Leading with Moxie

Originally published in the Mississippi Business Journal

Being a real estate developer is not an easy occupation, particularly in the last couple of years. It takes guts and perseverance. You have to be immune to being told no repeatedly. I admire people who have the vision and discipline to successfully transform landscapes with real estate ventures. Real estate development can also be feast or famine, so you also need solid business acumen to weather the inevitable downturns. I recently sat down to visit with Andrew Mattiace of The Mattiace Company. The company, which is headquartered in downtown Jackson, is the largest volume privately held development company in Mississippi and one of the Top 75 development companies in the United States. Mattiace founded the company in 1985 and has developed over 5 million square feet of real estate in Mississippi. Mattiace affiliated companies, with a team of over 150 employees, owns and operates properties in Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana. Anyone who has shopped in Jackson has probably been to one of his properties. Mattiace has developed numerous retail centers including Purple Creek Shopping Center (Academy Sports, Toys R’ Us); The Junction (Target, Home Depot, Office Depot, and Petsmart), North Regency Square (Pier One Imports, Lowe’s), Duling Place in Fondren, the new Malco Theater in Madison, the soon to be opening Dick’s Sporting Goods, Best Buy and Steinmart, and the Renaissance at Colony Park (Fresh Market, Barnes & Noble, PF Chang’s, Apple, Anthropologie and JCrew). Many of these relationships were initiated at the International Council of Shopping Centers annual convention where The Mattiace Company has positively represented Mississippi on the floor for over 25 years.