Feature Story
Veteran Investor/Developer Dennis J. Lynch Remains a Distinguished Figure in Crowded Field
By Elizabeth W. Pearce

When it comes to acquiring and developing commercial real estate as an investment in Southwest Florida, Dennis J. Lynch is one of the industry’s most low-profile figures. As the managing partner of Dennis J. Lynch, P.A. in Naples, he’s also among the most successful.
For nearly three decades, Lynch has enjoyed a remarkable real estate career that has flourished in a region that has seen its share of major players. Most from his early days in the business have long since left the arena, while Lynch has amassed a fortune in the portfolios of commercial properties he has developed and continues to manage for various investment groups.
“There’s no better investment in the world than real estate, especially commercial real estate,” says Lynch. “I really believe that.”
Despite the fact that he is currently managing $55 million worth of commercial properties, Lynch has kept his operation streamlined by working closely with a select few. Attorney and Realtor-Associate Bing Domingo keeps the Naples office running smoothly, acting as a liaison between Lynch and his investors, and addressing property management issues. Necessary maintenance is subcontracted to ensure the best price and quality for the job.
Also, when purchasing undeveloped properties, Lynch typically works with partnerships involving no more than a dozen investors and arranges financing through local lenders. Lynch then develops and holds the property, often for 10 years or longer. When long-term, fixed-rate, non-recourse financing is desired, he often relies on Dennis F. Hrzenak, a Fort Myers-based commercial mortgage broker with whom he has worked for more than 20 years.
Hrzenak says that investors are drawn to Lynch’s integrity and honesty, as well as the high returns on their investments. “If the deal is good enough for him to invest in, it speaks to the quality of the investment,” says Hrzenak. “His partners are comfortable that he is watching out for their investment dollars just as he does his own.”
According to Lynch, “the only risk associated with commercial real estate in Southwest Florida is to not invest in it.” It’s a philosophy that he has espoused ever since he and his wife moved to Naples in 1971 to be closer to her family.
At the time, Lynch knew little about Naples or local real estate. However, the former Wall Street money manager had a knack for recognizing good investment opportunities, as well as a number of well-capitalized friends who respected his judgement.
By 1974, the New York native had his real estate broker’s license and four northern partners eager to invest in Florida property. “My friends down here saw that I was making a living, but they weren’t sure how. When I explained what I was doing, they wanted to participate,” says Lynch.
Initially, Lynch and his investors bought undeveloped parcels only, then graduated to developing them. “The key to our success is that we bought raw land, paid it off and then used the appreciated value as equity to fund construction of our first building,” Lynch says. “As soon as the property leased up, we refinanced to get our equity back to use (in subsequent developments).”
Beginning with his first building in 1977, Lynch has focused exclusively on developing office and retail properties from the ground up, rather than acquiring them after they’re built. “It’s easier and safer to create value than to try to profit from someone else’s efforts,” he says.
To further minimize risk to investors, Lynch avoids retail properties with large major tenants as anchors. He reasons that if a large credit tenant should leave, the smaller tenants in the same property will suffer, as will the investment groups. Instead, he gravitates towards smaller, quality properties in prime locations.
Thanks to his analytical background, Lynch has identified some of the area’s hottest spots well ahead of the curve. For example, in the early 1980s, he and some partners purchased land just south of Pine Ridge Road on the east side of the Tamiami Trail in Naples.
“My friends thought I was crazy for going so far north at the time, but I told them to look at a map,” Lynch recalls. “I asked them, ‘Would you have me go to the west or to the south, in the water? East across the river?’ When they shook their heads no, I asked them what’s left? Logic told me to go north.”
His logic served his investors so well that he continued throughout the 1980s to focus his efforts along the Trail in north Naples. In fact, one of Lynch’s North Trail properties has been refinanced three times over the past two decades and now yields “infinite” returns to investors.
“If I have a property that is performing well, why sell it?” he asks. “By holding on to it, we don’t have to deal with big capital gains taxes and sales commissions, and I don’t have the headaches associated with being under the gun to find another property to replace it with.”
Although Lynch has since sold his interest in some of his Naples projects to partners, the North Trail remains a showcase of the higher-profile properties he has acquired and/or developed over the years. Among them is Tanglewood Marketplace, a 50,000sf retail center anchored by Outback Steakhouse. According to Lynch, the restaurant wouldn’t be there if not for a serendipitous meeting in New York City in 1991.
At the time, Lynch was visiting clients when he met Outback’s president at a lunch meeting. “After we chitchatted about business and the cold weather for a while, he asked me where I was from,” recalls Lynch. “When I told him Naples, he said he’d tried to locate a restaurant there, but wasn’t getting anywhere with the local broker. I told him I was one of the owners of the property he’d been considering, and asked what it would take to get him in there.” Eight months later, Outback opened in Tanglewood and became one of the steakhouse chain’s stellar performers.
Other commercial projects developed by Lynch in Naples include: Heritage Court (a mixed-use property adjacent to Tanglewood); Park Square Office Park (recently renamed National City Square for its largest tenant); the 1250 N. Building; Hibiscus Center; 3775 Building; and the AmSouth Bank Building to name just a few.
Occasionally, investment properties will take longer to mature than anticipated, which is why Lynch urges partners to think in the long term. Certainly, that has been the case with a 9.3-acre parcel of land on Airport-Pulling Road. “That’s one time I wasn’t ahead of the curve,” he says of the investment he made 22 years ago.
Now enviably situated across from Grey Oaks, just north of the Poinciana School, the land is ripe for development. Within the next 12 months, Lynch hopes to transform the vacant acreage into a 142,000sf Class A office park.
Lynch says that he’s always on the lookout for the next deal, but admits that it’s taking longer to find them these days, particularly in Collier County. As a result, he’s turning more of his attention to Lee County, where he and his partners have various developments in the works.
In Bonita Springs, for instance, Lynch and his investors own 25 acres of commercial property on U.S. 41 north of Coconut Road, across from the Simon Group’s proposed regional mall. With just over 2,000 feet of U.S. 41 frontage, the acreage is commercially zoned for developing the 60,000sf of retail and 165,000sf of office space that Lynch envisions. Infrastructure engineering is now underway.
Farther north, in south Fort Myers, Lynch is developing two highly visible medical office projects. The Sarras Building is now under construction at 5170 Mason Corbin Court, off Summerlin Road. When completed this fall, the 11,000sf building will be a neighbor of the Foot & Ankle Group Building which includes a surgery center approved by JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation for Healthcare Organizations), and which Lynch developed as a build-to-suit for a physicians’ group that recently purchased the property.
In addition, Lynch is poised to break ground on the first of five planned medical office buildings totaling 60,000sf at 16261 Bass Road on 6.8 acres within Lee Memorial’s HealthPark. When the first phase of 12,500sf is leased up, Lynch plans to add a second building of the same size. As market conditions warrant, three additional buildings will be developed.
Lynch says he isn’t sure what he and his investors will be doing next, although it will likely be in Lee County. “In all my business life, I’ve never had a plan because I was always afraid of failing. I just try to remain alert to opportunities for investing in real estate. Let it take me where it goes.”

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