“Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17), is a verse that summarizes the friendship turned partnership of the owners of The GAN Group, LLC.
(GAN pronounced – “gone”), Doug Martine and Billy Johnson.
These two friends with unique experiences and giftings in an overlapping industry decided to make career transitions, and in 2015, set their sights on acquiring and developing multi-family and senior living communities under the umbrella of their newly formed company, The GAN Group, LLC. Billy, with a background in architecture and an eye for design, esthetics and details, partnering with Doug, whose background in project management, development and a love of spreadsheets and numbers, would be the foundation of a business whose greatest goal was to create spaces that real people would be proud to call home. “GAN”, the Hebrew word for garden, was the perfect name choice for two men whose hearts were simply to plant seeds for the Kingdom of God and then watch it grow.
New developments can be a timely process that often takes months of behind the scenes work including gathering investors, land acquisitions, legal agreements, proformas, permitting, design, and construction. As the partners worked to kick off their first two senior living development projects, they also worked to generate revenue through managing projects for other clients such as a long-standing client of Doug’s, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. They were also involved in the construction management of the new Devil’s River Whiskey Distillery located in a historic building in downtown San Antonio along with other retail and restaurant developments throughout central Texas. Finally, in October of 2018, after several years of planning and putting together the structure, their first Senior Living development, “Sodalis – College Station”, broke ground with a second Senior Living Development located in Deer Park, Texas soon to follow. The runway was finally paved for the plane to take off for what would lay the foundation for capital for future GAN projects. You could feel the excitement bubbling in the air! The GAN Group was finally gaining some ground!
Then Covid hit. And everything came to a halt.
2020 was set to be an exciting year with the impending opening of College Station and three new ground-up Alamo Drafthouse development projects; one in Atlanta, one in South Carolina and one in North Carolina. These 3 projects were set to give The GAN Group the financial platform to launch new projects and support their families. In a blink of an eye, the world stopped and everything changed. Banks stopped lending, which stalled most new projects. College Station, whose grand opening was in the spring of 2020, saw great strain on leasing, and all three Alamo Drafthouse projects that had been in process completely vanished. No doubt, with the rest of small businesses across the country, The GAN Group felt the impact of Covid.
As if those losses weren’t tough enough, the greatest blow of 2020 was the unexpected and tragic loss of Billy’s beautiful wife, Janette Marie Johnson on December 7, 2020. As you can imagine, the devastation of her being called home almost felt more than they could bare amidst an already tumultuous year.
BUT, they have held on and continue to trust His story.
Doug and Billy have held on and continued to sustain themselves, their business and families during the trying times of Covid and loss. Through 2021 they began to focus on new investment groups and new development partnerships, and additional operators began to emerge. Banks, though demanding greater capital up front, began to lend and investors were eager to find places to invest. The Lord was faithful to walk with them and their families through grief and uncertainty, and as they look forward in 2022, they do so with great expectations. Doug and Billy are focusing and narrowing their vision to the development and acquisition of multi-family and senior living communities. They are also excited that Alamo Drafthouse has weathered the storm and is emerging better than ever. They are honored to be managing two new current projects located in downtown Birmingham, Alabama and downtown St. Louis, Missouri.
It’s hard to believe that it has been 7 years since The GAN Group’s conception. Weathering through start-up pains, Covid, loss, grief and uncertainties has only made this duo more determined and excited to see what He has in store for their futures.
No matter what lies ahead, the men of The GAN group, LLC are trusting in their hard work and in His story. If we are measuring their success, then I guess one might say they’ve already arrived. “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed” – Booker T. Washington.
