Rendering of planned Atlanta Braves stadium.

Mike Bryant, founder of prominent architecture firm Fawley Bryant Architecture, has retired and followed through with a long-planned sale to others in the company’s management team. But new owners Steve Padgett and Stu Henderson say the 24-year-old firm, responsible for schools and stadiums around the Gulf Coast, plans to continue the community-making work at the core of the FBA legacy.

Now Bryant, who remains in a consulting capacity with the company for the time being, hopes the business continues to be recognized not just for its projects but a consistent involvement in bettering the region. “There was a firm awareness and constant community concern and involvement,” Bryant said. Bryant launched the firm with the late Rick Fawley so the two architects could put a bid in for Manatee High School—a bid they got. A focus on such public projects guaranteed a reputation for the company in designing structures at the core of a community. Since then, the company played a major hand in renovating LECOM Stadium in Bradenton, designing sports and residential structures at IMG Academy and creating a signature structure at Nathan Benderson Park.

Padgett and Henderson officially purchased the firm in December, but have been part of the management team at FBA for more than four years. Padgett first started working at the firm in 2001, while Henderson joined in 2011, and it’s been the plan for some time for the pair to take over eventually. A transition dates back to before Fawley’s death in 2015.

Bryant notes that subtle shifts have occurred along the way that largely escaped public notice, such as a branding shift from Fawley Bryant Architects to Fawley Bryant Architecture, to move the company’s image away from the vision of two individuals to that of a company philosophy about the craft. Internally, Henderson and Padgett have gradually taken on more management responsibilities, and have largely run the company for about a year and a half, Bryant says.

Padgett was glad for the time spent on a management team with the company founders. “You can have ambition but you don’t necessarily know what this requires. It takes some time to be comfortable with the responsibilities.” Henderson agreed, saying working with Fawley and Bryant exposed him to more of the financial aspects of running a company. “A lot of understanding the business side of architecture is not generally taught in schools,” he says. Contracts and legal responsibilities generally get taught on the job.

The firm today has about 20 people employed, and Padgett says he’s excited to once again have an office in Downtown and in Lakewood Ranch. The two owners often spend their days in different offices to maintain a consistent company culture. As for projects, the firm has started picking up more work out of state, including designing a performance center for bull riders in Colorado; the needs of those athletes apparently aren’t so different from the students at IMG or from Major League Baseball players, Padgett and Henderson say.

Henderson says digital communications make it easier for an architecture firm to do work around the globe, but both new owners say the company will always be focused on the Gulf Coast. Right now, Fawley Bryant is continuing its work with the new Atlanta Braves spring training stadium in North Port while designing a new residence hall at IMG Academy.

Rendering of planned Atlanta Braves stadium.