Cory Petcoff
Some might know Cory as the son of Tom Petcoff, co-founder of the highly successful Summit Workers Comp Insurance group, and the founder of Baron Realty.
Some might know Cory as the owner of a family-owned commercial brokerage and property management firm that oversees more than 1.4 million square feet of real estate space.
Some might know Cory as a proud Lakeland High School graduate who has served on and continues to serve on so many local boards and councils that you could forgive him if showed up at the wrong meeting at the wrong time on occasion.
At his core, the 46-year-old wants to create as many opportunities for Lakelanders as possible while attempting to balance the needs and wants of a diverse and growing population.
“My dad came from a very modest upbringing,” Petcoff reflects. “Yet he had a philosophy of respecting every single person, and would get righteously angry if he saw someone disrespect a person based on their background or their economic status.”
THE INTERVIEW
The Lakelander
You serve on and have served on many local boards. What are some of the commonalities you find whenever you’re talking about everything from mental health to private education to economic development? What do you see as some of the common threads that run throughout our community?
Petcoff
All of them have been just an awesome opportunity to meet people I wouldn’t have otherwise and get a deeper exposure into organizations that serve this community in ways I didn’t know. You wouldn’t know they serve the city how they do without interacting with them specifically.
You use the word “community” but I think it is relationship; in all of those organizations I think that there’s a relationship between the nonprofits, the donors and the folks that are serving them. There’s a relationship between the recipients of the folks and the caregivers or the recipients of the services and the caregivers. I think that is Lakeland’s strength—our relationships.
The Lakelander
What are some challenges you see from your perspective being engaged in all those areas?
Petcoff
It was actually pointed out to me by someone else recently…because I am blinded to it. I’m a lifelong learner. I grew up here and I run into a lot of people I went to high school with…someone pointed out to me recently that it’s not as easy as we grow—it’s harder for new people to get plugged into the community. So when you’re not somebody’s son or somebody’s brother, or somebody’s nephew, getting those introductions and getting plugged in is harder. That is a challenge that I was unaware of, just because I take it for granted. I think that there are some places where for newcomers it is harder to get plugged in.
The Lakelander
What have you learned that works in Central Florida in this market, in terms of not only building partnerships and getting developments going, but just also keeping people happy and satisfied?
Petcoff
Not to sound boastful, but I think it’s just relational intelligence. I have to put my mind in the mindset of an owner when I am negotiating with an owner, and I have to put my mind in the mindset of a tenant when I’m working on a lease to get them started up. Finding the spot where both of them are served well is generally where deals get done.
The Lakelander
In the last couple years, has there been a sector that you are focused on more or where you see the opportunity for growth that you’re really pinpointing?
Petcoff
I love our downtown—it’s beautiful to begin with; the historic buildings when you walk down Kentucky Avenue and the trees opening up into Munn Park. And there’s been a lot of growth in services. We’re attracting more and more restaurants.
We’re working on a development right now that’s gonna bring a cool restaurant downtown on Main Street right between Black & Brew and Linksters….that God willing will move in late this summer. Chris Cleghorn and Ryan Neil run Sābu Ramen in The Joinery. Ryan is a really gifted chef, and Chris is kind of the business manager of the restaurant entity. They are gonna put in a high-end ramen spot and elevate it dramatically. It’ll have prices similar to Nineteen61, and, they can describe the concept better than I can…but it’s a highly elevated Japanese cuisine that is almost as if you took a tapas restaurant and put a Japanese spin on it.
Editor’s note: The name of the restaurant will be Hakucho.
The Lakelander
The conversation kind of goes like this about growth, especially in a city like ours, “I like the small town feel” or “I like what we had” and then you also have people saying, “I wish we were more aggressive” or “I wish we had this and that.” As you lead Baron Realty, how do you recognize that tension and address it as you help the city grow?
