Realty team helps shape condos across the region

Michael Saunders & Co. is known as one of the largest real estate firms in the region, with $3.23 billion in sales volume in 2023.

But the firm also does a lot unseen work for projects and more, through its Developer Services division. Simon Bacon, executive director of that unit for the Sarasota-based firm, has collaborated with developers on about 90 projects over the years, he estimates, offering its expertise years before a shovel hits the ground through sellout of the building. Some recent collaborations include the St. Regis on Longboat Key and the Residences at 400 Central in St. Petersburg.

The division is especially relevant today, as developers from Naples to Tampa grapple with a slew of challenges. That ranges from the big-picture, such as a percolating conversation some communities are having over limits on growth — one Manatee County commissioner recently suggested a building moratorium —to the day-to-day, like labor and materials costs, and more recently, of course, tariffs.