Robert C. Echele

Family-Placed Funeral Notice

ROBERT C. ECHELE Robert C. Echele died on April 9, 2007 very peacefully at his home in Palm Beach, Florida. He was born in St. Louis January 19, 1942, the son of Hubert J. Echele and Leona Vogelbein Echele. Bob graduated from St. Louis University High School , Georgetown University in 1964 with a BA in Economics and in 1969, he received his Masters in Urban Affairs from St. Louis University. He started his career in Chile as a Peace Corps volunteer in economic development. Bob spent 19 years developing commercial real estate for the Anheuser-Busch Company. He was responsible for managing and development of surplus corporate real estate throughout the United States. In 1972, Bob moved to Columbus from St. Louis. He directed the planning and building of Busch Corporate Center, a 150 acre business park that grew from farmland to over 30 office and mixed use buildings containing over 1.5 million square feet of office space. About 800,000 square feet of office space was built and leased under Echele's direction. Busch Corporate Center still remains viable today. Bob founded and conceived the idea of POLARIS Centers of Commerce® (“Polaris”) in the mid-eighties. At that time, he began assembling property and in 1987 formed N.P. Limited Partnership to direct the development. In 1990, he began devoting full time to the development of POLARIS as its Managing General Partner. POLARIS is a 1,200 acre, mixed use commercial real estate development centered on two interchanges on Interstate 71 in north Columbus. The project has been extremely successful. Since its inception, over $1 billion has been invested in POLARIS. More than 200 companies occupy over 8.5 million square feet in over 150 buildings of commercial space at POLARIS. It is home to the second largest single employer occupied building in the World and a six anchor 1.5 million square foot regional shopping mall called POLARIS Fashion Place and soon a full service Hilton Hotel and conference center. The project is about 80% complete. An additional 500,000 square feet of space is currently under construction. He was active in the Development Committee for Central Ohio, the National Association of Industrial & Office Parks and the Columbus Board of Realtors. He has served on the Board of Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Industrial & Office Parks and is Chairman of the Development Committee for Central Ohio. Bob was active in POLARIS' development until his passing. He provided strategic planning and counsel on all major projects. He recently received the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Central Ohio National Association of Industrial & Office Parks in recognition of his development career. Bob was an avid skier, outdoorsman and opera patron of the Metropolitan Opera. He also maintained homes in Aspen, New York City and Nantucket. He is survived by his life companion of 35 years, Robert I. Gease, whom he married on October 6, 2006 in Nantucket. He is also survived by one sister, Patricia Echele Olszewski, one nephew, two nieces, and their children. There will be a private graveside service in St. Louis and a scattering of ashes on Tiehack Mountain to be arranged at a later date. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Hospice of Palm Beach County, 5300 East Avenue, West Palm Beach, Florida 33407 in Bob's memory. Quattlebaum Funeral & Cremation Services Family Owned & Operated (561) 832-5171 To express condolences and/or make donations Visit PalmBeachPost.com/obituaries