The Exchanges

Q traditional, you want to build lots of boxy Square buildings to pack as many people in as you can to get maximum amount of money per square foot and you want to have You know, retail locations and centers so people can, are attracted to go there, and all kinds of things. That was not the vision here. What was gonna make this totally different? How are you describing it?

A You know, building a new city, as they said, is, is complex, and when you're trying to be innovative, it's, it's, it's even more difficult. But the vision was, was very clear. I remember, you know, when we first announced that we were gonna buy Babcock Ranch, and, and then we had a press conference, and I said, I want this to be the most sustainable new city In the world. And a reporter raised his hand and said, and said, uh, Mr. Kittson, what does that mean? What does sustainability mean? This is in 2005. That's how far things have come. There was no iPhones, no iPads. It was just a, just a different time. But we laid out a vision, one that was, uh, to prove that, that the environment and a new town, a new city can work hand in hand. And we put together these seven initiatives. And this is, this, this is really the heart and soul Of what Babcock Ranch is. We said we're going to focus on the environment, which meant we were going to preserve the wetlands. We're going to, we're going to make the wetlands part of this great place. Rather than taking a bulldozer and, and covering them over, they were going to be part of the landscape of Babcock Ranch. Energy was critical to us. We wanted to be the first solar power town in America. And back in, again, 2005, people were looking at us going, solar energy? You're going to have this town powered by solar energy? We wanted to focus on …

AI assessment note: “I said, I want this to be the most sustainable new city In the world.”

Q And that's what you were doing? You were, you were buying homes and fixing them up?

A No, I actually, I, I teamed up with a couple of local, uh, business leaders, and we actually started to go out and buy some property to subdivide. So I got right into the development business almost from the beginning. You know, it's really interesting. I think most entrepreneurs or, or, or businessmen, they, they, there's sort of a moment in their lives where they discover what it is they want to do. And I think it was Where I, I was up in New Jersey, I saw this failed property, and there was a sign out front, and it was a golf course community that was trying to get off the ground. I made a cold call to the owners and, uh, and I'll make a very long story, very short. I convinced them to let me manage and operate their property. Soup to nuts. Build the houses, manage the golf, replat it, redesign it, build the clubhouse, do all those things. And, um, it turned out to be a big success. I had, and it was a great experience, and I remember thinking, oh, this, This is life changing because this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to build master plan communities. And then in. We had the opportunity to take over a project that was failing in Florida and, and really enjoyed, uh, what Florida was all about. And the opportunities down in Florida were so much greater than up in the Northeast, um, where prices were going up, you're competing with builders and, um, And a…

AI assessment note: “No, I actually, I, I teamed up with a couple of local, uh, business leaders”

Q designed to withstand natural disasters like hurricanes and floods. One of the crucial ideas here, in addition to building a new city, was, um, to make it resilient to the elements. And so that means that it had to be built in a certain way to withstand a Category V hurricane. Um, so what, what, tell me what that means. How do you make a category five hurricane resilient city?

A You know, it starts from day one when you start planning it. So we went back and looked at maps from the 19 forties of Babcock Ranch. Because what we wanted to do was to have all of the water going to the natural flow ways of the land. So in, in, and in order to do that, you really have to identify because over the years there's farming, they've, they put in canals, they drain the land, but you have to find where the, the natural flow ways of where that water wants to go. And we, we did, we went, we went all the way back and then we designed around those and we kept all the wetlands in place. And one of the things that, one of the things I try and tell people is mother nature is going to put that water where it wants to put that water. You can do all you want, but, but mother nature is going to win every single time. So we, we said, let's work with the nature. Let's not work against it. And, and sure enough, we found those natural flow ways. We preserved all those areas and we used it as part of our water management system. So we have this water management system that has natural flow ways, and then all the wetlands that we kept within Babcock Ranch. We, we kept the wetlands, and it, it's beautiful, by the way, because it's part of who we are, but, uh, we also, uh, added more wetlands, and these were, these store and, and, uh, take on an enormous amount of water, and then we ha…

AI assessment note: “we designed around those and we kept all the wetlands in place.”

Q I mean, once it's fully populated, you know, I know one of the ideas was to create an environment where people don't really have to commute. They don't have to drive to Fort Myers or to Tampa or wherever, or Naples for jobs. That, that the, that there will be jobs there in, in the community. How, how will you attract businesses, companies to build office space, headquarters, industry there?

A It is important. You need to have the jobs here so people don't have to commute. And to be truly sustainable, that is one of the, you know, key initiatives. So you're a hundred percent right. And we are attracting businesses here. As a matter of fact, a lot of the people here that, uh, that moved here, uh, opened up businesses here and half of the people here work from home. That's a, and that's something we didn't expect. The number of people that actually, uh, don't, don't leave because they, they work from their homes, they have a gigabit, uh, and they, so it's very convenient, easy for them to, uh, to do that, and as we grow, we have six million square feet of commercial space, and, uh, we, we've already built, uh, you know, several 100,000 square feet, and, and are about to start several 100,000 more feet. Now, will they be large headquarters? You know, that world's changing.

AI assessment note: “people that moved here opened up businesses here and half of the people work from home”