All in the Family

REVIEW SUMMARY
Company. DeBartolo Development LLC, Tampa
Commercial properties owned. 45
Total square footage of all commercial owned. 9.3 million (As of Oct. 5)

Thirty-two years ago, Ed Kobel set out with a Veterans Affairs loan and a healthy dose of ambition.

Never knowing his father and raised by a single mother in a blue collar Pittsburgh neighborhood, the 21-year-old had just returned to civilian life from four years spent in the Army. With slim savings, Kobel used the government-backed loan to buy a Colorado apartment complex. From that single property, Kobel was able to amass a portfolio of more than 80 apartment buildings.