Clark Pattah, 35

Vice President, Pattah Development, Sylvan Lake

Employees: 150 • Revenue: NA • College: Wayne State University

In 2010, shortly after graduating from St. Mary’s Preparatory High School in Orchard Lake, Clark Pattah did what comes naturally in his family: He started his own business.

“I bought two used trucks from a guy who wanted to get out of the maintenance business and I started taking care of my family’s properties,” Pattah says. “Then I started maintaining our larger centers. My company now cleans the parking lots of all the major malls in the area.”

Pattah says his success with Eagle Eye Maintenance and his other commercial real estate ventures is based on an enduring tenet learned from his father, Sam, and three uncles: Build relationships that last throughout the years with everybody we know.

“Now we have 12 trucks; we do Walmart, Lowes, and the big national players because of those relationships,” he says. “I still have four of the drivers I started with way back when.”

His main focus, however, is commercial real estate development and investment. The family owns Pattah Development Co. in Sylvan Lake, which acquires and manages more than 2 million square feet of commercial space.

In 2006, the Pattah group acquired 16 closed Farmer Jack stores, converting some to their brand, Fresh Choice Markets, and repositioning the rest into drug stores, strip malls, and other businesses. His three older brothers operate the markets.

“I’m in the office handling the real estate with my Uncle Jerry, and he’s been around forever,” says Pattah, the father of three boys, all under 5 years old, who he helps raise with his wife, Vanessa. “Every broker knows who (my Uncle Jerry) is. He’s been a huge part of my life.”

Looking ahead, the company is developing six ground-up sites, including an entire block in Chicago for the U.S. Social Security Administration. This year they added Stadium Center shopping center in Port Huron and Glencoe Crossing Shopping Plaza in Ann Arbor to their roster of clients.

Pattah also co-founded Cosmos Salon Studios, which has nine locations where more than 300 cosmetologists — from hairstylists to Botox specialists — rent space. “We give our professionals an opportunity to own their own business instead of working for somebody else,” he says. “They have their own space with 24-hour access. It’s another brand of real estate.”

Norm Sinclair