TAMPA, FL-Three Florida commercial real estate veterans have teamed up to launch a new firm. Coldwell Banker Commercial Saunders Ralston Dantzler is Polk County’s newest commercial real estate brokerage.

Gary Ralston built a reputation as a retail and commercial real estate authority in Central Florida. R. Todd Dantzler made a name for himself as a commercial property and land use expertise in Polk County and Central Florida and Dean Saunders is a former Florida legislator, land and conservation easement authority.

Together, the team has more than 70 years of collective commercial and land real estate experience. Commercial real estate services include, site selection, disposition, leasing, property management, real estate counseling services, acquisition, portfolio assortment plan, asset management, recapitalization and development.

“We want to be a Polk County firm—not a Lakeland firm, not a Winter Haven firm—an Polk County firm,” Saunders tells GlobeSt.com. Saunders has owned and operated Coldwell Banker Commercial Saunders Real Estate, a land brokerage, since 1996. The firm transacted nearly $1 billion in sales from 1996 to 2010. “We are trying to recruit client-focused agents that want to work with us,” he adds. “We can see the synergies here.”

As former president and board member of Commercial Net Lease Realty, Ralston guided the company’s growth from less than $15 million in real estate assets to nearly $1.5 billion. He is an instructor at the CCIM Institute, the ICSC University of Shopping Centers at Wharton, the ICSC Executive Learning series and RECon Academy and holds a master's degree in Real Estate and Construction Management.

Dantzler has been active in East Polk County real estate for over 27 years, offers clients his extensive experience in commercial property and land use in the Lakeland, Winter Haven metro and surrounding areas. He serves on a number of statewide, regional and local real estate industry and community boards of directors and committees.

The firm has wasted no time recruiting talent. Kyle Vreeland of Lakeland just joined Coldwell Banker Commercial Saunders Ralston Dantzler Realty as a sales associate. He will lead company’s consulting practice in the areas of building analysis, space planning and development feasibility, including architecture and construction.

Vreeland previously was a principal of Smithland Development and Chiefland Properties in Lakeland and has more than 20 years of experience in design and construction in Polk County, including tenure with Lakeland’s Furr & Wegman Architects, Rodda Construction and Straughn Trout Architects.