The c-suites of Houston real estate got some fresh blood this week.<\/p>\n
Two leaders of the city\u2019s most prominent real estate companies (and entries on Texas\u2019 top 100 list), Roberto Contreras Sr.<\/a> and Ric Campo<\/a>, announced plans to pass the torch to younger talent on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Contreras name lives on in the top position at DC Partners, with the founder\u2019s son Roberto Contreras IV taking the corner office. The younger Contreras has been at the family firm since 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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\u2019 development work, which includes luxury mixed-use projects like The Allen in Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n Campo, who co-founded Camden Property Trust alongside Keith Oden in 1982, tapped firm president Alex Jessett<\/a> to take over as CEO. Campo has been CEO since Camden\u2019s initial public offering in 1993. Jessett is a Camden lifer; he joined the firm in 1999 after getting his MBA from University of Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n Campo and the elder Contreras are staying on at their respective firms as chairman of the board.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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\u2019 ability to carry on under fresh leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n Moayedi tees up \u201cThe Founder\u201d<\/p>\n Centurion American founder Mehrdad Moayedi is honoring the late co-founder of Mary Kay cosmetics with a multifamily conversion project<\/a> involving the company\u2019s 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\u2019s calling the project \u201cThe Founder\u201d as a nod to the property\u2019s 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\u2019s headquarters until it moved to a 33-acre campus in Addison, which it recently announced it might sell<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Dallas investor plants flag in Saudi Arabia<\/p>\n