Thankfully, times have changed. Through hard work and remaining steadfast to get the Brackett Company off the ground, Rivers has earned a solid standing in commercial real estate and adds, “I’ve made a lot of friends and worked with good architects and contractors.”
When she first came to Charlotte, Rivers managed a 10-story doctors building, since torn down, next door to Carolinas Medical Center.
Laying the Foundation
The lease occupancy then was about 50 percent.
During this time, Mercy Hospital South was
No doubt it is daunting to leave the comfort
The building was sold and slated for renova-
getting underway in Pineville and awarded its
of steady employment and strike out on one’s
tion. The buyer hired a local commercial real
leasing contract to the company that employed
own. But Rivers had success early on, particularly
estate company to manage the property. That
Rivers. Rivers leased the hospital’s existing three
with leasing and property management. She took
company was asked by the buyer to hire Rivers to
12,000-square-foot medical buildings, which
that savvy, along with the experience she garnered
oversee the renovation and lease up the property.
prompted the need for further development and
working with other developers, to further her own company.
“We were very successful and leased the doctors building to almost 100 percent,” Rivers asserts.
Rivers’ subsequent exit from the company. University Memorial Hospital was just opening and Rivers’ former company also was awarded its leasing contract. After the Brackett Company was founded, Rivers was granted the contract to
SPECIALISTS IN VOICE NETWORKS FOR 28 YEARS.
finish that leasing. Success was taking shape for Rivers; she was proving her mettle as a business owner. She admits she had self-doubt in the beginning and worked arduous hours, mostly solo. Her father was one of her biggest supporters. “When I quit my job, I remember calling my dad asking, ‘Is this a crazy thing to do?’” Her father reassured her it was not, that he would help her financially with household bills while she got her company up and running. “And I did have to call on him financially a couple times in the very beginning,” Rivers recalls. It was a major setback when Rivers’ father died in December 1985, just six months after she started the company. “I had lost one of my most valuable supporters,” Rivers says. “But at that point I was too far into it; I had obligations and couldn’t back away. So I toughed it out.” Building It Up Fortunately, Rivers got a windfall in Cotswold, where she set up her first office—two rooms at the Williamsburg Building. The building’s owner was
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