I Finally Leave the Beach

When you find a good beach with a great, unobstructed view of the ocean, the shade of a swaying palm tree, powder-like sand to sink your toes into... why would you ever leave?

Specifically, I’m talking about Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The city has an exceptionally nice beach and sits Atlantic-side, with clean sand and surf, wonderful palm trees. And did I mention it has plenty of great bars serving fruity rum drinks? You know, the ones with the little umbrellas on top.

Anyway, this piece is not about the beach, but it is about Fort Lauderdale.

In 1999, I had the good fortune to build one of my first CargoPorts at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL). Yes, right there next to the same beach that I am not going to write about in this essay.

Emery Worldwide Airlines asked Lynxs to develop a build-to-suit state-of-the-art air cargo transfer facility, complete with two aircraft parking positions for their freighters. Gary Tharp, the project manager, completed the project in record time—in under a year, and in South Florida, no less—using innovative design/build ideas that repurposed the site’s existing features which had fallen into disuse.

This project, the Lynxs Fort Lauderdale CargoPort, was my first “repurposing” experiment on a U.S. airport.

An aerial view of Ft. Lauderdale (labels by me). Photo credit: CyclicalCore

Many airports have very underutilized, obsolete structures occupying strategic areas of the property. Gary and I showed how these sites could be turned into productive and profitable additions for the airport. This created value for our aviation tenants, for the airport, and for us as well. FLL was just a mid-sized regional airport when we built the CargoPort in 1999, but by 2020, it had blossomed into a full-size international airport and one of the great airports of the United States, with more commercial flight operations than even the Miami International Airport, just 29 miles south of FLL.

It turns out that, in 1999, this project some might have considered “putting lipstick on a pig” became one that fattened the whole hog instead.

In the ensuing years, Emery became UPS (yes, the UPS). Along the way, various ancillary services, such as GSE vehicle repair shops, aircraft parts storage, and other aviation service providers, occupied other parts of the building, along with ground handlers and freight forwarders who provided cargo storage and loading services to Fort Lauderdale’s ever-growing community of airlines. We were so happy when our friends at Southwest Airlines called to tell us they needed a new commissary and maintenance base to support their growing hub at FLL. If you fly in or out of FLL on Southwest, your pretzels, sodas, and ice all come from our CargoPort (you’re welcome!).

Following the success of that project, we pressed on. For our next trick, we dramatically expanded the footprint of the property to develop the maintenance hangar facilities for Bell Helicopter America. If you live or work any place in the Western Hemisphere, from Florida to Patagonia, this is where your $10mm helicopter is serviced. (You have one of those, right?)

While we were building these new facilities, we also dramatically improved site drainage—something absolutely essential at this sea-level site next to the Atlantic Ocean. We also redesigned and rebuilt to increase our building resiliencies to withstand Cat 5 Hurricanes. We’re proud of these accomplishments and trust that our facilities have helped all of our tenants do more business, more profitably, more efficiently, and just plain better.

However, just like the last days of summer bring an end to days at the beach, my role at Fort Lauderdale has also come to an end. We are fortunate to have received an offer to purchase the CargoPort and its maintenance facilities. With that, we’ve decided that summer is almost over and it’s time to wrap up our trip to the beach.

I would like to thank the Broward County Aviation Department (BCAD), which owns and operates the airport, for their cooperation and collaboration with Lynxs over the last 22 years. I would also like to thank our tenants and friends, in particular UPS, Southwest Airlines, and Textron Bell Helicopters, without whom we could not have built what is now one of the best facilities in the United States.

Finally, let me thank all of the Lynxs team, both in Florida and Texas; our many colleagues in South Florida, including David Wigoda, Sean Kelly, and Harry Tangalakis at CB Richard Ellis, George Platt, Anitra Lanczli, Nick Von Kreisler, Brian Smith, and all of our contractors, engineers, and architects. And of course, thanks to Jenny Ortiz, who guided both the property management and the construction project management. Jenny’s expertise and tenacity made this happen, no doubt about it.

I cannot end without also again thanking my good friend and colleague, Gary Tharp, who passed on to the other side several years ago but is still with us in spirit.

Now, I have to confess: I did not get to the actual beach very often in those years I visited Fort Lauderdale, but I was comforted by the idea that it was there, both in actuality and in spirit. It felt whimsical to have an airport on a beach. Fort Lauderdale is that. So, in a way, it feels like I am leaving the beach with the reluctance with which one ambles away from sand and surf, back to a “normal” life on the last day of vacation.

I have truly enjoyed watching these last 22 years go by in Fort Lauderdale. I had a great time. I loved the place. I may have even gotten a little tan. Now it's time to pack up the beach bag, fold up the sun umbrella, shake the sand from my flip flops, and return to my home. Maybe I’ll finally put on some real clothes instead of wearing this faded old Hawaiian shirt. Perhaps I should also get rid of this oversized floppy straw hat. And, oh yes… I gotta cut back on the fruity rum drinks.

Goodbye, beach. And goodbye, Fort Lauderdale!