The Mackle brothers - Elliott, Robert and Frank Jr. - were a group of three brothers who were real estate developers. They would popularize selling land in planned communities through installment plans in Florida creating several communities in the process. Elliott J. Mackle would be born in 1908 and died in 1978. Frank E. Mackle Jr. would be born in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

in 1916 and graduated with a civil engineering degree from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

in 1938. Frank would die at the age of 77 in

Key Biscayne Key Biscayne ( es, Cayo Vizcaíno, link=no) is an island located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, located between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay. It is the southernmost of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Florida, and lies sou ...

on July 29, 1993. The Mackle Company would be founded in 1908 in

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

by Frank E. Mackle Sr. who ran the company there before going to Miami in 1937. When he died, it would be taken over by Elliott, Robert and Frank. It would build an $18 million US Navy project in Key West before getting into large sized residential work. Originally the brothers would follow a strategy similar to that of the Levitts during the late 1940s building subdivisions around Miami. They would start to change approaches by 1955 building large retirement orientated communities in rural parts of Florida where there was large amounts of land that was also cheap. The first installment company created by them would be the

General Development Corporation General Development Corporation, also known as GDC, was a land development company in Florida. General Development Corporation would be created in 1958 after a merger between Florida Canada Corporation and the Mackle Bros. Origins and history ...

(GDC) in 1958. It was formed as a merger between Florida Canada Corporation and Mackle Bros. The Mackle brothers would continue to lead the company until 1962 before selling the company to and taking over another company which "...had been the Cockshutt Farm Equipment Co., went through a period as C.K.P. Developments" before becoming the Deltona Corporation. Deltona would end up becoming a competitor to the GDC. The reason for there departure was because of a dispute involving the company's chairman, Gardner Cowles. Frank Mackle III joined Deltona in 1966 after he graduated from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

. Work began on developing Marco Island in 1969. The project at Marco Island would be the most ambitions project ever undertaken. It would not go over well as during the mid 1970s the Deltona Corporation would be denied permits for dredge and fill for waterfront development and would be ordered to give a refund of $38 million to those who paid for waterfront property but didn't get it. Frank E. Mackle Jr. would leave Deltona in 1986 along with Frank Mackle III. Their departure was after the company had a takeover from "a huge Minnesota utility". During a 1981–1982 recession it would have 1,200 condominiums that couldn't be sold and "was on the verge of financial collapse" when a deal with the Topeka Group (a subsidiary of Minnesota Power & Light) went through.

Communities developed

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...

Citrus Springs Citrus Springs is a census-designated place (CDP) in Citrus County, Florida, Citrus County, Florida, United States. The population was 8,622 as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, up from 4,157 in 2000. Geography Citrus Springs is loc ...

*Coquina Key * Deltona *

Marco Island Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish ...

* Marco Shores * North Port * Pine Ridge * Port Charlotte *

Port St. Lucie Port St. Lucie is a city in St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. It is the most populous municipality in the county with a population of 204,851 at the 2020 census. It is located southeast of Orlando and north of Miami. The Port St. Lu ...

* Seminole Woods * Spring Hill * St. Augustine Shores * Sunny Hills * Tampa Palms

References

{{reflist

External links

Mackle Company website

Deltona Corporation website
People from Florida

Communities developed

See also

References

External links