At a recent gathering of business owners and entrepreneurs, the guest speakers were family members of Ray Lutgert. He began his commercial real estate development business nearly 50 years ago, starting with the Park Shore planned unit community in Naples and when Lutgert died in 2010 at the age of 90, his legacy continued through the work of his children and grandchildren.
From oldest to youngest, they are Kim Lutgert Confer, who oversees Quality Control and Customer Service; Kristin Lutgert Cartwright, Vice President of Development Services for Premier Sotheby, as well as Marketing Director for the company; and Erik Lutgert, Vice President of The Lutgert Companies. Their eldest sibling, Kurt, who was very involved in the family business, passed away in 2021.
Erik shared how the company began.
“Our grandfather moved down to Naples in 1964 and purchased a tract of land from the Collier family, today known as Park Shore,” Lutgert said. “It was 760 acres, a mile and a quarter of beachfront. And you know, he was in development and real estate up in Chicago and he sold everything he had and put everything he had into the land at Park Shore. So it was a pretty big risk at the time. It was over the course of 40 years that the company developed at Park Shore.”
