Julia Rettig

Family and career are not mutually exclusive for Julia Rettig, vice president of development for Carter & Associates in Tampa. While commercial real estate affords her the opportunity to broaden her professional experience, it also gives her time to pay attention to equally important matters at home.

“It allows me flexibility to enjoy my family and really help with the economic development of this community,” she says, adding that creating jobs and opportunities for the community through commercial real estate development is easy in a progressive area like Tampa.

And the intricacies of the deal add to the allure of the field.

“It has a lot to do with people skills, but it’s also a strategic Monopoly game,” she says. “Sometimes I see something in a deal that others won’t see and create a strategy.”

Rettig joined Carter & Associates in 2001. She is responsible for overseeing and pursuing industrial and office development opportunities in Central Florida. She began her career in 1992 as director of leasing for Security Capital Industrial Trust (now ProLogis), handling development, leasing and marketing of 3 msf of industrial space. She later served as an officer at Liberty Property Trust and at Duke-Weeks, where she developed and leased more than 600,000sf of class A office and industrial space in Hillsborough County.

Rettig has been involved in NAIOP Tampa Bay since 1995 and served as chapter president in 2001. She has also been an active member of the Tampa Chamber of Commerce, CREW, the Real Estate Investment Council and the editorial advisory board of Florida Real Estate Journal.

In 2001, Rettig led the effort to form the Tampa Bay Regional Coalition, an alliance of nine different associations charged with promoting a regional approach to growth. While serving as chairman of the group in July 2002, she helped lead an effort to block consideration of a building moratorium in Hillsborough County.

Rettig’s latest project is oversight of two research facilities, totaling 230,000sf, that Carter & Associates is constructing at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Carter is master developer of the project, which will total 1.1 msf upon completion.