Tampa's Visionary

Tampa's Visionary

By David R. Corder

Associate Editor

On a clear day, the view of Harbour Island is spectacular from the upper reaches of Tampa's tallest buildings. Nearly built out now, this 192-acre island just south of downtown is the chic place to live. It wasn't that way about 26 years ago when a good friend planted a seed in the mind of Finn M.W. Caspersen as they gazed down on the island during a business lunch in Tampa's University Club.

That day the late-Charley Knight, a commercial real estate appraiser, suggested Caspersen just might be the one person with the wherewithal to transform the underdeveloped industrial island into a city within the city. While other developers had tried and failed, the idea intrigued Caspersen. He possessed the means then as the chairman and chief executive officer of the once-mighty Beneficial Corp.

"It was just crying out for somebody with a little vision to put it together," Caspersen recalls.

While the project evolved slowly, the action Caspersen took over the next two decades arguably laid the foundation for the development success today in the adjoining Channel District. It was there, for instance, where he played a key role in assembling the land underneath the St. Pete Times Forum - a recognized linchpin for all that has happened there since.

"He's been a good facilitator for projects happening in the Tampa Bay area," says Dick Beard, a friend and a fellow developer.

Caspersen, 63, is a modest man who doesn't flout his role in the historic development of the city's south side. That's why few know he still controls considerable land holdings in downtown, including about a city block across from the New School.

While not talking details, Caspersen says he's about to increase his commercial real estate portfolio in the Tampa Bay area.

"We're in contracts with some significant amounts of real estate," Caspersen says. "To date, it's land or small office buildings in downtown. I've also looked in west Tampa and out near the Brandon area."

Nothing has really changed about his acquisition strategy, he says. It's rooted in long-term thinking with a focus on patience.

"We've been looking at what I consider undeveloped areas that may have been overlooked for whatever reason," he says. "The key there is to try to look through the same eyes I looked at Harbour Island. You're not going to have the same leverage. Harbour Island was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It's about seeing what can change and what might make a difference."

Bullish on Tampa

Sometime during his youth in New York, Caspersen acquired an affinity for Tampa. It happened during those winters he spent with his family in Sarasota County. His parents, who owned considerable land holdings throughout the Gulf Coast region, deeded to the county the site known as Caspersen Beach.

"That was the first major trust document that I drew after I graduated from the Harvard Law School," he says.

For a short time, Caspersen practiced law in Venice for a short time after graduating Harvard in 1996. After his father's death, he returned to the Northeast and went into corporate work. Even so, he never strayed far from Tampa.

"Tampa always struck me as a real city," he says. "By that, I mean it's a place to make things happen. I'm very high on it and always have been."

That outlook says a lot about Caspersen considering all the opportunities he had over the years while managing a multibillion-consumer finance company, says Tampa trial lawyer Cody Fowler Davis. Caspersen hired Davis in the late 1980s to handle some of the Harbour Island litigation work. They became close friends and business partners.

"This gentlemen could have invested anywhere he wanted," Davis says. "He's adopted Tampa and improved it. He will be doing a lot for the city in the future."

This relationship gives Davis a rare glimpse into the life of an entrepreneur who frequently flies to Tampa from his corporate offices at Knickerbocker LLC, a private New Jersey investment management firm, to examine potential acquisitions.

"One of the things that hits me is that Finn never tries to get attention for his actions," Davis says. "The man has just done so much for Tampa. Sometimes I think Tampa has not been as appreciative as it should be for what he's done for the city.

"What would south downtown be like right now without Finn Caspersen?" he asks. "Here's a guy who's given so much to Tampa, and what has he asked of Tampa? Nothing comes to mind."

Labor of Love

Caspersen clearly gave a lot when it came to Harbour Island: It never produced a profit for Beneficial Corp.

"It was ahead of its time," says Tracy Yates Johnston, president of Tampa's Knight Appraisal Services Inc. Johnston, who went to work in 1981 for the company that Charley Knight founded, consults for Caspersen on a regular basis.

Prior to its sale to Household International Inc., Beneficial Corp. recorded consecutive years of pretax operating losses because of the Harbour Island subsidiaries. For example, the company recorded a $23 million loss in 1997, $18.7 million in 1996 and $19.5 million in 1995.

"Some of the concepts they tried there are working beautifully now," Johnson says. "It just really wasn't ready at the time."

It also was quite the deal then, too. Caspersen bought the island for about $3.5 million. That's a paltry sum today, considering some condo units there now sell for nearly that amount. The seller, Seaboard Coastline Railroad, had wanted as much as $7.5 million for the property.

"History shows (the development) was probably a decade ahead of its time," Caspersen says. "Tampa didn't catch up to what we had planned - and I should have known that - until 10 years later."

It didn't help the U.S. economy sunk into a severe recession in the mid-to-late 1980s. The Tax Act of 1986 crippled the commercial real estate industry. Then the savings-and-loan industry collapsed under the weight of junk bonds. It took about a decade for the U.S. economy to recover.

"I've never been able to pick neighborhoods in Tampa," Caspersen says about his acquisition strategy. "Sometimes you can make it happen, like Harbour Island, but most of the time you're picking something that may or may not happen in the next decade. So I've always held for the longer term, and am doing so now."

