By Lynn Koller
Reprinted from: Florida Real Estate Journal - November 15,
2007
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Ryan Companies US Inc., based in Minneapolis, won the National
Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) Developer of the Year
award for 2007. More than an exercise in industry back-patting, NAIOP bestows
its annual blessing on a company that demonstrates an ostensible commitment to
the community and to NAIOP itself. “It’s a combination of being a quality developer with the communities that you’re doing business with, as well as your involvement in the greater community,” says Kent Carlson, president of Ryan Companies’ Tampa-based Southeast division. Carlson adds that a number of Ryan employees have been past presidents of the organization and that his company has a history of being sensitive to the needs of the communities where it undertakes its large-scale commercial development projects. Ryan Companies has been in the Florida market for about 10 years - though in business for more than 69 years, according to Carlson. The firm opened its first Florida office in Tampa in January 2006, where it employs 16 project managers, assistants and field superintendents. Its operations are administered from the company’s main office in Minneapolis. “We selected Tampa because of the business climate and people here,” Carlson says. “They say that there’s a thousand people a day moving into Florida. Tampa is a central location and we can serve South Florida from this marketplace, as well reaching Orlando and Central Florida easily.” Carlson explains that Ryan Companies focuses primarily on large projects and Florida has great opportunities for further development, despite a competitive market and what might be characterized as a diminishing supply of undeveloped land. “There are a lot of great firms in the Tampa marketplace - both publicly traded REITs and privately held companies. With the market growing this quickly, there’s ample opportunity for everybody,” Carlson says. Currently, the developer is acquiring large parcels of land in Hillsborough County, where Carlson says his company is being “warmly received by the community.” “I think that what we’re really focused on for Florida is to develop large business parks. It’s a very dynamic market. There’s a lot of activity. Businesses want to expand in the Florida marketplace,” Carlson says. This focus would seem on its face at odds with Ryan Companies other focus - that of sustainable development - but Carlson does not find commercial development and environmental sustainability an unbridgeable divide. He notes that his firm has accomplished clean-up of contaminated areas and been involved in brownfield development since the late 1980s. “We have a history of developing brownfields for a long time. Within our organization, we have a number of talented people who can put those old, contaminated sites back into production,” Carlson says. The firm has not undertaken such a project in Florida. Ryan Companies’ current project is South Shore Corporate Park in the northwest quadrant of SR 674 and I-75 in Tampa. The property will be a 380-acre office and industrial park, with the first phase consisting of approximately 2.7 msf of space followed by another 2 msf in its second development phase, which is planned for completion in 2015. The property will have a four-lane divided parkway. Carlson says that Ryan Companies’ commitment to environmentally sensitive commercial development benefits not only the physical environment, but also the company’s clients. His customers are interested in sustainable development and Ryan Companies focus on methods to achieve sustainability that also financially benefit the customer. “When you invest in sustainable development, there’s historically a payback that comes with it,” Carlson says. “You may spend more on a heating and cooling system, but you’ll save on energy, have a cleaner environment - with greater productivity - and a savings in energy.” Carlson says that one way his company conserves resources is by finding construction materials that travel a short distance. “This saves money, reduces pollution,” Carlson says. Ryan Companies has been active in using LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building criteria, established by the Washington-based U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit organization comprising members of the building industry dedicated to “improving conditions for humanity and nature, honoring and enhancing the prospects for both through the creation of a built environment that is mutually beneficial,” while adhering to the values of sustainability, equity, inclusiveness, progress, and connectedness, according to its Web site. “We’re pretty environmentally sensitive,” Carlson says of his company. While Carlson now spends his days in a series of meetings between internal staff, consultants and engineers figuring out how to best develop large tracts of land, his previous life was on the water - racing sailboats. How did he turn from the sea to land? He says that his transition resulted from a personal interest. “It’s a business that you truly have to love otherwise you won’t have any fun doing it,” Carlson says of being a commercial real estate developer. |