The Western Warrior
Developer and businessman Cliff Burg transforms South Florida living.
Perhaps you live in one of the more than 12,000 four-unit condominium
buildings, apartments or homes constructed by
Clifford Burg. Maybe on your breakfast table there’s a bottle
of orange juice by Indian River Select, a company created by Burg.
Or maybe you’ve passed by Trailside, Martin County’s first upscale
equestrian community, also developed by Burg.
Either way, there are few people in Martin County who helped
transform South Florida’s living and drinking habits more than
this hard-working, colorful Florida native.
Growing up in the section of western Palm Beach County
known as Loxahatchee, Burg, 68, came from a family of citrus
growers. His father worked the groves while his mother packed
citrus, back when each individual orange or grapefruit was carefully
wrapped for shipping up north or west. His mother also had a
citrus nursery, and Burg often helped where he was needed.
In the early ’50s, however, the citrus industry changed. The
buyer was interested in orange juice concentrate – greatly impacting
the packing houses and encouraging Burg’s father to change
careers. He went into building.
"That’s how I evolved into being in the building business,"
Burg says. "I don’t know if there’s a connection from working the
land to developing it, but you certainly have an appreciation for
the land you have or are working on."
Burg attended Palm Beach Junior College (now Palm Beach
Community College) and became more and more involved in the
building industry, working as a carpenter with his brother, Norman.
They were building homes in the Boynton Beach and Lake
Worth area when an engineering friend asked them to build dormitories
for the college. The brothers were building other larger
buildings when their uncle, who was working for developer Otto
"Buzz" DiVosta’s father, was asked for a recommendation for
home builders. The brothers were named, and the Burgs were
soon building for the DiVostas.
"I wore out the wheelbarrows and shovels. I was in charge of
that," Burg says with a laugh.
Soon, Burg and his brother gained a reputation for high-quality
structures – they would build the foundation and complete the
heavy work, and Buzz DiVosta would finish up with the rest of
the construction. When they developed a fast-building method of
constructing four-plex condominiums, first in Palm Beach Gardens
and then throughout southern coastal Florida, the builders
officially paired up. They first formed Shell Construction, later renaming
the venture the Burg & DiVosta Corporation. Burg even
moved into their first four-plex unit, where he was living when he
met his future bride, Sheri, who he married in 1980.
"We kept our prices low, and we did a lot of the building
in-house with our own plumbers. We were our own electrical contractor,
and we developed the land," he says. "That’s a little unusual,
but we could maintain our quality, cost, control and schedule."
With this method of building, Burg and his partners built
around 12,000 housing units from Fort Lauderdale to Port St.
Lucie, including The Bluffs in Jupiter. They built and sold with
remarkable speed. With reasonable prices and a location next to
the water, they sold 1,000 units in two days with prospective home
buyers camping out for the deal.
"We had a backlog, but we had a great staff and great craftsmen,"
he says, adding that by then he was wearing out "his tires"
instead of wheelbarrows.
In 1989, he sold his share of the business to DiVosta, who
continued to build until he sold the company to Pulte Homes a
few years later. Meanwhile, Burg focused on land planning and developing,
including projects such as Harbour Pointe near Martin
Downs and the 20-acre ranchette, Trailside.
Burg also brought Box Ranch to western Martin County,
with more than 6,000 acres of citrus and cattle. When much of his
grove suffered from the canker outbreak a few years ago, he developed
some of that property, too. Today, it is called the Sunlight
Ranch and Saddle Club, and it’s home to the first annual Women’s
Arena Polo Series (February through May 2010), which Burg organized
himself.
In the mid-90s, Burg also decided to go back into the citrus
business now that consumer tastes wanted fresh, not-from-concentrate
fruit juices again. In 1996, he struck a deal with Publix to
carry his Indian River Select juice.
"We’re in about 3,500 stores, and we focus on very high
quality in our orange and grapefruit business," Burg explains.
"We do a very good job on O.J., but we have one of the premier
grapefruit juices."
When he’s not working his ranch or overseeing his juice company,
Burg and his wife spend much of the year on their ranch in
Wyoming, where they journey into the mountains on backpacking
trips. With the children grown, they also enjoy spending time with
their 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
"I really enjoy the time period in which I grew up. I got to
see Florida as it was and got to be a major part of the building of
Florida and the citrus industry," says the Jupiter Island resident.
"My wife says, ‘When are we going to retire?’ I guess I have to
slow down and do a little more fishing."
Still, Burg says he has "all the bad habits you can get, except
golf," so even though he is as busy as ever, he makes time for hunting,
fishing, diving, traveling and skiing. His horseback riding style
is typical of the Old-Florida ranching man he’s always been: Western,
complete with a saddle horn.
STORY BY SUZANNE WENTLEY
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DIANE DULTMEIER
gulfstreammediagroup.com