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For love of the game

Making deals gets this developer's adrenaline going. And these days, it's really going.

By JANET ZINK
Published April 1, 2005

HYDE PARK NORTH - It has been a big year for Ken Morin.

Eight months ago, he moved his business, Morin Development, from a small bungalow on Albany Street into an office more than double the size on Cleveland Street.

Construction is well under way at Walter's Crossing, a multistory mall Morin conceived on N Dale Mabry Highway at Interstate 275. The shopping center will have a Target, Linens 'n Things, Designer Shoe Warehouse, Petsmart and Wild Oats Natural Grocery.

Residents are moving into Morin's Suncoast Crossings, a 689-acre community at the Suncoast Parkway and State Road 54 in Pasco County.

In February, crews began clearing land in the Channel District for two 41-story condominium towers called O2 that Morin is developing with a Sarasota company and a local partner.

Morin's also the man behind the Home Depot at S Dale Mabry Highway and Gandy Boulevard and the AMC Veterans 24 movie theaters.

Not bad for a guy who has been in business for himself for only about eight years.

But the project Morin is most excited about has nothing to do with bricks and mortar.

It has to do with flesh and blood.

His first child, Samuel, turns 1 this month. "I love what I do, but I'd rather be with him," said the 50-year-old dad, pointing to a picture on his desk of the boy wearing a big grin and even bigger sunglasses.

Now that Samuel has come along, Morin tries to work eight hours a day instead of 14. He comes into the office at 7 a.m., goes home to Bayshore Beautiful twice during the day to see his son, and ends his day by 4 p.m.

He leaves the details of his business to his assistant, Stacy Reisinger, who has been working with him since 1998.

It's a good life, Morin said, and not at all what he imagined for himself growing up the son of a secretary and construction worker in a small town in Connecticut.

He was a lousy student, he said, typically earning A's in the early part of a school year and then getting bored and finishing with D's and F's.

After high school, Morin joined the Navy and went to Vietnam. Luckily, the war ended just eight months after he arrived.

"I was never what I call in real harm's way - not in the jungle wondering when my head was going to get blown off," he said.

But he felt enough fear and saw enough downtrodden people to grow up fast and get a new perspective on life.

"You get to the point real quick where all you want to do is make it home, and once you make it home, you'll never whine, you'll never cry, you'll never bitch or moan again," he said. "It made me the person I am today."

The experience taught him discipline and how to survive disappointments. That's why he has made it in the development world, he said. It's a tough, competitive environment and big deals fall through. But serving in Vietnam taught him to detach himself emotionally from business maneuvers, he said.

When he came home, Morin enrolled in college and took a job sorting mail in a post office in Connecticut. After 18 months, he was bored stiff.

He saw an ad in the paper: "You, too, can have an exciting career in real estate."

Excitement. That struck a chord.

He gave it a shot, but it was 1979, and the economy was bad.

In 1984, Morin decided to get out of the stagnant New England real estate market and head to the boom town of Tampa.

"I was working as a consultant, which basically means trying to find a job," Morin said.

The Sembler Co., developer of BayWalk in St. Petersburg, hired him in 1986. He worked there for nearly 12 years. Once he advanced to management, though, he got bored again. So he set out on his own.

"What I like doing is getting dirty. I like doing deals. I like being out in the marketplace. That's what I'm best at," he said.

He calls the closing table anticlimactic.

"Achieving the result isn't as much fun," he said. "It's like dating. The chase is fun."

With all the success that has come Morin's way, he makes a point of giving back to the community. His development order at Walter's Crossing required that he build an office for community leaders in Carver City and Lincoln Gardens. Morin went a step further and set up a literacy program that his wife, MaryJo, a schoolteacher, runs.

His company sponsors the Mayor's Beautification Program, a nonprofit group that partners with the city, schools and neighborhood associations to beautify the city. He supports an annual fundraiser for the Spring, a shelter for abused women and children.

"Ken is a very warm-hearted individual," said Fred Hames, a friend of Morin's and senior vice president at Skanska USA Building. "He does a lot in the community that he chooses not to be recognized for. He never wants claim for fame. He does it because he cares about community."

Despite traveling all over the world, Morin is in Tampa to stay.

"The weather's nice, the mentality is nice. It's got a Midwestern feel, laid back," he said. "I'll be here forever."

Janet Zink can be reached at 226-3401 or jzink@sptimes.com

AGE: 50

JOB: Real estate developer

FAMILY: Wife, MaryJo; son, Samuel

COLLECTIONS: Morin collected model cars when he was a boy. Now he collects art, much of it from a gallery in Paris.

FAMOUS BROTHER: Morin's brother, Russ, is the mayor of the family's hometown of Wethersfield, Conn.

A CHILD OF THE '80s: Morin loves classic hard rock - Cinderella, Motley Crue, Poison. A few months ago, he flew to Los Angeles to catch a Duran Duran concert. "They were awesome," he said. "I'm 50 so I'm starting to mellow out a little bit, but I'm not to the jazz thing yet."

FAVORITE TOY: Morin goes to his Bayshore Beautiful home twice a day to see his nearly 1-year-old son, whom he has nicknamed Gumby because he's so flexible.

[Last modified March 31, 2005, 08:53:03]