Dreaming BIG

Dreaming BIG

By Janet Leiser | Senior Editor

Joel Cantor traveled the globe for 14 months in search of the perfect high-rise. He flew to Vancouver, London and Asia for inspiration.

He sought a unique design and the right architect for the tower he planned to create at First Street and First Avenue South in downtown St. Petersburg.

In Vancouver, Cantor met James KM Chang, an architect who designed what's billed as the largest building in North America. But Chang couldn't get to Cantor's project for two years, and Cantor couldn't wait. Chang told Cantor about " 'the granddaddy of architects,' " Cantor says.

He suggested Ralph Johnson of Chicago's Perkins + Will. Johnson, a Harvard graduate, has won numerous awards for his Modernist design of buildings, including the Skybridge high-rise in downtown Chicago, a college in Nigeria and Boeing's world headquarters.

"I said, 'Well, if this is the granddaddy of all architects, I'll have to get him,' " says Cantor, 42.

Johnson, who directs the world's second largest architectural firm, picks and chooses his projects.

Cantor reached him on his second telephone call. He told Johnson he planned to build a high-rise on the site he has owned since 1999, but he didn't want an ordinary building to replace the old federal building built in 1967.

"I want the greatest building that has ever been built in Florida," he told Johnson. "Every unit must have a water view."

Within a couple weeks, Johnson and his crew of seven architects were in Pinellas County to look at the site, a few blocks west of Tampa Bay. They talked to Cantor and visited the city's zoning director.

"It was such an interesting day," Cantor says. "They were talking architect speak, about the flow of the street, how the building meets the ground. I had no idea what they were saying."

City officials told Cantor: "If we can get a Ralph Johnson building, we'd be thrilled, we'd be delighted, we'd be overwhelmed," he says.

Cantor obliged.

Sleepy town

In January 1999, Cantor, who started his commercial real estate portfolio in 1989, planned to spend a day at the beach to de-stress, when a friend told him about the William C. Cramer Federal Building that was being sold at auction. The government had spent $18 million constructing the seven-floor building in 1967. But it was now vacant; federal officials had moved their offices to the Bay Pines veterans' center.

Cantor, a Boston native who lives with his family on Davis Islands, decided to check out the building and area.

"I walked around town, and the town was closed up," he says. "It was dead in '99. There was a bar open. I walked into the bar and said to the bartender, 'What's going on around here? Is this place toast or is it getting better?'"

The bartender replied, "Man, this place is really improved. This used to be the last stop in life's doorstep. But this place is really changing. They're fixing it up."

Cantor decided to buy the property, or at least try. He picked up a certified check for $100,000 from the bank and attended the auction. The building was on the tax rolls for more than $10 million. Cantor's winning bid: $3.9 million.

"It seemed like a ton of money, it was just an empty building with no income," he adds. "And who knows what it was going to cost to fix it up.

Instead of going to the beach I drove home thinking: "What have you done now?"

He obtained a loan from the Bank of Chicago, gutted the building and remodeled it at a cost of about $8 million over 2½ years.

He filled the nearly 200,000-square-foot building by offering some of the lowest rents in town at $10 per square foot. Market price was about $16 a foot.

The property made money for a couple years. But then mechanical systems, such as the elevators and air-conditioning that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace started breaking. Taxes went up, and insurance rates went from $15,000 a year to $75,000.

"The writing was on the wall," Cantor says.

On his own, he sought Federal Aviation Administration approval to exceed the 158-foot height restriction on buildings. It took more than two years, but in 2004 the FAA agreed to let him build as high as 390 feet.

Then he began the search for the right architect. He found Johnson.

Signature Place, a 35-story, 900,000-square-foot building is designed to look like a gossamer sail, the same type of miniature ships that Cantor put together as a boy.

"I've been making models since I was a kid," he says of his search for the perfect building. "This is just a grown-up version of it."

In February, the old government building was razed. Construction on the $160 million tower will begin next month and should be completed by the third quarter of 2008.

A Trump rival

Cantor was 25 when he moved to Tampa after obtaining an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to business school, he'd worked on Wall Street for four years with Solomon Brothers.

His wife, Shannon, agreed to try Tampa for a year. "I told her it's a no man's land," he says. "You can just see it's going to be the next California. It's going to be busy down here, and for someone who wants to start his own business, this is the place to be."

After six months at Trammell Crow, he started his own business, Gulf Atlantic Real Estate Cos. He bought his first large property, Westminster Chase, a new apartment complex in South Tampa with a 70% vacancy rate.

He paid $6.8 million for the 224-unit complex and agreed to sign a document that gave the property back to the bank without a court hearing if he missed a payment.

"Basically they held a judgment in escrow," he says.

Was he apprehensive?

"No," he says. "There was nothing to be nervous about, because when you start with nothing, there's nothing to lose."

He and a team got up at 5 a.m. each day and placed rental brochures on the doors of nearby apartments, offering three months free rent for new tenants. Within 90 days, the complex was full and making about $80,000 monthly.

After nearly a year, he had about $1 million in the bank.

He paid $9 million for two more apartment complexes, one near the University of South Florida and one in Lakeland. Both needed major renovations.

He put down $1 million, with the understanding he could use half of the payment to renovate the apartments. It took three eight-hour shifts over three months to complete the renovations, which Cantor personally oversaw.

Once again, the units were full within three months.

He still owns those properties and others, about 1 million square feet in all, he says. "I don't sell," he adds. "I've regretted everything I've ever sold."

Last year, the company that employs 25 full-time employees had revenue of $12 million. He shoots for a 20% profit margin.

"My skills are simple: I have an ability to know what exactly should be done on a project," he says. "A new building or renovation I can express myself that way. I have the ability to make it happen. I'm the ultimate finisher. When I commit, and I'm slow to commit, it's going to be finished, no matter what."

He paid Johnson's firm $2 million to design the building. He says that's about twice as much as an architect would normally be paid.

More than half of the residences, which start at $397,000 for a one-bedroom, one-bath, and go as high as $5 million, have been sold, he says. The price range is $400 to $1,000 per square foot. Each unit will have a piece of art inside, he says.

The ground floor will include 20,000 square feet of retail and the building is also going to have a restaurant owned by actor Robert DeNiro.

"This place will be vibrant with restaurants and shops," Cantor says.

He contends it will rival Trump Tower Tampa, which is not yet built. "I think that place is going to be nice," he says, "but I think we're going to trump Trump. This building is a triumph."

CANTOR'S TIPS FOR SUCCESS

• Associate with the finest partners and people.

• Get people galvanized around a concept.

• Don't micromanage. Instead, use the D & D theory: delegate and disappear.