The Visionary

After nearly five years of fighting for a deserted industrial property in Riverview, CBRE broker Rick Narkiewicz's dream has finally come true. But his dream is what many brokers may picture as a nightmare. Marketing a tough sell.

But Narkiewicz says all you need is a vision.

The 200,000-square-foot building was the former headquarters of Kearney Construction, one of the state's oldest and largest site developers until it filed for bankruptcy in 2009, less than three years after it built the building.

Narkiewicz says since then he's been chasing the listing, which just got through the foreclosure process. The 21.5-acre property includes office space, a warehouse and a lot of parking. What makes it a tough sell is all of its bells and whistles. The building features marble floors, 8-foot doors, high ceilings and a 25-foot marble conference table. There's also a helicopter hangar and 16-tank fueling station on site. It's listed for $12.9 million.

But the niche accents that add to the price don't scare Narkiewicz. His biggest challenge in selling properties off the beaten path like this one in Riverview, is to persuade business owners to hear him out.
His marketing plan consists of “overturning every rock on the planet,” calling CFOs and CEOs in all industries to take a look at the property, Narkiewicz says. Using lists he buys, he initiates conversations by cold calling rather than waiting for prospects to drive by and see his sign.

Knowing that a business owner has a hard time picturing relocating a headquarters to a remote property, the 39-year-old broker does whatever he can to get the person to make a visit to the site. Often, he'll offer prospects a $200 gift card to Outback just for giving him a chance. “It's all about showing people you respect their time,” he says.

Once he gets a prospect to the property, he helps them form a vision of how the property could be used for their company. For the Kearney property, he's worked to convince business owners that they could convert the building into a multitenant office building, by cutting in a few windows and adding a concrete deck. “Then you'd have 180,000 square feet of office space at a fraction of the cost,” he says.

He's also tried to float the possibility of converting it to a satellite college campus or medical facility.

If converted to office space, Narkiewicz says the property could be leased for half the cost of a building in downtown Tampa, where the average lease is around $24 per square foot. The location, in Madison Business Center, may feel remote, but it's less than 10 miles from downtown Tampa, Narkiewicz says. “You wouldn't build a multitenant office space here, but it's already here.”

Narkiewicz's marketing techniques have always been a bit contrarian, he admits, but that's why they're effective, he says. He sees being out of the norm, like sending emails at 3 p.m. on Friday or focusing on direct mail campaigns, as a way to stand out. “Who sends direct mail anymore?” he says, pointing to himself. “This guy. When everybody's not sending direct mail anymore, that's when you do it.”