'A Great Run'

'A Great Run'

commercial real estate by Mark Gordon | Managing Editor

John Swart looks back on 35 years in the commercial real estate business, where his legendary modesty matches the scope of his projects.

From the time he was eight years old, John Swart liked to work. His first job, while growing up near Worcester, Mass., was delivering newspapers. He was eventually promoted to milk bottles.

And in his early teenage years, Swart joined the family business: Farming. He hoed potato patches and cornfields and he mowed lawns.

Swart's working aspirations soon turned to forestry, although that was put on hold when he entered the U.S. Navy in the early 1970s for what he later called "a luxury tour" of Vietnam. Upon returning home, he embarked on a 35-year career in commercial real estate.

Swart's real estate tour came to an end earlier this month when he retired as president of Lakewood Ranch Commercial Realty and as vice president of commercial sales for Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Inc., the developers behind the master-planned community in east Manatee County.

Swart had been with SMR since 1996, when the community was made up of cattle fields and cow pastures, not the vibrant combination of four million square feet of commercial space and more than 6,000 homes it is today.

"John's vision and leadership is nothing short of remarkable," says SMR president and chief executive officer Rex Jensen, who hired Swart away from a commercial real estate job in Port St. Lucie. "I truly think he's one of the very few people in the state who could have accomplished this task."

The accomplishments are impressive: The four million square feet of commercial space is broken down into 2.5 million square feet of office space, 800,000 square feet of retail space and 700,000 square feet of light industrial space.

In general, Swart, 66, looks back at the Lakewood Ranch accomplishments with trademark modesty. Ditto for the other stops of his career, which include a stint as head of commercial and industrial sales at St. Lucie West, a 4,600-acre master-planned community; working in mortgage lending at MassMutal Life Insurance; and working for a commercial developer and general contractor with offices in Cincinnati and Tampa.

"It has been a fairly typical real estate career," says Swart. "You move for the opportunities."

A strong market

In a recent interview with the Review, Swart reflected on his career at Lakewood Ranch. Some excerpts:

• On getting projects through the government bureaucracy: "The government has always been a little bit of a challenge, but you have to be persistent and have good people that know how to work in the system and know what's required. The key is people."

• His most significant accomplishments: Swart's top three are the Lakewood Ranch Medical Center, a 120-bed hospital which opened in 2004; the trio of Publix-anchored shopping centers spread about seven miles apart, all built between Interstate 75 and the Lakewood Ranch housing communities; and the office space, which includes the corporate headquarters for commercial insurance firm FCCI, human resources firm Gevity and deli meat company Boar's Head.

Says Swart: "One of the most important projects was the hospital, which did take a long time, about five years. That was a land sale for us to Universal Health Systems, but we worked closely with Manatee Memorial Hospital as a sister company to help get the Lakewood Ranch hospital set up. That was a great accomplishment and was good for Lakewood Ranch and the whole county population in the I-75 corridor. That's become a very important medical center.

"The three Publix stores that we have now was a great accomplishment that helps serve the population. Today, given everybody's schedule and work and family obligations, it's all about time saving and convenience.

"The office market has been really the strongest market that we have had in commercial. We have a very high market share in the two-county area for office absorption. I'm a little nervous about it right now, but over 10 to 12 years, we think it will add up to about 300,000 square feet of office absorption. So that's been very important and would rank very high in the order of priorities because it gives people a place to work."

• His biggest disappointment: The $65 million sports and entertainment arena that has not been built, despite multiple developers and five years of starts and stops. The first phase of the project is currently in the foreclosure process.

"The arena, of course, is a big disappointment," says Swart. "But that was very unusual and we are still working on that in the legal sense, so the story is not done there yet. It's just going to take longer."

Swart says Main Street, Lakewood Ranch's first, and biggest, attempt at building a mixed-use project combining condos, offices and local and national retailers, is a success - so far. The project recently lost one of its main anchors when Morton's Gourmet Market, announced it would be closing by March.

"Main Street is a big accomplishment and it's still evolving. Retail is a very tough business," says Swart. "We are working very hard to continue to do leasing and trying to help tenants in that area by bringing business to them with the Music on Main, art shows and business alliance meetings."

(Review contributor Michael Eng assisted with this story.)

new leader Brian kennelly

John Swart plans to make global travel with his wife Joanne a priority in his retirement, including a journey to the Baja Peninsula, where the couple plans to go kayaking and whale watching. Meanwhile, the man replacing him in the job running commercial real estate at Lakewood Ranch plans on going bowling.

Brian Kennelly, who has been working in commercial real estate for Lakewood Ranch developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch since 2006, was recently named as Swart's replacement. Kennelly's first major project will be to continue on with the Hubbard family bowling alley, to be built near State Road 70 and Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, about a mile from Interstate 75. Permits could be completed as early as next month.

And since Lakewood Ranch is only 25% built, there are a host of other projects in Kennelly's future. Up until his new job, Kennelly has negotiated leases totaling more than $125 million during his 20-year career.

All of this future activity at Lakewood Ranch will go on without Swart at the helm. But even though his new role will be that of world-traveler, along with doting grandfather, Swart isn't planning on totally shutting out Lakewood Ranch.

Already, one day into his retirement, Swart attended a planning meeting. He'll also be around as a part-time consultant to assist Kennelly when he needs help.

"I've had a great run with a great project," Swart says. "But you reach a point where you know its time."

project

successes

When John Swart was hired to lead the commercial development division of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch's Lakewood Ranch in 1996, the area consisted of cow fields and dead ends. A decade later, the master planned community has four million square feet of commercial space, including 2.5 million square feet of office space, 800,000 square feet of retail space and 700,000 square feet of light industrial space.

Some of the most notable projects under Swart's leadership include:

• Schools, such as the upper campus branch of the Out-Of-Door Academy, which was built in 1997; Lakewood Ranch High School, built in 1998; and a branch of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, built in 2004;

• Corporate headquarters for Lee Wetherington Homes, Neal Communities and John Cannon Homes, three of the region's largest homebuilders, which moved into the area in 2000, 2002 and 2006, respectively;

• Corporate headquarters for other businesses, such as the 260,000-square foot complex for commercial insurance firm FCCI and the 30,000-square foot office for Gemesis, a cultured diamond manufacturer that recently announced Lakewood Ranch expansion plans;

• A Holiday Inn, built in 2001, and the Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club, also built in 2001. Both facilities have provided meeting and banquet space for the region.

REVIEW SUMMARY

Industry. Commercial real estate, development

Who. John Swart, Lakewood Ranch Commercial Realty

Key. Swart is retiring from his leadership position. Executive Vice President Brian Kennelly is taking over Swart's job.