Completing projects on time and on budget used to be a selling point for commercial developers and builders. But as developer Donald Hinks and contractor Tom Overstreet have observed, it’s not enough to succeed in Southwest Florida’s marketplace today.
“Anyone can make money in the boom times, but you have to be more creative and work smarter and harder in the tough times,” says Overstreet, a principal and vice president of Bayshore Construction Group, LLC (BCG). Based in Port Charlotte, the general contractor builds primarily commercial and multi-family projects, with a focus on medical office and retail space.
“We’ve been busy,” says Overstreet, crediting veteran developer Donald Hinks and his wife, Nancy, owners of Hinks & Associates in Cape Coral, for helping BCG maintain that status in recent years. Working together since 2006, the two companies have completed a number of noteworthy commercial projects along Santa Barbara Boulevard and Veterans Parkway, one of Cape Coral’s busiest intersections.
•    Towers I: A 26,000sf retail/office building. In addition to Hinks’ 5,000sf office, tenants include Five Guys Burgers & Fries, Pizza Grill and others.
•    Towers II: A 53,000sf office/retail complex with four
buildings. Currently, Sears Home Town Store and a State Farm Insurance office are the main tenants, with a mix of local and national tenants expected to lease the remaining space.
•    Twin Plaza Central: 47,000sf of retail and professional office space at 26 N.E. Pine Island Road. Tenants include Pony Express (shipping and mail center) and USA Liquidators.
•    The Verandah: Approximately 15,000sf in two buildings connected by a 20-foot breezeway with seating and a fountain.
According to Donald Hinks, Bayshore Construction is peerless in the industry. “They’re the best builder I’ve ever had in my life and I’ve probably used about 50 different contractors over the years.” That’s saying a lot considering that Hinks has been a major force behind Cape Coral’s commercial development for more than 25 years.
Hinks History
Before moving to the Cape in 1985, Hinks owned a construction company in Wisconsin and for a time, taught industrial education and social science. “When it hit 60 below and temperatures barely reached zero for 10 days in a row, I decided to get out,” he recalls. Within six months, he was a full-time resident of Cape Coral.
Initially, much of his work was in the Cape Coral Industrial Park. Among his more noteworthy projects was the redevelopment of the park’s largest building, a 50,000sf structure that he divided
into smaller units for local businesses and the city’s first Economic Development Office. Since then, Hinks has built and revitalized hundreds of thousands of square feet along the Cape’s busiest commercial corridors, including Merchant’s Center and Jacobelli Plaza on Del Prado Boulevard, among others, as well as Merchant’s Center II on Hancock Bridge Parkway.
However, Hinks’ most significant project to date took shape in the early 1990s and ultimately changed the face of Cape Coral’s commercial landscape. That was when he assembled the development parcel for the Midpoint Veterans Center on the northwest corner of Veterans and Santa Barbara. Anchored by Target, Lowe’s and Publix, the center was the first of its kind in the city and arguably the largest assemblage of residential property in Lee County history.
It took Hinks almost eight years, extensive travel and extraordinary persistence to assemble the 80-acre parcel, which involved purchasing 340 lots and moving 38 homes. First, he had to identify and contact hundreds of lot owners and homeowners “from Puerto Rico to Brooklyn. It was really a journey,” says Hinks, adding that his wife was instrumental in the assemblage process.
Nancy Hinks, a former commercial banker, is bilingual. Besides facilitating communication with out-of-state homeowners back in the 1990s, her Spanish-speaking abilities continue to help the company work with Hispanic customers and employees today. In addition, she handles leasing, accounting and media relations for the company.
Approximately one third of the original Veterans Center parcel remains, which Hinks & Associates plans to use for construction of a town center, with a mix of residential, retail and office space, along with a boardwalk. Also, the company is now in the process of securing some prime parcels for development on Santa Barbara, north of Veterans. According to Donald Hinks, it’s the new commercial core for the Cape, which he says lacks sufficient retail and industrial development.
“We have so little commercial space in the Cape compared to Fort Myers and Naples. We believe the Cape will be strong again soon,” which is why his company is bucking the market trend and building now. “I was selling when everyone was buying and I’m building now that everyone else is not building. We have a very positive attitude about this area.”
Bayshore Background
Like Hinks & Associates, Bayshore Construction Group sees great potential in Cape Coral and has been capitalizing on commercial opportunities in Southwest Florida since opening for business in Port Charlotte six years ago.
The commercial contracting firm was founded by principals Chris MacNair, Tom Overstreet and Jay Fertig as a subsidiary of Bayshore Land Group, a Miami-based developer with a growing presence on Florida’s west coast. Since 2003, BCG has grown steadily by working with third party developers, generating a 20% annual increase in revenues each year. It has also expanded statewide to include satellite offices in Orlando and Sunrise.
