Our Culture

The Embodiment of the American Dream

In December of 1972 Nathan made his first investment when he was just twenty years old: a single-family house several blocks north of the University of Florida's Law School. He substantially offset his college expenses by living upstairs and renting out the downstairs and personally doing most of the maintenance. For the next seven to eight years, Nathan continued to buy houses within walking distance of the University of Florida at the rate of three or four a year, using every "no money" down technique in the book. Nathan's father, a civil engineer, had raised him to be hands on with a DIY approach. As a result, Nathan was a pretty fair jack of all trades handyman and was able to do most of the maintenance on his houses.

By 1980, Nathan was up to 25 or so rental homes and realized "that dog don't hunt" — it was not a scalable business model. Each home was unique and had to be shown individually. Pivoting, Nathan began to focus on the College Park neighborhood just north of the University of Florida where, over the next decade, he cobbled together an institutional-sized apartment community consisting of dozens of separate developments. This formed the basis for what is now The Collier Companies: a portfolio of over 12,000 apartment homes with a commitment to doubling in size through new development.

Principled Profit & Main Street America Values

From the very beginning, Nathan was committed to The Collier Companies being a different kind of company — one that embraced the Social Contract concepts of cooperation, interdependence, and mutual respect, and was committed to sustainable Principled Profit and Main Street America values. The complete opposite of Wall Street's short-termism, beggar-thy-neighbor, greed-is-good ethos.

Feeling that The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People encapsulated many of these concepts, Nathan embraced it as a cornerstone of our company culture. New team members are given a copy and asked to read it in their first 90 days and write a short reaction paper sharing their insights and thoughts.

A Unique Business Model

The Collier Companies is an owner, manager, and developer of apartment communities based in Gainesville, FL. Beyond our philosophical foundation of Servant Leadership, our business model is unique in three respects. In an industry where short-term holds of 3 to 7 years are the norm, we hold for the long term — adding stability to our portfolio and our team, and continuously reinvesting in our communities to keep them competitive.

Second, we are privately held by a single individual and, believing our efforts add equity value, we self-manage and manage only what we own. Third, we are self-funded and maintain a strong, liquid balance sheet — we do not seek or need outside equity. This, combined with private ownership, allows TCC to think long term, be flexible, and move fast to take advantage of targets of opportunity.

Art of the Long View

In business, everyone wants to be a winner — to be an Alpha Dog, in the Top 1%. TCC shares that ambition but our definition is slightly different. We just want to be in the Top 25%… every year for 25 years. And that will easily put us in the top 0.1%.

Proudly Making Your Home the Heart of Our Business

TCC's Mission Statement was created in the early 2000s in Manhattan at a team member brainstorming session and reflects our core values. A person's home is central to their life — a place of rest, relaxation, and renewal, far more than just four walls and a roof. It connects to their emotional and spiritual wellbeing. We are honored that our customers entrust us with providing their homes, and consider it a duty to be fulfilled — one that gives noble purpose to our work.