COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE PROFILE: Don Paxton

DON PAXTON
Founder, President, Director of Development Beneficial Co

Don Paxton has been involved in the development of more than 175 multifamily communities throughout Florida and two dozen other states throughout his career. In 2001, he founded Beneficial Communities after working for Picerne Development Corp. and Brisben Development. Today, Beneficial builds both market rate, senior and affordable communities. Its portfolio includes the Maple Crest Apartments in Fort Myers and the Oaks at Stone Fountain in Tampa, and the company is planning new communities in Miami, Sarasota and elsewhere in Florida.

What's your assessment of the multifamily market along Florida's Gulf Coast? Still healthy?
I think it is. My general sense is the market remains strong in terms of both occupancy and rents, and wherever we're looking at projects the fundamentals are strong. Occupancy remains up, and that would be the first thing we would see that would dip in a downturn, followed by rents, which trail behind but are more important to the overall equation. Developers are always looking to rents or projected rents to sustain the cost of construction and land and to provide returns to investors.