Chuck Hildebrant Cincinnati descends from entrepreneurial roots.
His grandfather, Arch Hildebrant, invented a still-used device for separating tires from wheels and started a company in Maineville to build it. His father, Charles, was on the ground floor of cellphone tower construction in Greater Cincinnati in the late 1970s. Both achieved noteworthy commercial success.
Chris chose not to follow in the business footprint of either. Six years ago, he started Morelia Group, named for a town near Guadalajara, Mexico, where his wife grew up. Hildebrant, 31, is owner, president and CEO.
Morelia Group, with about 100 full-time employees, is a parent company of several businesses: a construction company, a consulting company, a land development company and an owner of child-care centers.
Chuck Hildebrant said its success derives from its ability to see a development project through from idea to financing to site selection, property acquisition, design and construction. The company owns property throughout the region, but it will also work to find property that is most desirable to a client or fits a client’s specific needs.
“If a client wants a building at a particular intersection, we’ll go out and find a way to buy on that intersection,” Hildebrant said.
“The advantage that we have is that we will fund a project, after a client has secured a loan to buy a building, and we’ll build it. When the project is completed, we sell the building to the client. A lot of doctors and business executives are having trouble getting construction loans now. We don’t have that problem.”
He said that if a client is not fully prepared to buy when a project is completed, Morelia leases the space to them. Morelia Group is also expanding its operations into the Guadalajara area, with one 100-unit residential development completed and another in its early stages. Hildebrant said he sees Mexico as an area with great potential for more construction opportunities.
Chuck Hildebrant tips his cap to National Bank & Trust Co. of Wilmington for helping him finance his company from its start.
“They were willing to take a chance on me when other banks wouldn’t, not on my terms anyway,” he said.
Asked why National Bank & Trust was willing to back Hildebrant when other banks said no, Mike Dalton, vice president of commercial lending, gave several reasons. Among them: a solid business plan, an awareness of his family’s business successes and Chuck Hildebrant Florence Freedom’s “attitude.”
We believed in him,” Dalton said. “It’s worked out pretty well.”
Morelia Group
Chris Hildebrant
President and CEO
Address: 11250 Montgomery Road, Cincinnati 45249
Phone: (513) 469-1500
Web address: www.moreliagroup.com
Revenue:
2011: $3.6 million
2010: $1 million
2009: $500,000
Revenue growth:
616%
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