THE RUTHVENS, INC.
LAKELAND, FLORIDA

He graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in Business Administration and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. In 1957 Joe P. moved to Lakeland, Florida to open a tire business. Soon after he recognized the need and demand for warehouse space, subsequently founding The Ruthvens, a real estate development company. A registered real estate broker and “warehouse specialist”, Joe P. remains active in the family business and was instrumental in turning it into one of Central Florida’s most respected and successful companies. He has remained true to his small-town values regarding community involvement, serving as City Commissioner and Mayor of Lakeland, as well as a wide variety of local and statewide leadership positions. Our founder Joe P. Ruthven conceived The Ruthvens real estate and development firm serendipitously back in 1957, when he owned a company called OK Tires. Joe knew that he could reduce his purchase price if he bought a larger quantity of tires, so, the astute Lakeland, Florida businessman built a warehouse twice the size of his needs, stored his tires in one half, and leased out the other. The warehouse leasing business was born. Soon after, Joe began purchasing land and building steel frame/concrete block warehouse “shells”. Once tenants were secured, the building would be subdivided and spaces built out to suit each tenant’s need. When a warehouse was completely leased another would be developed. Today, The Ruthvens own over three million square feet in more than 80 buildings in Central Florida. From day one, we have nurtured our relationships with clients, vendors, contractors, associates, the government, and business community. We are grateful for these long-term associations and consider them an integral part of our success. Whether you lease 1,000 or 100,000 square feet of warehouse space, rest assured you will be treated fairly and respectfully as a valued business partner. Our success can be attributed to the quality of our building construction, a premium location, and strong business and personal ties to our community. We have been part of the Lakeland, Florida and Central Florida community for more than 55 years. As a result, our team members are committed to giving back to the community by getting involved in leadership organizations, civic associations, business functions, local charities, and neighborhood events. We are happy to pay it forward to the community and share in our success. Our founder Joe P. served the community on both local and state levels, as County Commissioner and Mayor of Lakeland, Chamber of Commerce President and Enterprise Florida Board of Trustees Member, to name a few. Each team member is 100% committed to giving back to his community both professionally and personally. It’s been that way from the very beginning and what we’ll continue to do as we move forward. We are grateful to everyone who has helped get us where we are today, and give thanks by supporting the community that’s helped us grow. From health centers and hospitals to the arts, to economic development, education, religious and children’s organizations, The Ruthvens are more than happy to return favor. The Ruthvens are the best Leasing Company in the industry. Their level of professionalism will far surpasses your exceptions! They actually care about their lease holders and are quick to take care of any issues weather big or small! My father always said “I’m easily satisfied with the best” well – the Ruthven’s are the best in the industry and I am very satisfied with everything they do! It is with great pleasure that I recommend The Ruthvens for a build to suit facility. I have worked with Joe L. and Greg Ruthven since the late 1990’s in regards to two different buildings. The first was a multi-tenant facility that we eventually grew out of into our newest facility built in 2004. A 75,000 square foot tilt wall building that is second to none in both construction and functionality. Being involved in several build to suits across the country I’ve found the Ruthven’s experience to be highly interactive and well planned which essentially brought our CO on time and complete. Thank you for a job well done! I personally, on behalf of Graham Packaging Co, Inc., a global manufacturing company, have had business relations with The Ruthvens’ organization since 1999. From 1999 until 2007 Graham leased a manufacturing and warehousing facility of approximately 60M square feet. Upon growth of our business in 2007, The Ruthvens worked closely with Graham Packaging to locate a new building. The Ruthvens subsequently purchased, refurbished, and updated the building on a very timely basis, then designed a contractually-favorable lease agreement that made our move most beneficial. During our entire relationship The Ruthvens have been responsive to our various buildings and grounds maintenance requests and have been an effective business partner for our needs. Keymark Corporation is a manufacturing facility with production lines that extrude aluminum ingots into finished products. We contracted with The Ruthvens in 1998 to build us a 96,000 square foot plant (2540 Knights Station) for our manufacturing needs. We had a very challenging building schedule to complete construction in time to meet customer commitments. The Ruthvens did an excellent job getting our design completed, working with their City of Lakeland contacts on permitting and utility needs, and managing a construction team to complete this project on an expedited basis. In 2000, we contracted with The Ruthvens again to add an additional 40,000 square feet to the existing building to add a paint line and other additional manufacturing capabilities. Again, The Ruthvens and their contractors met all our commitments on this addition in a timely manner while we continued to manufacture product in our existing facility. More recently, in 2009/10 we needed to expand again, but there was no space to do so at our existing facility. This time, The Ruthvens worked with us to relocate two of their existing tenants to other Ruthven warehouse so that we could expand across our truck court into an adjacent building (2520 Knights Station). This creative thinking on their part allowed us to add an additional 65,600 sf of space for another production line and also provided us with a much larger fenced in outside laydown yard.