Ken Stiles CEO & Board Director Stiles Corporation
How did the company adapt as it moved through the pandemic? It was quite the challenge in the beginning but I am extremely proud that we were able to get through that. We had been working on 12 to 15 projects prior to COVID throughout South Florida, the Carolinas and Tennessee. We’ve had the ability to stay on track when equity really dried up for about three months and cities were shutting down and inspections and city permitting officers were not available. Fighting through all of those challenges on the construction and development sides, coming out of it and still having a great pipeline moving forward is something to be proud of. That’s something that’s going to keep us moving forward for the next several years. Have you seen a shift in where foreign investment coming to South Florida is landing? We are still seeing some foreign investment. Prior to COVID you were seeing a shift from Miami toward here. But I think that was about pricing. When you look at Fort Lauderdale Beach and compare it with condos in Miami Beach and Aventura that were selling for $2,000 a foot, and you look at some of the stuff we are finishing around here, it was probably $1,000 cheaper than you could get in Miami. On the actual ownership side, we are not seeing quite as much. The amount of South American investment in the past two years has definitely dwindled but you are seeing that uptick from the Northeast, New York and New Jersey. So, you are still seeing investment but there’s a larger shift to domestic investment coming from the Northeast. How have changing habits by the younger generations affected real estate trends? On the technology side, what we’ve been doing for the millennials in our buildings is more of a lifestyle element. We haven’t done a lot of industrial in a few years, but there has been a shift in retail lately that points to the possibility for additional last point-of-sale operational hubs. 96
| Invest: Greater Fort Lauderdale 2021 | CONSTRUCTION
Housing developers in Fort Lauderdale are looking at ways to develop more weather-resistant housing options
( ) While operating in such an atypical and fastchanging environment, communication, crisis management, re-strategizing both supply chain management and procurement practices have been key factors in maintaining delivery schedules and best containing price hikes. “It makes you schedule items a lot earlier than you might have scheduled before. You must do additional planning and have more communication with trade partners,” Taylor told Invest:. “We are staying closely connected with our resources, so we are continuously aware of their inventory and any potential supply interruptions. Frequently, we’re procuring products earlier than required and putting these products in storage to have it ready for the job. We also require additional cooperation from the owners and financial institutions, as they must finance this process of early procurement. It takes continual communication and planning to keep the projects on schedule.” he said.
