The Hug Co. brings California living to Florida
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: May 3, 2024

Developer Harper Hug is bringing the luxury of California living to Florida.

Hug and his wife, Katherine, started The Hug Co. in 1993. Specializing in both interior design and construction, the company began developing everything from luxury homes to recording studios and broadcast facilities. Three years ago, they relocated to Florida and are bringing the high-end products seen in Beverly Hills and Palm Springs to Florida’s Gulf Coast.

They’ve completed projects in St. Pete Beach and Siesta Key and Treasure Island.

Hug discussed his development strategy with the Tampa Bay Business Journal and shared his thoughts on the current luxury residential market. Answers have been edited for brevity.

Are you solely working on the Gulf Coast, or are you looking elsewhere for the next project? We have a couple of projects in the Melbourne Beach/Vero Beach area right now that we’re excited about. It’s very busy in Tampa Bay, and we feel this market might tap out soon. In the Vero Beach area, you can still find larger pieces of land that aren’t astronomically priced. There are still acres on the ocean in that area that are, say, $1.5 million to $2 million. An acre on the gulf — if you can even find it — would be more like $10 million. And Vero Beach, in the past, has had much higher sales than Tampa Bay, some going for as high as $50 million or $60 million. That hasn’t happened here yet.

Do you prefer customs or spec? We would prefer to do spec homes. That’s why we left California; the cost was less to do spec here. If we get approached, though, and like the people and it seems like a good fit, we will do a custom. We design, build and usually furnish all the homes we do. Our style is classic modern, not trendy, not transactional, which I think is unique here.

Do you see more in-state or out-of-state buyers? When we first came here, we were in Siesta Key and did a few things there. We’re starting our fourth home in Pinellas County now. So far, we haven’t had a single person from Florida. In Siesta Key, we had around 40 offers on one house we did, and only one of those 40 people was from Florida.

Has anything about the market surprised you since you began working in Florida? We were surprised by just how much easier it was to sell a house. There’s just an endless demand for product. Something we’ve noticed is there are very few quality builders out here, so our products stand out. Where we’re from in Beverly Hills, there are quite a few great builders that all use higher-end finishes. Here, there are a lot of middle-of-the-road builders who put in standard finishes. Our product stands out, and that’s the feedback we’ve gotten from our buyers.