Petcoff
If it is possible, to a fault, I’m almost too content. If we were growing 40 percent a year, I’d be happy; if we were flat I would find things to celebrate in that. But I am sensitive to the people that say, “I liked Lakeland when we had 90,000 residents instead of the 125,000 today.” Yeah, traffic is a byproduct of growth—we’re gonna have it. You go into any major metro area and they have traffic. When I hear negative comments I like to kind of balance them because the easiest way to become more content and more satisfied with our city is to hear someone come from out of town. People always come from out of town and ask me, “Do people seriously complain about traffic here? I can get from one end of town to the other in 20 minutes. That’s nothing compared to where I came from.” So invite a friend from out of town here, have ’em spend a weekend and they’ll tell you all the wonderful things about our community.
The Lakelander
Is there a part of downtown that you would say that you’re looking at that really has the opportunity to be developed? And tell me a little bit about why you believe that.
Petcoff
The city just released that plan for the west side of downtown. Florida Avenue creates a barrier, and rents do take a step down just getting on the other side of Florida Avenue. And if not rents, sometimes you get similar rents, but there’s just less demand…it’ll take you a little bit more time to lease up on the west side. And there is a lot of real estate, so the opportunity to develop is high. There’s enormous surface parking lots on the west side that we don’t have as many of on the east side of Florida Avenue. I think there are incredible opportunities for vertical development for multifamily [homes.] We need to add more services over there. The reason people don’t cross Florida Avenue is because there’s nothing drawing them over there. If we had a restaurant that could open up on that side, we just bridge the gap.
The Lakelander
The land exists and the investors are there, so what barriers do you see to making that happen?
Petcoff
Yeah, the investors are there, so I’m very optimistic. But I do think we’ve kind of reached the peak of this current economic cycle, and it may take another wave before west side development happens. But if you look at Dixieland, it is a great example—it just took a little bit of investment on the CRA’s part to turn that into an incredibly vibrant area. When we started the Dixieland Village redevelopment—I say all the time, I wished I was buying houses in Dixieland instead of commercial property because you could have bought any house you wanted in that neighborhood for 50 grand, and now you can’t buy a half lot for that.
What they did is they just cleaned up a couple of pain points. The alleyways were overgrown…they weren’t inviting, so the city spent a little bit of money adding some brick aprons just clearly defining the borders of the alley, keeping the landscaping trimmed back where those were. With that little change, it attracted businesses. The CRA had some great grants to help people improve the appearance of their buildings, and next thing you know, everybody wanted to live nearby and walk to those businesses.
The Lakelander
What’s your take whenever you look at engaging the next generation, especially as a business owner and civic-minded leader with two young adult children?
Petcoff
I’m going to lead by example. I’m not a great teacher and I know that’s a weakness of mine, but I’m just hopeful that by doing these things and my children seeing me giving up a night here or a weekend retreat there…that they’ll have a desire to serve whatever community they land in. I hope it’s Lakeland, but if it’s not, I just want them to be a part of giving back in some way.
The Lakelander
You mentioned to me that your father achieved “incredible professional success” yet he was just as comfortable building a meaningful relationship with a person washing his car. Is that characteristic something you feel like your dad passed on to you?
Petcoff
I hope so. I try to have that. My dad came from a very modest upbringing. Yet he had a philosophy of respecting every single person, and would get righteously angry if he saw someone disrespect a person based on their background or their economic status.,
The Lakelander
In terms of looking at the next five to 10 years here in Lakeland and Polk County, what are you keeping your eyes on, and what do you see as future catalysts for growth?
Petcoff
The more high-skill, high-wage employers that we can attract, the more we’ll be able to grow. We have a lot of young people that want to be here. We need to make sure there’s always somewhere for them to work. I think that [Florida Polytechnic University] is going to be a huge feeder of that. That was something we got out of (a recent vision trip with the Lakeland Economic Development Council) to Pittsburgh, just seeing how Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh were such a feeder. That city is shrinking, but without those two universities, it’d probably be gone. I think educating our young people [is so important] because when you get educated here you’re more likely to stay.
They, too, are UP FOR THE CHALLENGE
Katie Worthington Decker
Joseph Burton
Mark Cabrera
Danielle Drummond
Phillip Walker