Staying Afloat Inland
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
WINTER HAVEN | The coasts have always led Florida in business development because they’ve always led in population growth. There’s something about water as far as the eye can see, and cooling sea breezes, that attract people.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t something to be said for inland areas like Polk County, and Carl ”Bud” Strang III and his business investments are proof.
Strang, 52, is president of 6/10 Corp. of Winter Haven, a large business umbrella under which there are others, under each of which there are still others. The company, at 200 Ave. B NW, owns, develops and manages a diversified portfolio of commercial properties. They include offices, data centers, industrial, retail and undeveloped land.
The original company was started by his father, Carl Strang, a former city commissioner and community activist.
“It is an investor in a number of different operating companies,” Strang said of 6/10 Corp.
One of the companies is Inland Fiber & Data Technical Park, home to about 20 technological firms that operate around documents and e-mail.
Included are Polk County, Verizon, T-Mobile, Time Warner Telecom, Emergency Management, Sprint Nextel and Elephant Outlook, among others.
Inland Fiber takes up about four city blocks in downtown Winter Haven and will be home to one of the University of South Florida Polytechnic incubators.
“The first building, which we bought in the mid-’90s, was the former GTE Central office,” Strang said. “We bought it at an auction. Over the years, we bought other properties. Now it takes up close to 300,000 square feet.”
Why inland and why Winter Haven?
“Because we’re away from the coasts, we’re attractive to data center tenants,” said Strang, who grew up in Winter Haven. “All of our infrastructure, backup power and fiber-optic networks are outside flood zones. We’re also centrally located. There aren’t many places that offer all these amenities in one place. A lot passes through this particular place.”
He said the recession has affected Inland Fiber “to some degree, but what we sell is rather specialized, so we haven’t been hurt too much. I’m pleased. In the last nine months, the market inland has stayed strong. Even in a slow economy, I see a lot of opportunity to continue to grow the business.”
In case of disasters such as hurricanes, the company is located outside the 500-year flood zone. Its Web site says it has “highly redundant infrastructure” and “hospital grid.” That means, Strang said, “We have generators and backup power in case of a disaster like a hurricane, and we’re on the same power grid as hospitals, so we have priority in that case.”
Ingram Leedy of Elephant Outlook has been a tenant of 6/10 Corp. for 14 years. He’s one of a number of satisfied renters.
“It’s the greatest place to be in Florida, probably,” Leedy said. “It’s so rich in fiber, it’s the crossroads of the Southeast (in that regard). A lot of high-tech companies are attracted here. They can jump on any network and get anywhere in the world they need to be. We do business all over the United States and in Guam, Fiji, Europe, Iraq, U.K. …
“It’s like real estate – location, location. You’ve got a high presence on the Internet, it’s safe and secure, the facilities are great for data, and Bud and the 6/10 Corp. are great people to work with. They’re like family.”
Strang received his undergraduate degree at the University of Florida and law degree at the University of North Carolina in 1982. “I’ve been involved in a number of different businesses. I have never really practiced law,” he says.
Going back to the parent company, 6/10 Corp., why that name?
“It comes from a saying my father had,” Strang said, “that if you succeed six out of 10 times, you’re beating the odds. Of course, we prefer eight or nine out of 10.”
For more information, contact Larry Everhart at Larry.Everhart@theledger.com
