March 14, 2023
Elite Events & Rentals team members at the 15th anniversary party
Launched in 2007 by owner Brandon Ahlgren, CERP, Elite Events & Rentals, Tampa, Fla., reached its 15th anniversary in 2022. A celebration to mark the occasion was scheduled for September, but Mother Nature had other ideas in the form of Hurricane Ian. So, the open house-style birthday party took place in January 2023.
“A huge thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with us. It has been an amazing 15 years, and we cannot wait for many more!” Ahlgren says, speaking of the festivities.
When he was named one of Rental Management’s “10 to Watch Under 40” in 2013, Ahlgren had this to say about his company’s origin and early growth: “I always wanted to own my own business. I decided that rental looked like a lot of fun, so I bought a website. Then about a year later, I actually got the money to invest into it. I had a mentor, who was much older, about 90, and he was a successful business guy. However, when it came to a mentor for rental knowledge, I didn’t have one. But, there was a rental company in the area that let me subrent, and I could ask questions and partner up on bigger jobs. For the first three years, I worked full-time at another job. Then my business picked up, and I ended up leaving my job.”
Today, Elite Events & Rentals has developed into a full-service event rental company that operates out of a 21,500-sq.-ft. facility with a 2,000-sq-ft. showroom in the Upper Tampa Bay area. In June 2016, Elite Events & Rentals acquired Gulfcoast Party Rentals in Clearwater, Fla., and in 2023 it acquired West Coast Events and Rentals, Land O’ Lakes, Fla., giving the company additional locations to better serve its customers.
