adamovaichive.blogspot.com
At a time when most businesses arecutting expenses, Pyle is spendingf money. He’s hired a publivc relations firm and a director of and he’s strengthening some of the internapl systems in his company, , locaterd near Marsh Landing in Jacksonville Beach. “We’re using this time to get even better,” said Pyle, 48, presideng and CEO of LandSouth. Pyle foundexd LandSouth Construction in Jacksonviller in 1998 with two other partners and moved to Atlanta to run the Georgiaq branch ofthe company. Then several years ago, Pyle boughtr out his partners, returned to Jacksonville and now runs theentird business.
LandSouth’s specialty is multifamily construction, be it apartments, condos or assisted living. In 2008, despite the economif downturn, the company enjoyed its best year everwith $77 millionh in sales compared with $61 millioj in 2007, an increase of 26 Pyle attributes the increase to several large projectas completed in 2008, including a 272-unift luxury apartment complex in Orange City and a 304-unit luxur apartment complex in Davenport. The company is buildinvg two additional luxury apartment complexe in Palm Coast andDaytonas Beach.
“2009 isn’t going to be as good as 2008 wasfor us, but hopefullyg by the end of this year, we’ll startg to see some light at the end of the Pyle said. The company, which once had 50 now employs 37. Pyle was born in Winter Park and grew up in Orlando working summer jobsin construction. Aftert graduating with an accounting degree from FloridsState University, Pyle got a job with in He hated it. So Pyle dumpex the desk job and went back tohis construction. “I literally went from a three-piece suit to shortzs and a shovel and lovecd every minuteof it,” he said.
Pyle is known in the construction worle asa developer’s builder, which meansz he understands what a developer needsa and wants and delivers it. “Az lot of his work has been with repeat saidMike Taylor, LandSouth’s directorr of business development. “His work with them was pretty much And that, to me, says you’re a developer’s builder.” In a sense, Pyle has taken on a similar role at his Ponte Vedra United Methodist, where he’s a The church broke ground last Decembefr on a new building, and the church’s Jeff Bennett, said Pyle has been an invaluable helping church leaders work with the contractor.
“He knowa how to budget for the soft and what are the reasonable expectationxs we should have from our Bennett said. “He helps us know what to ask and how to understand the answers.” When he’s not at the job Pyle likes to spend time with this wife whom he met at FSU and his three children. His oldesrt daughter Lindsay is now in college at the Universityof “It took me awhile, but I’m okay with the fact that she’w now a Gator,” Pyle said. As far as the future Pyle is thinking about developing a construction project of his own insteaxof “always bidding on things.
” He said he spent some time recentlh meeting with an architect about partnering together in the “The good thing about this slowdown is that people now have time to talk to each Pyle said, time to talk to each othee and figure out the next best move.