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© St. Petersburg Times, published July 8, 2002
NEW POSITION: President, Rubin Management Inc., Clearwater
PREVIOUS POSITION: Executive vice president and general manager, Rubin Management Inc., Clearwater
Despite a soft economy, Donna Lance said she will direct Rubin Management in expanding. The commercial real estate management company that's headquartered in Clearwater already is responsible for more than 1.2-million square feet of leaseable office space.
"In a soft market, it's even more of a challenge. You have to be creative in finding new clients," she said. "You do a lot of marketing. You try and do a lot of networking. You have to get creative with the deal."
Lance, who said her properties are 94 percent occupied, expects the the commercial real estate market to experience "a slower recovery than we predicted six months ago."
Her company's expansion plans will mean more employees than the current staff of 15, she said. Currently, Rubin Management has properties in the Tampa Bay area, Orlando, Jacksonville and Pompano Beach. About 70 percent of these properties are owned by Leslie A. Rubin, founder of the company.
The company, she said, handles "Class A properties," multi-story, 100-percent office properties with full amenities. It also represents "flex-type space," properties with a mixture of offices and warehouse space, she said.
As a property management company, Rubin Management is responsible for maintenance of a property, inside and out, as well as leasing, accounting and the adjustment of spaces that can be tailored to a new tenant's needs.
"We also maintain a staff of qualified maintenance people who are on call 24/7," Lance said, a service most management companies subcontract out. "Alarms can go off in the dead of night."
Rubin Management also will seek to acquire new acreaage and help find new build-to-suit tenants for that property, she said.
Lance, a native of Thunder Bay, Ontario, moved to Clearwater in 1986 and began working for a local construction company. She joined Rubin Management five years later. "I started with them because of my construction background," she said.
"I somehow managed to sit at every desk in the place for the next five years," then started managing other properties, she said. She became a U.S. citizen in 1992.
Lance said she enjoys the variety of her job. "No two days are the same," she said. "The part I enjoy the most -- and I'm not as exposed to it as much now as in the past -- is the day-to-day with our tenants. We have tenants who have been with us since the 1980s."
A resident of Safety Harbor, Lance said she enjoys "country living in the city" after a hectic day on the job.
Lance, 48, a single mother, has a grown daughter, who lives in Boston. When Lance is not working, she enjoys riding one of her two motorcycles, a Harley-Davidson and a Suzuki.