Page W. McKee: Senior vice president, Hardin Construction Co.
By STEVE HUETTEL
Published March 15, 2004
Q. Hardin has built a variety of Tampa Bay area projects, from the Nielsen Media Research headquarters in Oldsmar and the Tampa Marriott Waterside to condos at Tampa's One Bayshore. What are the hot and not-so-hot sectors of the construction business?
Office has been very bad. Nielsen was the exception. Hospitality/hotel since 9/11 has been very, very slow. We are seeing some renewed activity in hotels. There's been talk of several around town. But the main market for us, the growth market, has been residential. We don't do single-family homes, so now we're seeing what you'd call urban infill. We're seeing a large number of high-rise and mid-rise residential in the downtown, Channelside, Bayshore areas. If that market changes now, it'll probably change from condo to rental. If interest (rates are) low, people will purchase (because) it's a good investment. I see that trend continuing, whether it be condos or rentals, for another 2 to 21/2 years.
Q. A lot of skeptics doubted that residential development would ever take hold in downtown Tampa. Why now?
It's been talked about ever since I moved here in '96. I think the time is just right. At some point you just cross that line in your quality of life where you don't want to spend that hour commuting. And it's the economic times. A lot of the property (owners) have just been sitting on it, looking for opportunities. A lot of people want to take the property and be part of the deal, some people just want to sell the property outright. A lot of that property has been churning recently, which creates an opportunity for development down there.
Q. What are the biggest problems facing the construction business?
The main concern is steel prices going up. China is buying so much scrap. The tariffs are keeping away competitors. Now, most quotes we give are good for only 30 days. Steel is up 25 percent this year, and it's supposed to go up another 25 to 30 percent by the end of the year. We're trying to warn our customers. We looked at one $20-million project and $250,000 was just the increase in steel - that's fairly substantial.
