MIAMITODAY
WEEK OF THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2016
SERVING SOUTH FLORIDA’S MOST IMPORTANT AUDIENCE
How a dual company expanded into its Allapattah home
Gavin McKenzie had a mural of his father, Olin McKenzie Sr., painted on his Allapattah headquarters.
By Susan Danseyar Benji Power spent his youth in Miami and, similar to others who initially find fault with their home town, said he didn’t realize until returning from college that this is a great city. He’s always loved the energy of thriving metropolises so went off to study them. After earning his bachelor’s from the University of Pennsylvania with a double major in urban studies and psychology, he went to live in Cambridge, MA, where he attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There he completed masters in real estate development and in city planning. “My goal in life has been to make cities better places to live,” he said. “When I was a teenager, I complained about things in Miami like its sprawled design, but when I came back here and recognized all that’s good about it, I decided the city might need my help.” So Mr. Power immersed himself in it,
working for the City of Miami, for a nonprofit affordable housing development organization and then as an urban planning and real estate development consultant on historic preservation strategies. In 2013, he met Gavin McKenzie, owner/CEO of McKenzie Construction, a general contractor company he established in 2005 for residential and commercial clients. He had just begun the millwork division, McKenzie Craft, and hired Mr. Power to be chief operations officer of both companies. The graduate of the University of Florida came back home to Miami with a degree in political science and a minor in business and started working for Lennar Homes. After a year or so, he said, he wanted something “more creative and small scale,” so he raised money, bought an apartment building in Little Havana and converted it to condos with a newly formed team of craftsmen. After he sold all the units, Mr. McKen-
zie started buying single-family residences in South Miami to fix them up and sell them. Wilma hit Florida in October 2005, a family friend called him and his team to come to Key West, which saw a lot of damage from the hurricane. Mr. McKenzie went to the island city known in large part for its pastel conchstyle houses and worked there for about a year, repairing homes with the crew he’d already assembled. Thus, McKenzie Construction was born. When its founder made his way back to Miami, he started working on houses here as well as retail and commercial projects. The first store McKenzie did was Kartell in the Design District. Other projects include Miami Ad School’s new campus in Wynwood, in conjunction with Craft and architect Alan Shulman’s firm Shulman + Associates, collaborating with street artists including Kislow, NYCHOS, and Seth the Globepainter; Eberjey Boutique in South Beach and South Miami; the build-out of the first Coyo Taco in Wynwood; and build-out of Jugo Fresh’s headquarters located between Little Haiti and MiMo along with its expansions at Wynwood Walls, Santona Corner in Coral Gables, Miracle Mile and its two locations in South Beach; as well as the construction of many single-family homes. After five or six years as a general contractor, McKenzie Construction stopped self-performing work and subcontracted most of it. However, Mr. McKenzie said he began to miss doing the actual work himself, which is why he opened the millwork division. He said he wanted to produce highend carpentry that he could integrate into the construction projects and not have to rely on subcontractors for this artisan-
quality work. Along with the millwork division, the company’s tagline includes “Design,” Mr. Power said, because all of McKenzie’s work is intertwined with it; the company actively participates in the design process with all clients, no matter what service they’ve hired the company to perform. Now Mr. McKenzie is making custom-made furniture and built-in pieces for private homes, condominiums and commercial establishments such as TKS Coconut Grove, Whole Foods Downtown Café, Burger and Beer Brickell, and the temporary installation of the “Evolution of Miami” for a collaboration between Miami’s Jacob Brillhart and Spain’s Manuel Clavel-Rojo at Dawntown Miami in 2013. Soon after Craft’s opening, the twopart McKenzie operation grew significantly and needed to expand into a larger space together, Mr. Power said. The 10-
year-old construction operation had grown steadily every year, he said. The company’s size quadrupled between 2012 and 2015, going from a staff of 18 to 76. Today, Mr. Power said, they’re completing some 20 construction projects and over 60 Craft projects per year. Right around 2013, separate from the birth of Craft, McKenzie started taking on projects for which it offered clients the design-build construction service model. Consequently, it began running projects in which it hired and managed the architect for the client. In 2015, McKenzie formalized the design-build service by creating an internal team of five architects who serve as the clients’ full-service architect. For about 25% of their jobs, Mr. McKenzie said, they’re evolving into a “one-stop shop.” With so much work and 76 employees, McKenzie needed more “elbow room,” Mr. Power said, and now has it in
a renovated, spacious Allapattah warehouse. They’re part of the community, Mr. Power said, committed to seeing the neighborhood thrive in a balanced fashion that accommodates new businesses and investors as well as the people who’ve called Allapattah home for many years. Given his professional start in real estate and urban planning, Mr. Power said he’s a bit concerned about heavy displacement in this part of the city and would like to see more affordable housing rise. He and Mr. McKenzie are already discussing issues that affect the neighborhood with about 15 stakeholders. Eventually, Mr. Power said, they’d like to hold monthly or bimonthly meetings to address concerns toward becoming a unified voice whenever needs arise.
MIAMITODAY
WEEK OF THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2016
SERVING SOUTH FLORIDA’S MOST IMPORTANT AUDIENCE
Construction firm, millwork division fit right into Allapattah
In McKenzie’s warehouse, welding and building take place on the first floor, offices are on the second.
