By Lynn Koller
Reprinted from: Florida Real Estate Journal - January 15, 2004
Kenneth Morin has spent the last several years altering the Tampa landscape as president of Morin Development Group LLC and the most prominent of its two employees. The second employee is his assistant, Stacey Reisinger.
Despite the company's small size, it focuses on large-scale development projects in the Tampa metro area. Its current properties under construction include Suncoast Crossings and Walter Development. Morin recently abandoned plans for the company's only venture outside of Tampa -- a 75-acre retail development in Raleigh, N.C.
Suncoast Crossings is just north of the Hillsborough County line at the intersection of Suncoast Parkway and State Road 54. Morin's plans for the 700-acre property include 550-single family homes, 165 townhomes, 365 apartment units, 500,000sf of retail space, and 1.2 msf of class A office space. Morin says that construction has recently begun on the townhomes and will soon start on the apartment complex. He estimates that it will be about a $150 million project at buildout, which should take between three and five years.
Walter Development, formerly Walter Industries Inc., is prime property located at the intersection of Interstate 275 and north Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa's Westshore business district. The demolition process began in December on the twin, eight-story towers built in 1957. Construction will soon begin on a multi-story -- or stacked -- retail center, anchored by a Target discount store. Other businesses will include Linens N Things, Wild Oats, Rooms To Go, Designer Shoe Warehouse, Cargo Kids and Macaroni Grill. Morin first filed plans for the retail center in 2001, but the project floundered over the past few years for a variety of reasons.
On the Walter project, Morin is facing some resistance from neighborhood groups opposing the plans for commercial growth. As a developer, he is accustomed to impassioned opposition by community residents and not always immune to their pressure.
"Neighborhood groups can be effective," Morin says.
The Raleigh project, Plantation Point, had been slated for development of 600,000sf of retail space, but Morin recently abandoned the suburban shopping center due to community resistance. Area residents felt that the project did not coincide with Raleigh's long-term development plans for something like a downtown business district, with buildings laid out on streets with sidewalks and bike paths that had easy access to a commuter rail station.
Despite his experience with resistance, Morin says that he does the right thing for the community and the environment. He compares the stereotype of a developer to that of a used car salesman, and believes the image is unjustified, at least in his case.
"Being a retail developer, I just respond to the population that's here and that's coming here," Morin says. "You have the job-creating mechanism and the fact that our climate lends itself to retirement homes and second homes. All I do is provide retail ... I just do what is environmentally the right thing to do."
While some might not agree that retail development is ever the right thing, Morin was labeled the "Best Not-So-Evil Developer" in 2003 by Weekly Planet, a funky Tampa-based community newspaper. The article cited the Suncoast project as evidence. Morin says that his actions in Suncoast prove that "you can be a developer and somewhat of an environmentalist at the same time." The property was originally a cypress hammock and wetland that had been converted to a cattle farm. Morin hired engineers, routed the waters back to their original flows and is planting vegetation indigenous to the area. He says that the effort increased costs but was worth it.
"We did it because it was the right thing to do," Morin says. "It's actually pretty neat, because when we started the development there and it was a pasture, you wouldn't see any wildlife at all. Now the water system holds three to five feet of water. Plants have recharged, and you can see deer and blue herons."
Morin's ecological interests extend far west of Florida, into the Jackson Hole area of Wyoming, where he hopes to eventually retire with his wife, MaryJo, and their first child to be born in April. Morin will turn 50 years old this year, and he is ardent about saving the money that will allow him to hang out with his wife and child and hike through the woods every day. But, for now, Morin Development is quite active. The company averages about one project every 10 to 12 months. Morin says that his smallest was a $22 million project.
Morin started his career in Hartford, Conn., after a stint at Connecticut State College. Around 1980, he began selling residential real estate and came across a property for a condominium development that he marketed to developers. One offered him a job, which lead to his 11-year employment at The Sembler Company, a shopping center development firm headquartered in St. Petersburg. He left to start Morin Development Group in 1997. Other than his assistant, the company uses consultancies for necessary business services.
"We have great consultants, and I rely heavily on them," says Morin, adding that it costs a little bit more to do business that way but is worth it.
MaryJo Morin is a former kindergarten teacher who now runs a literacy program called "Everybody Reads" at the Loretta Ingraham Community Center in Tampa. The literacy endeavor resulted from the Walter Development property. Morin finds the entitlement process the most difficult aspect of developing properties. This time, his wife's teaching background and altruistic qualities aided his progress.
"When we went through the entitlement process with the Walter Development project, what we did is agree to convert this little facility into a neighborhood community center," Morin says. "My wife set up a literacy program for the at-risk kids in that neighborhood. She's there four hours a day, Monday through Friday."
Morin says that his company buys the books and supplies, and funds the program activities.
At the end of December, Morin was investigating a property for development in Vero Beach that a friend had recommended, but otherwise he has no other interests outside of Tampa. He says that Tampa offers a lot of opportunity for development.
"I could probably do what I want to do for the rest of my life in the Tampa metro market," Morin says. At least until he packs up for the wild west.