The c-suites of Houston real estate got some fresh blood this week.
Two leaders of the city’s most prominent real estate companies (and entries on Texas’ top 100 list), Roberto Contreras Sr. and Ric Campo, announced plans to pass the torch to younger talent on Monday.
The Contreras name lives on in the top position at DC Partners, with the founder’s son Roberto Contreras IV taking the corner office. The younger Contreras has been at the family firm since 2018.
Prior to joining, he spent over a decade on another project spearheaded by his father: Houston EB5. Roberto Contreras IV started at the organization Contreras Sr. founded in 2012. After graduating from Swarthmore College, the younger Contreras spent five years living in China where he developed the Houston branch of the program that provides legal status to foreign nationals who invest in stateside real estate projects. The program has been a pillar of DC Partners’ development work, which includes luxury mixed-use projects like The Allen in Houston.
Campo, who co-founded Camden Property Trust alongside Keith Oden in 1982, tapped firm president Alex Jessett to take over as CEO. Campo has been CEO since Camden’s initial public offering in 1993. Jessett is a Camden lifer; he joined the firm in 1999 after getting his MBA from University of Houston.
Campo and the elder Contreras are staying on at their respective firms as chairman of the board.
The moves speak to the leadership transitions at play in Texas real estate more broadly. New leaders are emerging at companies across the state as baby boomer founders pass the torch, a process that undoubtedly tests these firms’ ability to carry on under fresh leadership.
Moayedi tees up “The Founder”
Centurion American founder Mehrdad Moayedi is honoring the late co-founder of Mary Kay cosmetics with a multifamily conversion project involving the company’s former headquarters. He filed plans with the state to turn Optima Business Park, a pair of office buildings at 8787 North Stemmons Freeway, into a 176-unit multifamily complex. He’s calling the project “The Founder” as a nod to the property’s history, he told The Real Deal. Co-founder Richard Rogers, who started the company in 1963 with his mother Mary Kay Ash and siblings, died at age 82 on Tuesday. The property served as the company’s headquarters until it moved to a 33-acre campus in Addison, which it recently announced it might sell.
Dallas investor plants flag in Saudi Arabia
The Patel Family Office teamed up with Saudi-based Abdel Hadi A. Al-Qahtani & Sons on a $1 billion plan to develop 50 hotels across Saudi Arabia by 2029. The venture is targeting the Kingdom’s growing corporate travel segment, with plans to construct between 5,000 and 7,000 rooms in key cities and regions including Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, the Red Sea region and the planned Neom development. The family office owns more than 400 hotels globally and 27 properties across Texas.
Another roadblock for The Meadow
The Muslim-centric master-planned community formerly known as EPIC City seemed to withstand scrutiny brought by local and state leaders last spring, but, a year later, the project is the subject of renewed scrutiny. In the latest, a North Texas judge issued a temporary injunction halting development efforts for the project now known as The Meadow by blocking its municipal utility district from moving forward with sewer and water infrastructure. The ruling stems from a legal battle with the Texas Attorney General’s office, which alleges the MUD attempted to evade oversight through improper board appointments and an unlawful expansion of its boundaries to annex the development site.
Mark Cuban’s sellers remorse
The Dallas billionaire spilled his guts on a podcast this week in which he said he regrets selling the Dallas Mavericks to Las Vegas-based casino magnate Miriam Adelson. The sale marked a shift from homegrown governance into a focus on the real estate development opportunities ownership provides, with the potential for a push to fold casino gambling into the plan should the State of Texas ever open the possibility. He specifically highlighted the unexpected trade of fan favorite Luka Dončić, which he called a “catastrophic mistake” and claimed was finalized without his input or approval.