty of Perry, Florida and his father, Buster owned Ratliff Land Surveying which Bruce was General Manager of before his political career.
Hailing from a long line of outdoorsmen, Tim learned a great deal from his father and grandfather. He saw first-hand what it means to be a good land steward. He believes land is so much more than a place to hunt, fish, and grow timber or crops. “It’s an identity, a resting place, a safe haven and a way of life, said Tim.” Tim’s family ties to Alabama run deep. During his grandfather’s first term, Governor James was responsible for signing into law Alabama’s first state duck stamp which helped to ensure funding for the procurement, development, and preservation of wetlands for migratory waterfowl habitat. He also established Alabama’s lifetime hunting license, so it is no surprise that Tim is an avid outdoorsman with a keen eye as to how best to improve habitat for the greater good of its wildlife.
With Madison County roots, Lori grew up on her family farm at Pettis Springs along the historic Aucilla River. A love of the land was instilled in Lori very early on by her father who was a local farmer. Lori understands the importance of good land stewardship and has witnessed first-hand how her own father, a former 2-term member of the Florida House of Representatives whose district encompassed many rural counties of the Red Hills Plantation Region, with a little bit of sweat equity, so lovingly worked their own family land. These are core values she carries with her today, and nothing gives her more personal satisfaction than to represent some of the south’s best land stewards.
Cole’s dedication to land management lies in his family roots. As a fourth-generation timber expert, Cole’s earliest memories were spent with his father managing timber investments. With a degree in Food Resource Economics from the University of Florida, Cole is the epitome of an up-and-coming leader. He grew up with a hands-on approach to learning land management and conservation and has spent the last 15 years learning every angle of the real estate and forest industry. Cole is a member of the Florida Forestry Association, Red Hills Quail Forever, Southeastern Wood Producers Association and he uses this platform as an advocate for landowners and their land investments. His family has dedicated the past 60 years to providing landowners in North Florida and South Georgia with professional land management services focused on improving and protecting one’s forestland and wildlife investment. In fact, their family business, M.A. Rigoni, Inc., was one of the first to introduce whole tree chipping to the Red Hills Region.
As a landowner of his own family farm, Lick Skillet, along with family land that has been passed down and enjoyed together at Keaton Beach for 40 years, Jon knows what it means to be a steward of the last best places. As a third-generation land broker with more than 30 years of experience in advising landowners in this niche, Jon is known for his innate ability to harvest a land’s unique intrinsic value. Touting several notable sales under his belt, Jon personally closed Rock Creek/Molpus – 124,000 acres of premium timberland at $142,000,000 – which was known as the largest timberland land sale in the Southeast for eight years running. He is a co-founding member of LandLeader and achieved the real estate industry’s highest honor, “2022 National Broker of the Year – Recreational Land Sales,” by the Realtors® Land Institute.