Leadership
SJC Ventures is led by its three Principals Jeff Garrison, Jeff DeHart and Fain Hicks.
The firm’s focus is serving its clients, partners and stakeholders to create successful projects that excite, engage and enhance the communities in which they are located. SJC continues to build on its long, successful track record as the proven leading development platform of choice for many retailers, capital partners, municipalities and other valued stakeholders.
Jeff Garrison
PRINCIPAL
Jeff Garrison’s passion is to create dynamic, community-changing retail centers that encompass connection, walkability and activation. He believes development should drive neighborhood engagement and bring people together for experiential shopping and dining. His key strengths lie in shaping the future of a community layout and thoughtfully converting urban infill into thriving neighborhoods that benefit residents in meaningful ways. Jeff is a partner at SJC Ventures and has been with the company since its 2007 inception. He handles the intricate mechanics that bring a vibrant development property together – from locating new sites, building tenant relationships and communicating with neighborhood groups to hiring contractors and shepherding the project to its final phases.
Over the past decade, he has developed more than 5 million square feet of retail and mixed-use space across the country. Current projects include The Interlock, an award-winning $450 million mixed-use center rising in Atlanta’s West Midtown neighborhood, and Southern Post, a multi-use property soon to transform a much-needed section of Roswell, Georgia.
Jeff graduated magna cum laude with degrees in real estate and speculative finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a Georgia real estate license and is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers. He currently serves on the board Mount Vernon Presbyterian School, where his children attend school. Jeff lives in Atlanta with his wife Jennie. The two have three children.
Jeff DeHart
PRINCIPAL
Jeff DeHart is a partner at SJC Ventures and has been with the company since 2009. He handles the day-to-day operational management and project financing for the firm’s robust development portfolio.
Jeff has been in the commercial real estate and leasing industries since 1986. Since that time, he has developed almost 60 retail center sites in eight states. Jeff’s strengths include detailed financial analysis and capital relationships.
He received his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Georgia. Jeff currently serves on the Ben Franklin Academy board of overseers. Previously, he has taught as a Sunday school teacher at the Peachtree United Methodist Church and served as a scout master for Atlanta’s Troop 232.
Originally from North Carolina, Jeff resides in Atlanta with his wife Jessica. The couple has three adult sons.
Fain Hicks
PRINCIPAL
Fain Hicks, partner at SJC Ventures, has more than 22 years of commercial real estate experience. His expertise lies with deal and capital structuring and is focused on sourcing new development opportunities and expanding the firm’s capital relationships. Prior to joining SJC Ventures, Hicks was the managing director of Cushman & Wakefield. He also spent 10 years in the commercial real estate finance arena in New York City and Atlanta with JP Morgan and Wachovia Securities. He has been directly involved with more than $4 billion of investment property transactions and traditional and structured financings.
Hicks is a Georgia native and received his bachelor’s degree in finance and real estate from the University of Georgia. He is a licensed real estate broker in Georgia and Alabama and is a member of the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors, International Council of Shopping Centers, ACBR Million Dollar Club and a Certified Commercial Investment Member.
Fain has a long-term perspective and a people and relationship’s first philosophy. He is involved with several nonprofit organizations and is a member of Peachtree Road United Methodist Church where he has served in numerous roles including Board of Trustees Chair. He lives in Buckhead with his wife, Kereth, and two daughters.