St. Pete investment firm prepares for expansion and new partners
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jul 19, 2024

St. Pete developer Blake Whitney Thompson has spent 20 years growing his alternative investment firm and advancing major projects throughout the Southeast.

Now, he’s ready to take his company into its next chapter.

Blake Investment Partners has developed a reputation for excellence in its real estate and private equity expertise. Thompson and the firm have built condo towers, townhomes, and mixed-use developments, including 17 projects with Heatherland Homes in Atlanta. BIP is also part of the ownership team of some of the hottest restaurants and bar concepts in Tampa Bay, including Mandarin Hide, Trophy Fish, Perry's Porch and El Cap.

Thompson has been alone at the helm for the past two decades but is making moves to restructure the company. In his first 20 years, he made approximately 275 transactions. With an expanded team, he said the company is ready to see that number explode.

In the past two years, he has added two partners to the team—Smith Meyers and Cole Sones—and hopes to have two more by the end of the second quarter of 2025. The new additions will be equity partners and sit "side-by-side" with Thompson and his team, making investments together.

Adding more partners ensures the company's next investments will be untraditional and projects of passion that innovate their respective fields. The company currently has offices in St. Pete, Atlanta, and Charleston and plans to open a Palm Beach office in September.

“There is a closing window where St. Pete/Tampa should be bringing in as many smart, motivated, creative brainiacs from the major markets as possible,” Thompson said. “Once these people get here, they need a high quality of life, elevated housing, and an insatiable supply of art and culture. This is a flywheel; the more smart people that move here, the more jobs we can create, and so on.”

People with passion projects

Thompson intends to hire people who wake up with a passion but feel limited in their current corporate status. He said he wants to run a New York City firm on the beach and hopes its next chapter will bring “varsity players to a market that has had a lot of junior varsity talent.”

Since the pandemic, many in the workforce have valued passion projects and living in communities that offer a culture they enjoy more than having careers with the largest corporate firms. Since announcing BIP was searching for new partners, he said he has had several reach out, offering to take pay cuts to have the resources to pursue a project they're passionate about.

Thompson said new partners will be given BIPs' infrastructure and ecosystem to pursue their passions. Currently, they have 23 companies in their portfolio. In 10 years, he believes it will grow to 100 companies.

Earlier this year, BIP partnered with Luther Family Investments — run by Jon Luther, former CEO and Chairman of Dunkin’ Brands — to acquire C.R. Chicks, a rotisserie chicken restaurant chain in Jupiter and West Palm Beach. BIP is also moving forward with its plan to redevelop a YMCA property in St. Petersburg into a mixed-use neighborhood.

“Blake Investment Partners offers a dynamic work environment where every employee has a voice,” Sones said. “We encourage our people to bring fresh ideas that we can execute together as a team. Our priority is to build a firm of talented individuals working on projects they are passionate about.”