Client Relationships
The foundation of our success at Rogers Towers has been, and continues to be, our solid long-term relationships with clients. We strive to foster personalized, one-on-one lawyer-client relationships while at the same time emphasizing the team approach to solving complex legal problems. By doing so, we are able to combine creative solutions, sound legal analysis and responsive service while still maintaining cost-effectiveness.
The terms “partner” and “teamwork” are not clichés at Rogers Towers, they are the core of who we are. From our beginnings in 1905, to our status as one of the top Florida law firms today. Rogers Towers carries on a tradition of excellence established by our founders. As the economy and our clients' businesses have grown, so too has Rogers Towers. What remains constant, however, are the transcending professional and cultural values that distinguish us from other major law firms: our unwavering commitment to client service, excellence, integrity, community service and diversity, and our recognized client focus and team-oriented approach.
Below, we share the stories of our relationships with four of our longstanding clients: Florida East Coast Industries, Gate Petroleum Company, PGA TOUR, Inc. and Regency Centers Corporation.
Florida East Coast Industries
 Bold men of vision have dreamed big dreams and accomplished great things. In the early 1900s, industrialist Henry M. Flagler had a vision of establishing Key West, Florida as the principal port for east-bound cargo ships passing through the Panama Canal then under construction. Mr. Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway, now a subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries (FEC), already dominated railroad traffic along the eastern side of the Florida peninsula. In 1912, Flagler's engineers and construction crews completed the 42 bridges and 128 miles of rails that connected Key West to terminals and warehouses in Dade County. Although the rail system was destroyed by a hurricane in 1935, the bridges and right-of-way still serve as the foundation of U.S. Highway 1 connecting the Florida Keys to the U.S. mainland.
 FEC continues to have big plans for Florida. The NYSE-listed company has a market capitalization in excess of $1 billion and has used steady revenue from its 351-mile rail system to develop extensive real estate holdings through its Flagler Development subsidiary. The company's transportation assets include transload facilities in five Florida cities and drayage terminals in Atlanta, Jacksonville, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. Flagler Development owns and manages over 6.5 million square feet of commercial/industrial space and has nearly 3,000 acres of developable land in inventory.
Rogers Towers' lawyers have served FEC in many capacities through the years, from real estate and land use matters to advice on state tax and corporate governance issues. Rogers Towers' litigators have defended FEC in superfund cases and pursued bankruptcy claims on behalf of the company and its affiliates. Originally organized in 1892, the company's railway subsidiary is one of the oldest, continuing operating business entities in the state. Recently, Rogers Towers' lawyers assisted FEC in the conversion of the railway from a corporation to a limited liability company. As FEC pursues its 21st Century vision for transportation services and real estate development, Rogers Towers is grateful for the opportunity to represent this longstanding leader of Florida business.
Rogers Towers' lawyers have served FEC in many capacities through the years, from real estate and land use matters to advice on state tax and corporate governance issues.
Gate Petroleum Company
 In America just about anything is possible with hard work, attention to detail and, sometimes, a little luck. The roots of Gate Petroleum Company began on the corner of Moncrief Road and 45th Street in the Royal Terrace section of Jacksonville . It was there in the early 1960s that Gate founder Herbert Peyton bought a single gas station where he and a handful of employees pumped gas and stocked inventory. Today, Gate Petroleum Company employs more than 4,000 people and operates more than 150 gas stations and convenience stores in seven states.
In the early 1980s, Mr. Peyton made a bold gamble, which transformed the company from being primarily a petroleum retailer to a diversified conglomerate. Gate submitted a bid to acquire the Florida real estate holdings of Stockton, Whatley, Davin & Co., which was then owned by Phillips Petroleum Company. Emerging with the winning bid, Gate acquired more than 50,000 acres of land in Northeast Florida, including the land which now comprises Guana State Park in St. Johns County, Florida, four miles of oceanfront real estate, the Deerwood Club, the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club and vast commercial properties near Interstate 95 in what has been one of the fastest growing areas of Jacksonville. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Gate added to its growing network of service stations, the Blount Island Maritime facility, several precast concrete manufacturing plants located throughout the Southeastern United States, the Riverplace Tower in downtown Jacksonville, additional premier private clubs and other operations.
