- February 2, 2026
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A business owner in Sarasota County who recently opened a brand-new $6.8 million headquarters says he is in wait-and-see mode as far as growing further due to the economy.
Vladimir Durshpek, founder and CEO of transportation and logistics company D-Trans in Venice, had been planning for years to build a 27,000-square-foot building on Commerce Drive.
When the Business Observer spoke with Dursphek a couple of years ago, he had expected to move into the new headquarters in November 2023.
In fact, he says in an interview this summer inside the space, the company did not actually open the building until January 2025.
Construction took longer than anticipated, he says, due to material and labor shortages post-COVID and hurricanes.
Having a new headquarters now provides a positive environment for employees as well as “stronger footing,” Durshpek says.
Among the highlights are a coffee and espresso bar on the first floor, airy office spaces on the second and third floors and break areas filled with windows.
“New infrastructure brings in new opportunities,” says Dursphek. The new building also includes warehouse space.
D-Trans provides transportation and logistics services for high-value cargo, such as alcohol, computers, sports equipment and medical devices, according to Dursphek.
Just recently, the company began delivering pharmaceuticals, an area where it plans to expand. D-Trans can offer temperature-controlled transport and has GDP (good distribution practices) accreditation, a framework that was written by the World Health Organization, Durshpek says.
About 60 employees work for D-Trans. In 2023, Durshpek said he had planned to hire 50 more workers with the expansion; he had 40 employees at the time.
“Before the tariff wars, I guess I was more optimistic,” Durshpek says, “but how things are currently, we just want to stay steady.”
D-Trans has 40 trucks, in addition to some owner-operators who can help expand the company’s bandwidth as needed. The fleet can get up to as many as 120 trucks in the busy season, which is the summer and fall, according to Durshpek, who declines to disclose revenue.
The global uncertainty around tariffs has added a layer of complexity to decision-making for both his and his clients' businesses, Durshpek says.
“A lot of people feel like they can't make long-term plans. And because they can't make long-term plans,” Dursphek says, “a lot of decisions are made last-minute.”
Durshpek also owns a sister company called CargoNest that stores cargo for customers, including in bonded spaces. Operating a bonded space means clients can store items duty-free there for up to five years, he says.
“It’s a lot of parts — car parts and machine parts,” Dursphek says of what he stores, much of which comes from overseas. The cargo often arrives through ports like Tampa and Jacksonville.
While previously he had thought of expanding CargoNest because of the tariffs, he says he has reconsidered given the uncertainty.
“If they work things out with the tariffs, there might not be a need” for more duty-free space, Durshpek says, adding: “Once you convert a certain square footage into a bonded space, you cannot put anything else in it.”
Currently, CargoNest has about 2 acres of bonded cargo space. The plan, for now, is to stay that way.
“Until we as a country get some solid trade deals in place … then I feel like there's going to be a lot of uncertainty,” Durshpek says. “For me to say something too positive, I think, would be lying. I don't want to paint a dark picture, but on the other hand, I don't want to paint a rosy picture. There's a lot of uncertainty.”
