James Nozar

James Nozar is the Strategic Advisor to the Board of Strategic Property Partners (“SPP”), the owner and developer of one of the largest active urban redevelopment projects in the United States – Water Street Tampa.

James joined SPP in March of 2016 as the company’s first Chief Executive Officer and was tasked with building a full-service development company while concurrently commencing design and construction on the transformational $3.5 billion, 9 million square-foot Water Street Tampa project. With its first new buildings delivering over the past year – the JW Marriott hotel, Sparkman Wharf waterfront offices retail, the Heron apartment buildings and the city’s first trophy downtown office tower in over two decades (Thousand & One) – the company is poised for several more building deliveries in the coming months as well as future phases of Water Street Tampa. In late 2020 James’ role with the company transitioned to a Strategic Advisor to the Board where he has shifted focus towards new investment and development opportunities for the firm.

Passionate about the built environment and how it can positively shape surrounding communities, James helped shape the vision of Water Street Tampa and the mix of building typologies, the various design collaborators, and the neighborhood’s interwoven relationship with its expansive public realm.

Prior to joining SPP, James was a Senior Vice President with The JBG Companies in Washington D.C. where he focused on the firm’s overall acquisition and development strategy, and was responsible for acquisition underwriting assumptions, the overall vision and conceptual program, entitlements, and community outreach efforts, as well as the design process on dozens of real estate investments within the Washington, DC metro area.  During his time at The JBG Companies, James managed the development of 25 multi-use real estate projects with associated development budgets totaling more than $2 billion and the entitlement of over 10 million square feet of new development.

James also worked as a real estate consultant for Ernst & Young and RCLCo after receiving a B.S. in Building Construction and Certificate in City Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he was also a 4-year Letter winner on the men’s swimming team, a 2-year captain and All-American athlete.

James is the incoming Chair of the Board of Directors of the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council and sit on the Boards of the Georgia Tech Alexander-Tharpe Fund, and the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay.