Invest: Tampa Bay 2021

Page 82

James Fox President Maddox Group

What is your take on the future of office space in terms of layout and design? In my world, we rely on brokers, so we have a lot of commercial brokers that we use as resources and we speak to all of them often. These are big companies, the CBREs, the Cushman & Wakefields and the JLLs of the world. They have their research teams doing their due diligence because this is their life. What we are hearing is that the percentage of people who want to work from home after this pandemic is behind us is not as high as people may think. Most people want their teams back in the office. They want that team camaraderie back. As a business owner myself, we went through that in the office portion of things. We had 20 people in the office, and we were rotating. Every third or fourth week there would be a team in there, then they would work from home for a few weeks. Since then, we have all been back in the office. Home office works better for the employee, obviously, but as an owner, I want my team there. I like to see the teams bonding and I like the team synergy. On the flip side, there will certainly be some downsizing of space because maybe not everybody needs to be in an office. It all depends on the nature of each business. However, I am sure we will see some tenants giving space back to the buildings in 2021. What are the main priorities for Maddox Group in the near term? From a company standpoint, we always want to accomplish more than we did the year before. All things considered; we had a good year in 2020. The largescale picture is to build off that. Opportunity is afoot if you have been standing strong throughout, just as we are. Equally as important is to continue operating with the highest of construction safety standards and following protocols under the CDC guidelines during these unprecedented times. Maddox Group will adapt accordingly to the changing times, taking care of all staff and clients present and future. 80

| Invest: Tampa Bay 2021 | CONSTRUCTION & INFRASTRUCTURE

One study showed that 71% of contractors had experienced at least one material shortage There is enough supply in the United States on the construction products front. Most of our materials suffered no delays. We had a few things, such as electrical switchgear coming in from Mexico, that got delayed. The same with elevator parts. We needed to ensure we were tracking them early enough to make sure they got here. We had to do a good job of calling our vendors, making sure they were on top of the delivery time frames to avoid any delays. Opportunities to prove ourselves and get things done also presented themselves amid these supply chain pressures,” he told Invest:. One more related issue that resulted from the pandemic was a decline in skilled labor in the industry. Already there was a dearth of capable workers in the construction sector nationwide. This was not helped by COVID and, in some cases, closed borders. What developers are now facing is a reluctance to get back to work after spending the year at home, living off money from PPP loans. There is concern that, if unemployment benefits in the state remain as high as they are, people will continue to be unwilling to show up at the job. Another challenge faced by the construction sector in Tampa is the availability of land. Certain government actions are seeking to address this issue. One is creating a more streamlined system for issuing permits that allow development on Florida’s wetlands, much to the anger of local environmental groups. There has also been a backlash by developers against the board of county commissioners for their implementation of new growth restrictions and high impact fees. Still, despite all these obstacles, the industry is positioning itself to take advantage of what is widely expected to be a post-pandemic boom. There is a widely held belief that mixed-use developments are going to be more in demand from buyers. The Rome Yard site ( )


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Market voices: Tampa Bay hotels

3min
pages 176-177

Interview: Joe Collier, President

3min
pages 178-180

Perspectives: Growth outlook

2min
page 174

Interview: Steve Hayes

2min
page 175

Interview: Benjamin Tran

9min
pages 171-173

Interview: Jackie Mangar

7min
pages 168-170

Interview: Santiago Corrada

2min
page 167

Eye on the future: Tampa Bay

2min
page 166

Interview: Frank Ghannadian

3min
page 159

Interview: Angela Falconetti

4min
pages 160-161

Perspective: Lessons learned

2min
page 156

Perspective: Teacher burnout

2min
page 157

Roundtable: The future of

5min
pages 154-155

Perspective: Growth strategy

3min
page 153

Interview: Anne Kerr, President

5min
pages 150-152

Interview: Shane Donaldson

5min
pages 144-147

Interview: Steven Currall

2min
page 149

Altered landscape: Education in

1min
page 148

Interview: Nathan Walcker

5min
pages 141-143

Interview: Al Hernandez, Public

5min
pages 139-140

Perspectives: Innovation

5min
pages 137-138

Interview: John Couris

2min
page 136

Interview: Ravi Chari

3min
page 134

Interview: Dr. Patrick Hwu

2min
page 133

Perspectives: Wealth

8min
pages 127-131

Interview: Sean Simpson

2min
page 126

Interview: Brooke Mirenda

5min
pages 122-124

Market voices: Banking outlook

2min
page 125

Market voices: Financial

4min
pages 120-121

Interview: Bill Habermeyer

6min
pages 116-118

Interview: Paul Anderson

7min
pages 105-109

Interview: Rita Lowman

2min
page 119

Interview: Jim Daly, Regional

2min
page 111

Roundtable: Community banks

6min
pages 114-115

Interview: Karl Kaliebe

4min
pages 103-104

Interview: Damon Moorer

4min
pages 112-113

Financial magnet: Strong

1min
page 110

Interview: Brad Miller, CEO

2min
page 98

Interview: Thomas Jewsbury

9min
pages 99-102

Interview: Joe Lopano, CEO

2min
page 97

Interview: Tyler Kovarik, Vice

8min
pages 90-93

Interview: T. J. Szelistowski

2min
pages 94-95

Conundrum: Mass transit

1min
page 96

Interview: Fred Lay, President

2min
page 89

Roundtable: Powering the

5min
pages 86-88

Interview: Mark Metheny

3min
pages 84-85

Interview: James Fox,President

3min
page 82

Roundtable: An atypical year

9min
pages 78-81

Perspectives: Outlook

2min
page 77

Interview: Brian Diehl, Regional

3min
pages 75-76

Keeping up: Residential and

2min
page 74

Roundtable: Commercial real

9min
pages 70-73

Interview: Brian Andrus, Broker

2min
page 69

Market voices: Developing for

7min
pages 66-68

Interview: Bowen Arnold

10min
pages 63-65

Interview: John Carey

6min
pages 60-62

Resilient: Tampa Bay’s live, work

2min
page 58

Interview: Andrew Wright, CEO

2min
page 59

Market voices: Adapting

5min
pages 54-55

Interview: V. Raymond Ferrara

4min
pages 56-57

Interview: Natalie King, Vice

4min
pages 52-53

Interview: Joel Stevens, Senior

2min
page 49

Roundtable: Legal landscape

6min
pages 50-51

Perspectives: Professional

2min
page 48

Interview: David Simmons

3min
page 44

Interview: Hala Sandridge

2min
page 41

Market voices: Legal focus

8min
pages 45-47

Pivotal role: The region’s

2min
page 40

Interview: Greg Kadet

4min
pages 42-43

Interview: Denise Sanderson

5min
pages 36-39

Market voices: Economic

3min
pages 34-35

Roundtable: County officials

5min
pages 32-33

Interview: Jerome Ryans

2min
page 31

Interview: Sean Malott

3min
pages 24-25

Market voices: City growth

6min
pages 28-30

Interview: Carole Post

4min
pages 15-16

Roundtable: Future of the Bay

5min
pages 22-23

Interview: J. P. DuBuque

2min
page 17

Interview: Chuck Sykes

5min
pages 26-27

Interview: Ana Cruz, Managing

7min
pages 18-21

Diverse landscape: Tourism

2min
page 14
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