About Us

Becker Land Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of Becker Holding Corporations, a three-generation agriculture and land management company. The Becker Company’s began their acquisition of agricultural lands in 1952 when Richard Becker bought his first 180-acre citrus grove near Orlando, Florida. Since that time, the Company has bought and sold more than 15,000 acres of real estate throughout Florida.

With the downturn of the citrus industry, the Company began a systematic approach to the disposition of certain real estate holdings. Assets with development potential were taken through the various entitlement processes to add value prior to sale. From complex Developments of Regional Impact, Conditional Use Permits, and Land Use Changes to the more mundane Rezoning Applications and Site Plan Approvals, properties were positioned to obtain the highest and best value prior to sale. Becker Land Services will utilize its vast experience to provide acquisition, entitlement, and development services to assure their clients achieve the project goals using a systematic, cost effective, professional approach. In addition to the above, Becker Land Services is licensed by the Florida Board of Professional Engineers to provide engineering and related services (CA 32149).



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What We Do

ACQUISITIONS

  • Site Location / Selection

  • Contract Preparation / Support / Closing

  • Due Diligence Service

  • ALTA / ASCM Surveys

  • Environmental Surveys

  • Geo-technical / Subsurface Investigations

  • Archeological / Historical Resource Assessments

  • Existing Entitlement Review / Contraints

  • Utility / Drainage / Project Planning

  • Federal / State / Local Regulatory Reviews

  • Cost Estimating / Scheduling

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

  • Entitlement Services

  • Developments or Regional Impact

  • Planned Unit Developments

  • Comprehensive Plan Amendments

  • Land Use / Zoning Changes

  • Site Plan Preparation / Processing

  • Land Development Permitting

  • Regulatory Permit Preparation / Processing

  • Post Approval / Construction Services

PUBLIC AFFAIRS & PROJECT APPROVAL

  • Government Relations, Lobbying and Advocacy

  • Public Affairs

  • Project Strategy Implementation

  • Community Outreach & Public Education

  • Media Relations

  • Public Hearing Presentations

  • Full Service Communications Support

  • Marketing Material and Advertising

Key Personnel

Thomas W. Hurley (O) (561) 781-8150
(M) (772) 216-8643
thurley@beckerholding.com

Thomas W. Hurley is the Chairman of the Board of Becker Holding Corporation. Mr. Hurley has been a principal in over $350 million of corporate and real estate transactions. His advisory focus is in banking, food and beverage, and real estate related transactions. He is passionate about helping family enterprises navigate the unique challenges they face as they transition from generation to generation.

Mr. Hurley is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Miami branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, a former board member of Ocean Spray Cranberries, Colonial Bank Corp, Eaton National Bank, and Oculina Bank. He is the co-founder of Valuations.com, a web site designed to make segments of the finance industry more accessible and transparent to small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Mr. Hurley has a bachelor’s degree from Duke University, where he was a four-year member of its men’s golf team, and he has an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Tom held FINRA series 79, 24 and 63 licenses.

Mr. Hurley has been a member of YPO (Young Presidents Organization) since 2005.

Rick Melchiori (O) (772) 231-8053
(M) (772) 473-0841
rmelchiori@beckerholding.com

Mr. Melchiori is the General Manager of Becker Holding Corporation. He brings over 26 years’ experience in land acquisition, entitlement, permitting, design, and construction of industrial, commercial, and highly amenitized residential and mixed use projects.

Early in his career, Mr. Melchiori founded an architectural and engineering firm and through internal development, mergers, and acquisitions grew the business to over $38 million in annual revenue in less than 10 years servicing many of the nation’s largest builders and developers. In addition, he has directed development operations for multiple divisions of a publicly traded construction and development company and oversees project development for an energy services company which plans to construct a portfolio of renewable projects throughout the United States and Canada.

Mr. Melchiori has a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University in Civil / Structural engineering, is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Florida, and maintains Building Code Core Certification with the Florida Board of Professional Engineers.

Mr. Melchiori is a featured presenter at the annual Florida Chambers Environmental Permitting School speaking on various topics pertaining to the land development and entitlement process

Tom McNicholas (O) (772) 219-1719
(M) (772) 263-1567
tom@mcnicholas.biz

Tom McNicholas is the founder of McNicholas & Associates Public Affairs & Public Relations firm.   He has been a consultant to Becker Holding Corporation since 2002 and has provided governmental affairs and public relations for the Becker Companies regarding multiple land use issues.   

Mr. McNicholas works with some of the Nation’s largest Agricultural Companies as well as a number of family owned farms across the State of Florida.   He has assisted a wide variety of clients in gaining crucial community and governmental support for their projects.  He has successfully helped attain more than $250 million of appropriations for business development projects for Major League Baseball, high tech innovation companies and environmental water projects.  Most recently, he was the lead lobbyist who successfully negotiated a land trade between Palm Beach County and the City of West Palm Beach and helped secure more than $136 million of State and County funding to complete the new Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, which is the Spring Training home of the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals. McNicholas and his team focus on national and statewide energy projects for natural gas pipelines in Oklahoma, Texas, Georgia, West Virginia, Virginia and Florida.   They have also helped lead numerous outreach campaigns for solar projects and new clean energy centers across Florida.  

Mr. McNicholas is a native Floridian from Miami.  He studied Broadcast Journalism and Political Science at Morehead State University in Eastern Kentucky and has more than 15 years of television news and sports experience working as a producer and reporter in Cincinnati, Ohio, West Palm Beach and Miami, Florida. He is an Emmy nominated investigative reporter and a finalist of the prestigious Edward R. Murrow award.

Representative Projects

U.S. Ecogen Project Development

Becker Land Services is currently providing Project Development services to the U.S. Ecogen family of companies, in support of their development of a portfolio of biomass power generation facilities throughout Florida. From site selection through construction, Becker Land Services has assisted U.S. Ecogen with all facets of the Development process including but not limited to obtaining of required entitlements, interconnection permits for electrical utilities, jurisdictional permitting, and final site plan approvals.

The first of the U.S. Ecogen projects, located in Fort Meade Florida, is schedule to commence construction in the spring of 2017.

Hobe Sound Polo Club

The Becker Companies own and are in the late stages of development of the Hobe Sound Polo Club, an 1,800-acre playground for equestrian enthusiasts. The property is home to 50 20-acre ranchettes, a world class polo facility, and “The Club”, and a highly exclusive private golf course. In addition to the polo facilities, the property is adjacent to the Atlantic Ridge State Park, offering residents miles of interconnected trails through one of Florida’s most scenic natural areas to ride. The Hobe Sound Polo Club will be a year-round playground to those who enjoy the equestrian lifestyle.

Hobe Grove Development

Becker Land Services prepared and processed the Hobe Grove Development of Regional Impact located in Martin County Florida. The project was designed as a sustainable mixed use community conceived around improvements to the natural environment, job creation and education. Over half of the existing site is designed to be utilized for watershed enhancement, surface water management, conservation, open space, recreation, and agriculture uses. A principal feature of the Hobe Grove plan utilizes existing infrastructure and permits to draw water from the C-44 Canal to provide additional water to the Loxahatchee River Watershed through the design of an on-site watershed storage and water cleansing treatment system.