When it comes to warehouses in South Florida, Malcolm Butters has pretty much seen it all, built it all, and survived every cycle along the way. In this episode, he walks us through his journey from a Montreal kid working in his dad’s inner–city furniture business and dodgy off–site warehouse alleys, to moving to Florida in the late 70s when Quebec politics pushed his family to bet everything on real estate. He talks about sliding from average student to honours grad at the University of Miami and FIU, his brief and disastrous detour into architecture school, and his early days at Travelers Insurance underwriting loans at 14 percent interest when deals only worked if you literally accrued the shortfall on the back end.
From there, Malcolm gets into the origin story of Butters Construction & Development, launched in 1990 with his brother Mark, a one–person office, a $2,000 computer and a very questionable Isuzu pickup. He shares how a 15,000 square foot Motorola warehouse, some scrappy build–to–suits and then Hurricane Andrew rebuilding work kept them alive through the early 90s, before institutional partners like Fidelity and others helped them scale into serious industrial developers. Malcolm breaks down how the South Florida industrial market has evolved, why land scarcity is now half the cost of a warehouse, what it really takes to deliver parks in Deerfield, Four Myers and beyond, and why he still likes holding good industrial long term even as newer projects trade north of 300 dollars a foot.
Along the way, you get the side stories that make Malcolm, Malcolm. His short stint as a stand–up comic while trying to run a development company, the home gym he proudly calls the “Home of Champions”, the hotel deals that survived COVID on a 2.9 percent SBA loan, and the next chapter building one of the largest indoor pickleball facilities in the country. He also talks about bringing the next generation of family into the business, why he is not in a rush to retire, and his very clear view that cities like Miami are stronger when they stay open to people from everywhere.
Guest Bio
Malcolm Butters is the Co–Founder and CEO of Butters Construction & Development, a vertically integrated development and construction firm based in South Florida. For more than 35 years he has led industrial, office, hotel and mixed–use projects across the region, including several award–winning business parks and large–scale industrial campuses. A graduate of the University of Miami and FIU’s real estate programme, Malcolm is known for his long view on industrial, his hands–on approach to deals and his commitment to mentoring the next generation already joining the family business.
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