The Deal Unfolds

The intricacies of the Harbour Island deal and Caspersen's work on the St. Pete Times Forum property have a lot to do with the influence of what is now Tampa's Macfarlane Ferguson & McMullen PA.

The late-Macfarlane Ferguson law partner David Kerr, who had represented the Caspersen family on various real estate matters, originally introduced Caspersen to Knight. All three became close friends.

Because of Kerr, Caspersen earned the respect and admiration of Chester Ferguson - Kerr's law partner and one of the most influential lawyers in the development of downtown Tampa. Ferguson held strong beliefs about what should occur on Harbour Island.

When Beneficial Corp. made its bid for the Harbour Island property, so did Dallas-based Lincoln Property Group. Dick Beard ran the Dallas developer's Tampa office.

"Chester Ferguson felt the exposure on the island, even though it was a great price, it would take a ton of money to develop it," Beard says. "He didn't know our company. He knew Beneficial was a strong company. So he convinced Seaboard it should sell to Beneficial.

"So I was the proverbial groom, standing at the altar without a bride, when Beneficial acquired it," he adds. "I was a youngster in Tampa and not very well known at the time. It turned out, in the final analysis, that Beneficial was the right answer. They had the deep pockets."

About a decade later, members of the Tampa Downtown Partnership encouraged Caspersen to assemble enough downtown property for the proposed Ice Palace, the hockey arena now called the St. Pete Times Forum.

The deal that took place then still amazes Johnston. She recalls it took negotiations with 16 or so different property owners. Caspersen paid an average $35 a square foot on each of the contracts - nearly fourfold less than what some Channel District properties sell for today.

"It had to be really fast; had to be very quiet," Johnston says about those deals. "It was done so fast it was just mind boggling. I don't know how you could do something like that today. It was only a matter of just a couple of weeks that they put all of that together. It was quite an achievement."

True to his character Caspersen deflects most of the credit for his development work.

"It would be nice to take credit for myself, but there were two other people absolutely critical to this - David Kerr and Charley Knight," he says. "They're great friends of mind, and together we did a lot of interesting things in Tampa. Thanks to Charley, in particular, we were able to put the Harbor Island deal together. Thanks to David and Charley we were able to option most of the Ice Palace land. The Ice Palace was a mutual vision."

New Visions

Whenever Caspersen visits Tampa, Johnston frequently accompanies him on deal-making forays. It is always one of her favorite assignments.

"He's very astute and very good at conceptualization," she says. "It's all about the possibilities for him. He's still looking for fundamentally sound investments. That's never changed."

Yet it's Caspersen's market knowledge that impresses Johnston the most.

"I've been working with him recently on some deals, and it's so impressive about how aware he is about economic trends," she says. "He looks at properties all over the country, so when he comes to Tampa he brings all that knowledge with him."

As for potential opportunities in the Tampa area, Caspersen speaks only in generalities.

"Tampa's going through a spurt now," he says. "That means there's going to be a lot of new residential real estate put on the market. Then somebody is going to finally take the bull by the horns with a new commercial property. I'm not sure when, because the market doesn't justify it now. The vacancies are still too high; the prices are still a little too high."

It's possible he might be that person who takes the bull by the horns.

"I might do it as a joint venture with somebody," he says. "But it's a very funny time right now. Construction costs are going up very quickly. New Orleans will cause that to happen even faster. But I think the long term future of Tampa is very significant."

Caspersen's Philanthropy: Developer spends time on charitable projects, too

While thankful for the past, Finn Caspersen certainly doesn't dwell on it. He hit the ground running in 1998, when Household International Inc. acquired Beneficial Corp.

As the 10% owner of Beneficial stock, Caspersen became even wealthier with that deal. The New York Times estimated the Caspersen family owned stock holdings worth at least $800 million at the time of the acquisition.

Although given the job as Household's chairman, Caspersen soon left the newly merged company and formed Knickerbocker LLC. It oversees the investments of various trusts into mid-to-late stage venture opportunities.

Meanwhile, Caspersen has spent time on other philanthropic endeavors. For instance, he serves as chairman of the Hodson Trust, which has contributed nearly $150 million to the Maryland schools of Hood College, St. John's College, Johns Hopkins University and Washington University. The trust is named in honor of Beneficial Corp. founder Thomas S. Hodson.

Caspersen has also spent time with three schools he attended: The Peddie School, a New Jersey college prep school; Brown University, where he earned his undergraduate degree and Harvard University, where he earned his law degree.

At Harvard, Caspersen is on the Law School Board and he chairs the school's fundraising effort that has a goal of half a billion dollars in contributions. Caspersen also returned to Peddie School to serve as the school board chairman. He worked on projects with the late-Walter Annenberg, another Peddie graduate who became a national broadcasting executive.

"Together we've made that school a great school," he says.

The philanthropic work ranks high on Caspersen's list of accomplishments.

"Harbour Island is one of my legacies," he says. "But I've build a lot of buildings and a lot of corporate headquarters elsewhere. I've built a lot of institutions from next to nothing into multibillion corporations. I've also built a lot of charitable institutions, which I'm very pleased about."