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

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

He says that within the past five years, his company began constructing buildings to be hurricane-resistant in up to 185-mile-per-hour winds. His office buildings are built to the specifications of a public shelter, in fact.

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

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

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 commercial building in Miami built to withstand hurricane winds. That building is now 98 percent rented—far above the average for the area.

This type of building is made-to-order for some businesses that are legally required to be open for business the day after an event, no matter the size of the catastrope, he says. In fact, his company has signed four leases and is about to sign another one with such businesses, the newest being a bank in Miami.

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

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

The relationship “helps us come up with new ideas, and down where we are in South Florida, that's everything in the real estate business.” While he loves the area, he adds, “You have to take certain precautions, and we think our buildings provide that protection.”

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