By Susan Danseyar Despite being a fourth-generation Miamian, Gavin McKenzie was completely unaware of Allapattah until beginning to search for a building in the as-yet unfamiliar part of the city a few years ago. He drove through the area a few times but didn’t know anything about the neighborhood. In fact, Mr. McKenzie said, you’d probably not even know where Allapattah was located unless you studied Miami’s layout for a particular reason. At the time, McKenzie Construction, which is his boutique design-focused general contractor company for residential and commercial clients, was in Little River; and McKenzie Craft, its custom millwork division, was in Little Haiti. However, both companies had rapidly expanded and outgrown their facilities. “We wanted both businesses under one roof,” Mr. McKenzie said. “It was important to us that we stay in the city of Miami and we needed to be in a D1 neighborhood [industrially zoned with manufacturing allowed].”
Photo by Marlene Quaroni
Chief Operating Officer Benji Power works with carpenter Bismark Vega in the vintage 1938 warehouse.
With those stipulations, he said the choices were Wynwood, Little Haiti and Little River, where prices were already $100 a square foot in 2014. That was the impetus to look in Allapattah, Mr. McKenzie said, where that year he and his partners bought a 25,000square-foot warehouse for $40 a square foot. Built in 1938, it was most recently owned by a wholesale shoe tradesman and at some point had been used for storing plumbing supplies. “I fell in love with this building,” Mr. McKenzie said. “I liked the bones, the charm – everything about it.” However, he admits to having “a little trepidation” about the neighborhood, which is northwest of downtown and a few miles east of Miami International Airport. “I wasn’t sure if it was too edgy to bring our high-end clients.” Within a short time, however, Mr. McKenzie realized it was a litmus test. When he told people about the warehouse he and his partners were buying in Allapattah, he found himself losing in-
terest in those who reacted poorly to a neighborhood that simply had not yet caught on. Today, Mr. McKenzie and his Chief Operating Officer Benji Power have a long-term lease to run the two-company operation out of the redeveloped warehouse at Northwest 17th Avenue and 23rd Street, the heart of a multicultural and diverse community in Allapattah. Just two years after Mr. McKenzie and his partners bought the building for about $1 million, they sold it for $3.5 million. Outside, murals tell a bit about Mr. McKenzie’s background and what’s important in his life: one of the Everglades to illustrate his love for environmental sustainability; and another of his father, Olin McKenzie Sr., working with tools. “We didn’t have a face to put on the building so I had a mural painted of him,” his son said. “It’s a great homage to my father for instilling in me a love of craftsmanship. We built a boat together when I was young and then moved up to building furniture.”
Inside, the two-story warehouse has all the industrial features the companies need: high ceilings for equipment and storage, wide-open spaces for the shop, tools and materials that the design team uses for creating customized pieces from wood, metal and concrete; and offices for the in-house architectural and construction staff, as well as project managers, superintendents and skilled tradesmen. The two companies are separate corporations with distinct philosophies but can partner on projects, should customers request that service. So there’s an actual and psychological interplay between the two divisions, with staff working together as well as sharing creative ideas and space. In addition to the practical requirements, the warehouse has been fixed up with the comfort of its 70 employees in mind and their quality of life during the work day. Toward that end, there’s art on the walls, along with designated spaces for yoga and meditation. That’s one reason McKenzie Construction was voted “The Coolest Office Space” for 2016 in a local media contest. Features that won this designation included a communal first floor with its mix of welding and building; office workers upstairs able to look down on the goings-on through the glass walls; amenities such as an outdoor basketball
court; and Kegerator with two local craft beers on tap. A large open kitchen is lined with finely-crafted wood shelves and furniture for the workers to cook and prepare for monthly gatherings that McKenzie hosts for clients. Mr. McKenzie grew up visiting the Everglades, “the only natural wilderness we have.” As he learns more about it, he’s become more focused on protecting it. On a regular basis, the warehouse opens its doors to The Everglades Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit founded in 1993 by local outdoor enthusiasts that is dedicated to restoring and protecting the unique ecosystem through grants partnerships and advocacy with policymakers who affect the subtropical wetland. McKenzie has also hosted fundraising efforts for The Friends of the Everglades. In just a short time, word has gotten out about this warehouse. “We have a lot of clients who’ve heard about the building,” Mr. McKenzie said. “Our brokers who were involved with [both sides of the sale] show the warehouse to prospective clients from time to time.” McKenzie Construction and McKenzie Craft leaders are growing increasing involved in the local community and have been getting together in the warehouse with some 15 stakeholders to discuss neighborhood concerns. Both Mr.
Power and Mr. McKenzie said they’d like to hold monthly meetings to hear from other from other business and building owners in Allapattah toward gaining understanding of their individual and collective needs. Their lease allows them to remain in the warehouse until 2029 but they hope to stay even longer. The neighborhood is alive, a place where people are always around working and socializing, Mr. Power said. He said he feels comfortable in Allapattah and “excited to have the opportunity of playing a role as an active stakeholder.” As Mr. McKenzie became more familiar with the neighborhood they moved the business into, he said he realized it has a wonderful “buzz.” He’s also totally at ease in Allapattah and loves coming into this part of the city each day. In many ways, the warehouse looks like a home with its comfortable spaces for workers; evening gatherings for clients and environmentalists working to protect a unique ecosystem; and fourlegged Braley, who was found near McKenzie Craft’s first workshop in Little Haiti and has been a part of the team ever since. Details: http://www.buildmckenzie.com