IBJ Podcast: From humble beginnings, apartment developer built $500 million firm in 10 years

Over its first 10 years, The Garrett Cos. has been one of the fastest-growing—if not THE fastest-growing—company in the Indianapolis area. Not coincidentally, it also has become one of the largest companies in the state of Indiana. To put it as simply as possible: The Garrett Cos. develops high-end apartment complexes. To flesh it out a bit: The Garrett Cos. has been built to include nearly every element of the apartment development process under one roof—including site selection, design, material sourcing, construction, landscape architecture and even a restaurant company with its own brands of brewhouse and coffee shop for mixed-use projects.

The Garrett Cos. is based in Greenwood, where founder Eric Garrett launched the company from a barn in his backyard. He grew up in Evansville, and one of the seminal moments of his childhood was moving with his mom into their very first apartment. He found his niche in real estate, first on the finance side and then picking up experience as part of a development firm.

In this week’s episode of the IBJ Podcast, Garrett discusses the origins of the company; a business model that you could shorthand as “a rising tide lifts all ships”; the firm’s recent growth to nearly 300 employees despite a very deliberative hiring process; and how his role as CEO has evolved as the firm has sped through several ages of the corporate growth process.

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Looking for another podcast to try? Check out IBJ’s The Freedom Forum with Angela B. Freeman, a monthly discussion about diversity and inclusion in central Indiana’s business community.