Capitalism leads the way

Officials at Benderson Development, by far the largest retail developer in the Sarasota-Bradenton market, and one of biggest landlords on the Gulf Coast, get the “why?” question a lot.
As in, why does the firm continue to build and develop when it already has so much?

It comes in the form of letters to the editor in area papers, public hearings and around water coolers and neighborhood gatherings. It most recently came from a luncheon panel discussion on the next five years of development around the busy Interstate 75-University Parkway corridor in east Manatee County and north Sarasota. One person at the lunch, presented by the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance and Manatee Tiger Bay Club, asked panelist and Benderson Director of Florida leasing Mark Chait straight up: Why does Benderson keep on building?

Chait responded frankly for a firm that places a premium on its privacy and divulges little about its intentions and strategies. “At the heart of it, we are capitalists,” says Chait. “We are business people. We rely on data. Then we take our chances and do the best we can.”