Robert feels lucky to be the son of a restaurant businessman and to have grown up in a risk-taking environment, where hard work and grit were proven paths to success. Roberts’s father started as a floor coverer, and by the time Robert was thirteen, his father owned several restaurants in New York. Gerard Zlatkiss opened his first restaurant with fifteen seats and went on to develop and own several acclaimed restaurants, including the award-winning Freddie’s Steak House. (Winner of 29 Golden Spoon Awards and voted Top Ten in the country for 27 years).

Having worked in restaurants throughout his youth, Robert learned the value of a strong work ethic, taking risks and executing with care, and he attributes his early education in the restaurant to the tremendous success that American Land Development continues to enjoy.

After receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Central Florida Robert cycled through thirty-four different jobs before he became the highest-selling dust mop salesman nationwide.

Having saved ten thousand dollars from his dust mop sales, Robert invested his savings into opening a movie rental store called ‘Video’. After learning that Blockbuster Video was advertising 8,000 movies per store he changed the name of his store to ‘16,000 Movies’ and ten years later, with 17 stores and 500 coworkers, he sold his business to Blockbuster for 17 times earnings and became a millionaire at the age of 35.

Soon after Robert started a granite kitchen and bath countertop manufacturing company. By offering an unprecedented six-day installation, a better granite at a lower cost,  his new business exploded to service 1,500 houses year and Robert once again sold his business.

Robert discovered a passion for land development upon a fortunate meeting with Tony Nicholson, founder of Nicholson Homes (the largest builder at the time in the south). Robert has been fortunate to be partners and friends with Tony for the last twenty years.