 Rogers Towers' lawyers have worked closely with Gate Petroleum since the earliest days of the company. Gate has looked to our lawyers for assistance on a wide variety of corporate and business matters, including corporate governance, federal and state tax matters, contracts, asset acquisitions and dispositions, ad valorem tax contests, condemnations and a host of other matters. Recently, our lawyers worked on Gate's purchase of the 5,000-acre Cummer tract in St. Johns County, Florida, as well as the acquisition of the prestigious River Club atop one of Jacksonville 's downtown office towers. Gate Petroleum's credo of hard work and attention to detail continues to pay off for the company's employees and owners. Rogers Towers is proud of its part in Gate's continuing success.
Rogers Towers' lawyers have worked closely with Gate Petroleum since the earliest days of the company.
PGA TOUR, Inc.
 In 1905, Scottish golfing professional Willie Anderson won the first of his four U.S. Open titles at the Myopia Hunt Club in Massachusetts. At that time, touring golf professionals enjoyed little status and, essentially, no control over the tournaments in which they played. Six decades later, touring professionals within the Professional Golfers' Association of America created a “Tournament Players Division” to address special issues of tournament golf not faced by the PGA's club professionals. In conjunction with its independence from the PGA of America, the “PGA TOUR” name was adopted in the early 1970s. Toward the end of that decade, this unique, member-directed, organization moved its headquarters to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Today, the PGA TOUR sponsors three tours in which its members compete; owns an award-winning production company; and controls one of the world's most recognized brands.
One of the PGA TOUR's most important and successful strategies over the last twenty-five years has been to develop golf courses specially designed to facilitate spectator viewing of PGA TOUR events while providing a challenging venue to enhance competition among each club's members. Through its affiliate, PGA TOUR Golf Course Properties, the PGA TOUR has established over 20 Tournament Players' Clubs (TPCs). Rogers Towers' lawyers have worked closely with PGA TOUR Golf Course Properties in the creation of a number of facilities in its network of TPCs. Rogers Towers' lawyers have assisted PGA TOUR Golf Course Properties in real estate and land use matters, in the negotiation of golf course development agreements, golf course management agreements, brand licensing agreements and other legal instruments that govern the development and operation of these TPC facilities.
 Since its inception, the PGA TOUR has combined innovation and sound business practices to raise the visibility of professional tournament golf while respecting the traditions of the game. In the early 1990s, the PGA TOUR took a lead role in the creation of the World Golf Hall of Fame at World Golf Village in St. Johns County, Florida. Rogers Towers' lawyers worked on many of the issues that arose from the project, including site acquisition, tax exempt bond financing and regulatory matters. Rogers Towers is proud of its work with PGA TOUR Golf Course Properties, the World Golf Hall of Fame and the other projects in which Rogers Towers' lawyers have been of service to the PGA TOUR.
Rogers Towers has worked on a variety of matters over the years for the PGA TOUR, including site acquisition, regulatory matters and tax-exempt bond financing.
Regency Centers Corporation
 When the Florida legislature approved funding for a bridge between downtown Jacksonville and the sleepy neighborhood of Arlington, many complained about building a “bridge to nowhere.” Joan and Martin Stein recognized, however, that the landscape of North Florida was about to change. As new residents flooded into Arlington, the Steins selected a windswept stretch of sand dunes and pine trees on Atlantic Boulevard on which to build Jacksonville's first, modern shopping center. Their Regency Square Mall served as the cornerstone of extensive real estate holdings that eventually spread throughout the southern United States.
Regency Centers Corporation, now headed by Martin E. (“Hap”) Stein, Jr., is a NYSE-listed REIT with over 250 grocery-anchored shopping center properties under management. The company has nearly 400 employees working at its Jacksonville headquarters and in 18 market offices from coast-to-coast. Today, Regency's portfolio has a value of over $5 billion encompassing over 30 million square feet of space in 46 major metropolitan markets.
 Rogers Towers' lawyers have worked closely with the Stein family and Regency since their beginnings in the real estate industry. When Regency greatly expanded its holdings by acquiring Branch Properties, the Midland Group and Pacific Retail Trust in the late 1990s, Rogers Towers' lawyers assisted in due diligence, permitting and closing matters. From a retail center in a neighborhood located at the foot of a “bridge to nowhere,” Regency Centers Corporation has cut a path to the top of the grocery-anchored shopping center world, and Rogers Towers is proud to have been part of Regency's journey.
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