Hurricane season is imminent, but one Florida developer can resteasy, knowing that his corporate tenants are well prepared for justabout anything Mother Nature has to offer.

Building to hurricane standards, in fact, has brought addedbenefits such as high occupancy rates, says Philip J. Procacci, CEOand co-founder of Procacci Development Corp. in Boca Raton,Fla.

He says that within the past five years, his company beganconstructing buildings to be hurricane-resistant in up to185-mile-per-hour winds. His office buildings are built to thespecifications of a public shelter, in fact.

There is also 100 percent backup power and enough fuel to run anentire building for up to 20 days in case of an emergency.

“We haven't been put to the test of a big Category 5,” Procaccisays, “but they're all engineered for the pressures of this storm.Everything from the roof to the windows has been tested anddesigned to that level. We fully expect to be open the nextday.”

One of the benefits of the safe buildings, he says, has been“tremendous success on the leasing side.”

Procacci explains that he has a 450,000-square-foot commercialbuilding in Miami built to withstand hurricane winds. That buildingis now 98 percent rented—far above the average for the area.

This type of building is made-to-order for some businesses thatare legally required to be open for business the day after anevent, no matter the size of the catastrope, he says. In fact, hiscompany has signed four leases and is about to sign another onewith such businesses, the newest being a bank in Miami.

Should their main branch go down, he says, the company is set upto be in business—with phones, desks and workstations—in thebuilding. He adds that federal agencies and law-enforcementagencies with similar needs also have signed leases, as well asseveral insurance companies.

A benefit to his business, Procacci says, is his insurer,Zurich, which is “ready and willing to give us new ideas, ready todo new studies and tests on certain products.”

The relationship “helps us come up with new ideas, and downwhere we are in South Florida, that's everything in the real estatebusiness.” While he loves the area, he adds, “You have to takecertain precautions, and we think our buildings provide thatprotection.”