This is another in a series on area executives and political and community leaders who have played prominent roles in the development of Downtown or Jacksonville as a whole over the years. Some are still in the area, working or retired or a bit of both. Some have moved away and are working in other areas of the state or country. The series continues with Mike Saylor, former director of the City’s Planning and Development Department.
by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
What he did: Director, City of Jacksonville Planning and Development Department
What he’s doing now: Planning consultant, developer and avid sportsman
From planning to politics to property development to Patagonia.
That’s been Mike Saylor’s progression since he stepped down as director of the City’s Planning and Development Department in September 2006.
The conversion of the Gator Bowl into what would become Alltel Stadium and the home of the Jaguars brought Saylor to Jacksonville. He was a master planner with the engineering firm BHR which had the contract for the stadium upgrade. After a few years, Saylor was the firm’s principal stockholder.
“I ended up owning BHR. That’s how I could merge with Arcadis,” he recalled, referring to the company that would eventually manage many elements of the Better Jacksonville Plan including the development of Cecil Commerce Center.
The merger also meant for Saylor a transition from engineer to senior vice president and that meant moving to one of Arcadis’ field offices. He said it soon became clear that, “For them I was not the right fit for an area manager because I didn’t want to leave Jacksonville.”
It was September 2005 and Mayor John Peyton knew he was going to have to replace the director of the Planning and Development Department, so he instructed his staff to track down Saylor and see if he might be interested.
“I was sitting in a hotel room in Lake Charles, La., trying to figure out how to get out of Dodge because there was a hurricane coming,” he explained. “The phone rang and it was Susie Wiles (from Peyton’s staff) and she offered me the job. That was Friday night and I called her back Monday and said ‘yes.’”
That led to a leave of absence from Arcadis and a one-year commitment to the City. Saylor’s love for Jacksonville and his desire to make it his home also led to another objective that he would put on hold during his year as director of the Planning and Development Department.
“It was a very challenging year as director but also a lot of fun,” said Saylor.
After his year of City service was up, he took some time off to spend with his family and pursue his passion for hunting. After a few months Saylor decided to pursue that postponed objective — to seek public office and run for the City Council Dist. 11 seat.
“I decided to jump into the Council race event though I was a little behind. The other candidates had been campaigning for six or eight months. It was a very quick sprint and I ended up finishing third in the race. Looking back, that was probably a good thing,” he said.
Saylor was then approached by some of his former clients who wanted his planning expertise for their projects and he told them, “The thing I was most interested in was industrial projects, particularly port and aviation projects. I was also tired of working on an hourly basis and wanted to get in some deals on an equity basis.”
While consulting on industrial development projects on the St. Johns River, Saylor managed to spend some time hunting throughout the Southeast. In February 2007, he became a board member of the Public Trust Environmental Legal Institute and also joined forces with Hassan-Lear Acquisitions to undertake Brownfield redevelopment projects.
Then Saylor was off on a hunting trip to South America that would result in several big-game trophies and his next project, to assist a landowner who wants to develop an exclusive hunting and fishing vacation property in Patagonia.
“I hunted with a fellow who owns a big piece of land, about 40,000 acres,” he said. “It has a
hunting lodge and a lake and the owner told me he was thinking about it as a site for adventure tourism. He said he needed a master planner and I said I do master plans.”
Saylor is currently working on his local projects and also preparing for his next hunting trip to Patagonia this winter. He said he views the South American project as, “A way to do what I’ve always wanted to do – take large chunks of land and carve off a little to make some money and preserve the rest for sportsmen.
“It’s a way to merge hunting and fishing into a little consulting.”
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