Tom McMahon, a fixture in LKN Business, at a Newsmakers Breakfast on I-77.

A mainstay of commercial real estate in Lake Norman will move from Cornelius to the trendy NoDa area in Charlotte. Tom McMahon, the managing partner of Sperry Van Ness Commercial Real Estate Advisors on West Catawba, said the brokerage and property management firm will move to Charlotte this spring.

McMahon, who has spent 20 years in the Lake Norman market, said the move will better enable him to recruit talent. Potential job-seekers are not willing to deal with traffic on I-77 in spite of the new toll lanes set to come on line later this year, he said.

“I need to go closer to the help I need. There is a limited amount of people in the Lake Norman area who want to do commercial real estate as well,” McMahon said.

Explaining that he has been both a father and a football coach, McMahon said he needs to move the business because “from a business aspect, this has not worked out because of the talent I can recruit.”

He said several employees have left because of the congestion on I-77. Because of “congestion pricing” and projections from Cintra, the toll lane partner with NCDOT, traffic woes on I-77 are not expected to improve.  “I can’t keep good people,” McMahon said. He explained that he will continue his focus on the Lake Norman sub-market from the NoDa offices.

SVN Percival will continue to operate as a separate franchise on Park Road, a different part of the Charlotte market.