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IdeaMensch Interview with Stephen Bittel

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IDEAMENSCH — AUGUST 21, 2020 — BY STEFAN JUNGE Stephen H. Bittel is the Chairman and founder of Terranova Corporation, leading the firm’s ownership and operation of a significant commercial real estate portfolio. As the South Florida real estate has grown, Bittel has stayed connected to South Florida, serving his community for years. A Miami native, he has served on the Boards of the Chapman Partnership, the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, Teach for America (TFA),and Jackson Memorial Hospital Foundation. Bittel also has served as a Trustee member for the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, United Way of Miami-Dade and Temple Beth Am. He has led the Greater Miami Jewish Federation’s Washington Mission in 2009 and 2010 and is an active supporter and currently serves on the Advisory Board of Achieve Miami. Bittel graduated Magna cum laude from Bowdoin College in 1978 and obtained his law degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1982

Where did the idea for Terranova Corporation come from?

While a senior at Bowdoin College, I was awarded a prestigious Watson Fellowship, to undertake a “wanderjahr”, a wander year of travel to study the motivations behind European Investment in the United States. This project followed up on a previous paper written while working at the Congressional Budget Office in D.C. on the Tax Treatment of Non-Resident Investors. A meaningful part of my study involved regular meetings with investment advisors and bankers throughout Europe. I was struck by the private banking model which provided a one-stop personalized service to high net worth individuals. My goal was to replicate this kind of service for offshore investors focused on the United States.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

I tend to wake up very early, grind my own coffee beans, make my coffee, read a while and then exercise, all by 9. I am usually communicating with our team continuously after 7:30, getting us all focused and the challenges of the day. Our portfolio spans many different operating companies in different industries across a broad geography. I mentally scroll through each of the companies, generating questions on the status of pending matters. I next jump on the phone in the morning before heading to the office in the late morning. Lunch is a time for sharing ideas with our team, usually in the office or at one of our restaurant tenants or at our Lincoln Eatery Food Hall just off Lincoln Road. The afternoon is usually filled with meetings, more calls and internal reviews of new investment opportunities. The day typically ends with a dinner, where I always try to bring the wine from our home cellar, but not before a disciplined decanting process in the office pre-dinner. It’s usually lights out between 9:30 and 10:00 to get ready for the next day. After a lifetime of sleeping 4 to 6 hours a night, I have matured to enjoying a more normal night’s sleep.

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Business Advise Stephen Bittel

40 Years of Business, 40 Years’ Worth of Advice

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THRIVE GLOBAL — AUGUST 10, 2020 During my sophomore year at University of Miami School Of Law, I founded Terranova Corporation as the vehicle to operate a commercial property for a local partnership. Since the company’s 1980 inception, Terranova has become a leader in the Florida commercial real estate market. By maximizing the value of business through real estate, I was able to establish trust, forge professional relationships, and leverage profit for tenants on a long-term basis. This was the founding principle of Terranova Corporation, and a personal mission statement that propelled my leadership. 

Now, the company’s commercial real estate portfolio holds in excess of $1 billion dollars in assets, and Terranova was proudly the agent for over $5 billion dollars in commercial real estate throughout Florida. As I celebrate the 40th anniversary of Terranova Corporation, I find myself immersed in the lessons that I have learned, the skills that I have perfected, and the professional decisions that led to ongoing growth. Each year of business brought forth new challenges, changes, and opportunities, and allowed me to grow alongside my business. Below, I recount the most notable lessons throughout my venture, and lend advice to any fledgling entrepreneur or business owner.

Know What You Stand For

Both personally and professionally, your company’s mission statement will be your guiding principle. Through inception and beyond, you will find those goals and incentives tested, and you will garner opportunities to stray from the plans you initially forged. Thus, it is vastly important to iron out the most important mission statements for your business. Whether your goals include maximizing earning potential for clients, maintaining highly ethical practices in the face of challenging times, or establishing long-term professional relationships, solidifying these guiding principles will help to keep you on the right path in the future.


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Real Estate Developer Stephen Bittel On How Hyperlocal Economies

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GLASGOW ARCHITECTURE — AUGUST 4, 2020 As the Founder and CEO of Southern Florida’s Terranova Corporation, a leading multi-service commercial real estate development firm, Stephen Bittel has witnessed the impact that hyperlocal economies have on particular regions. For forty years, Bittel’s constant evolution, modernization, and revitalization of commercial real estate has directly manifested change within communities.

Championing the cycle of prosperity that is born from increased local commercial activity, Bittel has long been a proponent for modernizing the rise of the “live-work-play” downtown environment, creating diverse and successful communities, even in the age of online shopping. Now, as his native South Florida, and the country at large, recovers from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stephen Bittel looks to hyperlocal economies, local trends and community cultures, and the reinvestment in robust downtown areas to re-launch the “new normal”.

Local Business’ Pre-Pandemic Evolution

Long before the words “social distancing” became a household phrase, and mode of daily operations, commercial businesses began dealing with other issues that ultimately led to the modernization of hyperlocal shopping districts. According to Stephen Bittel, the rise of online shopping culture necessitated the evolution of traditional commerce. As businesses began to see soaring numbers of online shoppers, many traditional brick-and-mortar storefronts began to shudder. To combat the potential death of traditional commerce, experts like Bittel listened to emerging consumer trends, considered changes in peoples’ lifestyles, and created modern experiences to draw in crowds seeking a new, immersive, and comprehensive shopping “experience”.

Controlling over $1 billion in commercial real estate assets, Bittel and Terranova Corporation led the charge to modernize southern Florida’s premier shopping destinations, creating a comprehensive experience that saw flocks of local residents exploring hyperlocal destinations for their retail, hospitality, and recreational needs. Stephen Bittel’s Terranova Corporation erected functional outdoor-based experiences that drew in local and national tenants, creating a one-stop-shop for individuals to purchase essentials, treat themselves to al fresco lunch, purchase a coveted handbag, and see a movie after a day of perusing each retail area’s particular offerings.

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