Man of the land

Had a few more sales broken his way at the Irwin Yacht & Marine Corp. in the 1970s, Bruce Erhardt might never have considered a more terrestrial occupation.

But after his father introduced him to a commercial real estate broker at J.L. Hearin, Erhardt cast off from the boat business to focus on industrial deals — just months before brokerage Cushman & Wakefield bought the firm.

Settling in with a new firm and a new job, Erhardt came across officials from the predecessor of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, who were searching for a site for a new lab in Florida.