"We just felt like we are stronger together than we were apart," Gibson tells GlobeSt.com. "We're going to look for opportunities across many segments."
Gibson now serves as COO of Konover South and will maintain his seven-employee office in Coral Gables. Konover South now has 25 total employees, according to David Coppa, a principal with the company.
"Ford has both a sterling reputation and diversity of expertise that are second to none, and we are looking forward to the opportunities he will bring," Coppa says. Gibson adds that his firm had been looking to partner with Konover South for some time, but a merger makes more sense in the current real estate market.
Terms of the merger were not disclosed, and Gibson says it is difficult to approximate the true value of the transaction given the ongoing recession. However, he specifies that the slumping market did not necessitate the move: "In good times and bad times, it's a marriage that was meant to happen."
Gibson has been a commercial real estate executive in South Florida since 1990, when he headed up Miami-based Codina Development. He became president and COO of parent Codina Group, succeeding former Gov. Jeb Bush, and held the position until 2004 when he launched Gibson Development Partners.
During his time with Codina, Gibson was responsible for managing 16 million square feet of prime commercial real estate. His independent projects include the $60-million Plaza San Remo in Coral Gables as well as the new headquarters of the FedEx Orange Bowl Committee, for which he serves as vice chairman.
A retired captain of the US Naval Reserve, Gibson has a bachelor's degree in construction from Clemson University and an MBA in finance from Tulane University, and has completed advanced studies at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He currently serves on the NAIOP National Office Development Forum and the Urban Land Institute's National Office Development Council.
Konover South currently owns and manages 1.5 million square feet of retail space, and previously developed or acquired more than five million square feet that were mostly sold in the mid-1990s. Its West Hartford, CT-based parent company is a full-service organization serving all commercial property lines.
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