Newton Land Development
Seeing the Possibilities that Produce the Solutions
The era of the “Renaissance Man,” the master of multiple disciplines like science, art, history and architecture, has given way to individual experts in ever narrowing fields of specialization. Therefore, the modern Renaissance individual is often one who can identify and coordinate various specialists, who together can accomplish a much larger goal.
John Newton has spent his career, as a banker and in managing various types of professional and industrial developments, not only in honing his skills, but also in finding the professional talent base he can draw from to meet the specific needs and challenges his clients face. “Often a professional will need to expand their facilities,” Newton explains, “and these bright, successful people frequently consider managing their own construction projects. However, they are sometimes quite naive about what is involved in carrying such a project from conception to completion. In fact, usually they don’t even know the right questions to ask at the beginning and therefore waste a lot of time, which equals both energy and money, driving towards a dead end.”
Client Advocate
What’s more, Newton has found that those who take on this daunting task themselves face a 12-18 month distraction, often spend more money, and ultimately end up with a final product that may not fit their needs in terms of cost, location or adaptability for future expansion.
“As a client advocate, we know the questions to ask. For instance, a physician may be considering an expensive parcel on a primary traffic corridor. But his patients don’t come to him because they see his signage; they come because they are referred to him by their primary physician. That location would be as costly as it is unnecessary. We also have a finely honed portfolio of talented engineers, architects and contractors who have proven experience in the type of facility they need. Therefore, when a job is put out to bid, you’re getting specific, not general, expertise at each juncture.”
Newton remarks, “Did I mention the permitting and environmental regulation labyrinth you have to navigate through? Our focus is on ‘process management’, helping our clients through each stage, utilizing the most qualified people available and drawing on our own experience whether we are wrestling with site design or financing options.”
Looking Beyond the Past
One of the areas of expertise Newton’s in-house team has worked on refining to an art, is redesigning or refitting a building for uses the original owner or tenant perhaps never considered. In a market where prices on existing and vacant buildings are at memorable lows, yet the cost of new construction is still relatively high, Newton saw an opportunity. He thought of using an Albertson’s, which had sat vacant and was quickly becoming an eyesore with no big-box retailers in sight, as a great location for Keiser University. The concept worked and has been repeated for other clients.
This combination of careful analysis and strategic adaptation was something his development mentor, Gary Cunningham of CIA Developers, helped him cultivate. He also credits his father, a USAF colonel who grew up on a farm. “Dad always had a project for me to do,” he says rolling his eyes. “At the time it sort of bothered me, but later I realized he was subtly training me to solve problems, to adapt to challenges and to never take ‘No’ for an answer. They are lessons that I’ll never forget.”
Key Elements
Newton always knew he wanted to run his own business but wasn’t sure what business. When interviewing after graduating from college, one of his main questions was, “What do you do every day?” Being confined to an office where you didn’t get to see how your part fit into the greater whole had little appeal. That is what drew him initially to banking. “In the beginning, the money wasn’t great,” he admits, “but I had the opportunity to learn what it takes to build a thriving business and how successful people think and work.”
Newton’s Laws
There are a few other lessons, we might call “Newton’s Laws,” that he developed along the way.
According to Newton, the first key to success is developing a team around you who have the necessary skill sets from which to draw. Newton is quick to identify his co-workers at Newton Land – Brenda Boren Corliss, Floyd White, Rich Mehalik and Richard Freeman – as his own group of All-Stars. “Gary Cunningham taught me to get the best people and then let them do the work, without micro management.”
Secondly, most developers, when either designing or redesigning a building or complex, base their planning on a single tenant. “We don’t look at an existing building as it is or how it has been used, but instead we look at the possibilities for what is could be,” Newton explained.
Thirdly, he points out that when working with a client his team wants to know not just what they want to do with a building when they move in, but where do they want their business to be in five years or ten years?
These simple strategies have helped Newton forge a developer/client relationship that produces a shared vision and a dynamic synergy which is spelling success in one of the most challenging markets in recent history.
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