BCG’s first west coast construction project was North Port Place, a 20,000sf retail strip mall in Sarasota County, built in 2003. Since then, the company has built a number of other new construction projects, mainly medical office and retail. They include:
•    Calusa National Bank
(Punta Gorda). The 16,000sf banking facility was completed in August 2009, ahead of schedule and approximately 10% under the owner’s budget.
•    Harbor Professional Center
(Port Charlotte), a professional/medical office center totaling more than 60,000sf.
•    Royal Palm Square
(Coral Springs), 25,000sf of professional medical office space.
•    Charlotte State Bank
(Port Charlotte), a branch facility of approximately 5,000sf, completed in 2008.
The company has also done a number of commercial renovations, including the conversion of the 7,500sf Bill Smith Appliances building in Port Charlotte. There, BCG transformed the single-user retail building into a multiple-user, professional office building containing four 1,875sf office spaces. All are leased.
“That’s where I see the market going — reusing existing structures,” says Overstreet. “I don’t see a lot of new construction in the years ahead. But if we can revitalize and repurpose existing buildings, then I think we’ll have successful projects.”
To date, much of BCG’s success stems from its ability to work with clients and work through challenges such as time and budget constraints. Overstreet attributes this largely to providing “alternative pricing” by working with a variety of manufacturers, and using construction methods and materials that meet the architect’s specs but are more cost effective for the project.
“Typically, our methods facilitate the construction process (in a way) that makes the labor a lot more efficient than some of the conventional methods that are specified. The faster we can build it, the less expensive it will be, in terms of labor and materials. It really all comes down to proper project planning,” says Overstreet.
BCG employs its “value engineering” approach to all of the projects it has built for Hinks & Associates, providing more for the money without sacrificing quality. “Once we’ve determined the ultimate use of a structure from an engineering standpoint, we’ll closely examine the specs to see how we can build it (at the best price),” he says, noting that the lag time between designing and groundbreaking may also affect a project.
“An architect may spec a product or construction method that’s inferior to current industry standards, especially when they’re designing two years before the project breaks ground. Because standards are constantly changing, it’s sort of like buying a new computer loaded with software that’s already obsolete.”
Recently, BCG performed nothing short of a miracle when it built the Sears Home Town Store for Hinks & Associates at Towers II. Although the 7,300sf project wasn’t scheduled to be finished until April, Sears wanted to open much sooner. Remarkably, BCG completed the project from start to finish in just six weeks.
“Our architect designed it in three days, we had it permitted in five days and started construction immediately,” says Overstreet. With BCG working six days a week and Sears doing some of the buildout, the store received its C.O. and opened for business on January 28th this year. “We really turned some heads on that one.”
Seeing Eye to Eye
Before commencing work on any project, Hinks and BCG discuss what they want to create and collaborate accordingly. Hinks designs all of his company’s projects with a Mediterranean-style exterior and the interior versatility to accommodate tenants of all sizes, typically 3,000sf up to 20,000sf. When a project is completed, Donald and Nancy Hinks manage and lease it, often in conjunction with local real estate brokers. While BCG handles all aspects of construction, both companies work closely with local officials to eliminate potential snags along the way.
Before starting on the Towers II project, for instance, “Don had a commitment from the City of Cape Coral to work with us. Not that they would do anything out of the norm, but that the building department would expedite everything,” says Overstreet. “They were very cooperative (because) they knew we were going to build a quality project and that we wanted to create jobs.” Towards that end, Overstreet and Hinks hired subcontractors for the project primarily from Cape Coral and nearby.
According to Overstreet, both companies are helping the other to succeed. “We’re always trying to grow. What makes us a successful team is that Don and I have a synergy. We both bring tremendous energy to the table. Don has good ideas with his development business model and we can help him implement those on time and under budget.”
The latest Hinks/BCG collaboration is Towers III, which involves a total remodel of an existing 10,800sf retail center on Santa Barbara Boulevard. It is slated for completion this spring. Additional nearby projects are likely to be announced in coming months.
According to Donald Hinks, the Santa Barbara/Veterans area is Cape Coral’s new commercial core, much as Del Prado was in the 1980s. Unlike some of the other areas that are overbuilt and “headed for a world of hurt,” Hinks says he believes that commercial space in the Cape is still underbuilt.
As a result, he and Overstreet see great things not only for the future of their companies, but for Cape Coral as well, particularly if city officials continue to be supportive. “The city is bending over backwards to help small businesses and encourage development,” says Hinks, adding that he’s especially grateful to Cape Mayor John Sullivan, Councilman Kevin McGrail and City Manager Carl Schwing for their assistance.
“They know now that (the city) needs commercial and industrial space, as well as jobs. We’re very excited about the growth that’s coming because of their pro-growth, pro-job attitude.”
“We’re at the point where we can really work together in the marketplace,” adds Overstreet. “It’s not about the big jobs anymore, it’s about the volume of smaller projects. That’s what’ll make people successful.”

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