Source: Tampa Bay Business Journal
Feb 14, 2025
Excerpt
In 2020, as multimillion-dollar condo towers were breaking ground throughout St. Petersburg’s urban core, Jason Mathis had a thought: How many locals would be able to capitalize on the city’s building boom?
Mathis, who is CEO of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, saw an opening to pull back the curtains on the commercial real estate industry. He brought together several business leaders to create a platform to encourage local professionals to join the commercial real estate industry.
In early 2024, the idea came to fruition: Commercial Real Estate Development 101 meets weekly at St. Petersburg College with an inaugural class of more than 30 students. The eight-week course provides exposure to the commercial real estate industry through lectures from industry experts.
Each session covers a different sub-industry of commercial real estate and explains how to get involved. At the end of the eight weeks, 10 students will be offered an internship with a local commercial real estate expert.
The team Mathis brought together includes St. Pete developer Will Conroy of Backstreets Capital, Tahisia Scantling, managing broker for Right Turn Realty and Emmanuel Hernandez-Agosto, dean of SPC’s College of Business.
Conroy said the industry can be “very opaque” and the barriers to entry are high. His career in real estate began after marrying into a family that had deep roots in the industry. He said St. Pete is an amazing community, but if leaders don’t strategically participate in the creation of wealth, the growth is not sustainable.
Source: Tampa Bay Business Journal
Original reporting by Breanne Williams
Feb 14, 2025
