Mark Kauffman may be one of the only people you'll meet who became a doctor "just for a lark." He attended medical school while he worked as a pharmacist, and became a doctor at the age of 27. Fast-forward a few decades and a highly successful career as an orthopedic surgeon in Philadelphia and Sarasota, and Kauffman, now 73, is on his third career: as a developer who has quietly changed the face of this city's downtown.

Sarasotans can thank Kauffman for the Hollywood 20 theater complex at U.S. 301 and Main Street (which he built with former partner David Band), formerly a vacant 200,000-square-foot mall; the renovation of the Crisp Building, a 22,000-square-foot historical building on Main Street across from Hollywood 20; and most recently, the sleek Courthouse Centre on the corner of Ringling Boulevard and U.S. 301, which is welcoming its first tenants. He's also behind many of the city's medical buildings, including the old Doctor's Hospital and University Medical Plaza.

Real estate was not an impulsive career change. Joking that his investments were the kiss of death for the stock market ("I'm the only one who would buy Disney stock and watch it plummet," he quips), Kauffman began buying small commercial properties in the New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia, where he is originally from and where he practiced medicine for seven years. He moved to Sarasota 25 years ago and first opened a solo orthopedic surgery practice before founding Sarasota Orthopedic Associates in 1977, a practice that now employs nine physicians and specializes in everything from arthroscopic surgery and sports medicine to replacements and spine surgery. Meanwhile, he continued dabbling in real estate, and by the time he turned 62 and retired after 17 years of practicing here, he had a nice portfolio of properties and vacant parcels to manage and develop, as well as the time and energy to do it.

"I was satisfied with medicine," says Kauffman. "I practiced for 32 years. But I was working 72 hours a week, up at 5:30 to make rounds and then proceed to surgery. It was time for a change. I do miss the academic aspects of medicine, but I don't miss the hard work or the responsibility. Practicing medicine is a hard job these days."

He founded Sarasota Commercial Management in 1997. The company deals in everything from site acquisition and development to leasing and property management. Currently it manages 22 properties, about 400,000 total square feet, and is run by Kauffman's youngest daughter, Mindy Parker.

"Projects find me, rather than me finding a project," says Kauffman, sitting in a conference room at the sleek new offices of Sarasota Commercial Management, in what used to be a defunct car dealership near the corner of Osprey Avenue and Mound Street. "Real estate is the only investment where you can put your own knowledge, enterprise, skill to use. If you buy a stock or a bond, you can't control what the market will do with the money. With real estate, you have the benefit of your own efforts."

Kauffman's approach to developing is that of someone who is here to stay. "I try to build things that are economically feasible but good for the city," he says. "It's easy and cheap to build a square box. I prefer to build something classy."

For example, Kauffman spent $85,000 on the statue in front of Courthouse Centre, and another $75,000 on the courtyard fountain. Neither piece of art had to be so expensive, but they stand at the gateway to downtown, and Kaufman wanted to make sure he had something unique. He points to a landscaped walkway in a Siesta Village property that could have been left as a breezeway between buildings, and the striking mural on the side of the Crisp Building, which he commissioned even though the building was already fully leased.

He doesn't build out to capacity, and cites Links Plaza, another one of his projects, which he says could have gone up 10 stories, but which he instead developed into a 25,000-square-foot building, a 250-car garage built in conjunction with the city of Sarasota, and a pocket park. He says he is a relatively conservative developer when it comes to taking financial risks (he had 40,000 of the total 90,000 square feet of office space preleased in Courthouse Centre before he started building) and prefers to buy and hold properties than to flip them for a quick buck.

"What works in one area doesn't always work in another," he says. "I don't want to make a stupid investment, one that benefits investors but at the expense of the city. I don't want to put a McDonald's on Palm Avenue, for example. I always try to do something a bit different and a bit better, and I don't make the bottom line my priority."