Ryan Ray
Lobbyist Brian Ballard is poised to expand his headquarters as a man about Tallahassee a few blocks over to Monroe Street, downtown’s main artery: As first reported in the Tallahassee Democrat, the Ballard Partners principal has a six-story office complex in the works.
“We love being a part of the fine fabric of Tallahassee, where we have raised our family and also ‘raised’ a business,” Ballard said in a prepared statement Tuesday. “This exciting project will create a bold new profile for the main thoroughfare of downtown as a reflection of our ongoing commitment to the community.”
Along with his wife Kathryn, who is also listed in the transaction, Ballard purchased a contiguous tract of property currently home to the Florida Homebuilders Association as well as Guaranty Bank.
Ballard’s lobby shop, as we’ve reported in the past, is one of the highest-grossing in the business. The 17-strong Ballard Partners team represents more than 170 clients and brought in nearly $4 million in earnings — during the last reporting quarter alone, coming in at No. 1 between April and June.
Ballard, a leading booster of Jeb Bush‘s 2016 White House push, has been a player in Tallahassee since serving as chief of staff to former Gov. Bob Martinez. The new project will be Ballard’s first physical manifestation of his influence there, however, outside of his firm’s presence on Park Avenue, around the corner from the Capitol.
The project will be managed by Culpepper Construction, based in the nearby south Georgia town of Thomasville.
Internal projections say the undertaking may ultimately cost about $15 million to $20 million.
