When seasoned California broker Ben Terry and his wife drove to Texas looking to make a fresh start, he was struck by the sheer vastness of the prairie before arriving in Dallas, also known as the Big D.
Not only was Texas big, or at least bigger than he originally assumed, but the people were patient, kind and courteous, Terry told CoStar News. That's very different than the fast-paced world of the West Coast, he said.
"I've always had an interest in this market. I've sort of followed it as a hobby of mine," Terry said. "From a business standpoint, Texas has a reputation for being less bureaucratic, and it seems easier for deals to get entitled and permits to be issued. The growth in the region is also real."
Terry recently joined Dallas-based Weitzman as a vice president and director of portfolio leasing.
Terry said he's seen firsthand the exodus of companies from the Golden State to the Lone Star State, with Toyota North America making the move early on. He's watched it continue as companies including Charles Schwab, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs also opened large employment hubs in North Texas.
"This reminds me of Orange County [California] back in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, which was the golden age of growth back then," he added.
To familiarize and acclimate himself with the market, he's already started taking "Herb Weitzman-style trips." In other words, Terry's joined longtime Dallas broker Weitzman on drives around the market to check out shopping centers in the region and see what works and what could use some improvement.
Weitzman founded his firm in 1989 after being a retail broker at the Henry S. Miller Cos. He's known for pounding the pavement and walking retail properties to garner market knowledge.
Terry comes to Weitzman as the Dallas-based real estate services firm is building its bench of services. The firm has named Stephen Schmidt as its new chief investment officer to oversee investment opportunities, capital markets and financing relationships on a statewide basis for Weitzman.
Schmidt, who has more than 25 years of experience, most recently worked at Dallas-based Cypress Equities, a national real estate development and investment firm. During his tenure, he led the firm in developing or acquiring more than 50 investments totaling $2 billion in capital.
His background in both finance and retail real estate investments make him a strong leader of Weitzman's investment and finance operations, Weitzman President and CEO Marshall Mills said.
Mills said Terry's experience will benefit the firm's entire roster of leasing brokers.
In his new role, Terry supervises the leasing team responsible for representing large portfolios of retail properties in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He will also work with a team to attract new tenant prospects, oversee associate recruitment and training and offer market insights based on economic drivers in each part of the region. Terry will also report portfolio performance to ownership groups.
Prior to joining Weitzman, Terry served as Kimco's director of real estate in Southern California, where he directed leasing and oversaw a brokerage team working on a 4.4 million-square-foot portfolio of open-air shopping centers valued at more than $1 billion.
Terry earned his bachelor's degree in business administration with a dual emphasis in corporate and real estate finance at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business.