FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                    

 

 

RESCHEDULED FOR SEPT. 22

 

RAY L. HUNT OF HUNT CONSOLIDATED AND
LEON J. BACKES OF PROVIDENT REALTY ADVISORS TO BE INDUCTED INTO THE
NORTH TEXAS COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE HALL OF FAME

 

B. Diane Butler, co-founder and previous executive chairman/CEO of Butler Burgher Group, to receive
Michael F. McAuley Lifetime Achievement Award for service to real estate industry and civic organizations

 

DALLAS (April 7, 2020) – A powerful pair of North Texas real estate leaders – one whose decades-long work has left an immeasurable mark on Dallas, the other a visionary entrepreneur whose savvy deals and developments are valued upwards of $3 billion – will receive their industry’s top honors this fall.

The North Texas Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame, in cooperation with NTCAR, will induct Ray L. Hunt, executive chairman of Hunt Consolidated, Inc., and Leon J. Backes, founder and chief executive officer of Provident Realty Advisors, Inc., into the 2020 Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame. Originally slated for May 5, the event has been rescheduled for Sept. 22 due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Also, B. Diane Butler, the co-founder and previous executive chairman and chief executive officer of Butler Burgher Group, will receive the Michael F. McAuley Lifetime Achievement Award. This recognition is presented to an individual who has dedicated countless hours of personal effort to their community, to professional organizations committed to the real estate industry and to charitable pursuits during their professional real estate career. Additionally, the award recognizes the individual’s commitment to promoting integrity, honesty, reciprocation and professionalism throughout their commercial real estate career. (See bios on all honorees at the end of this release.)

Marking its 34th anniversary, the Reunion and Hall of Fame event has been rescheduled to September 22 at the Dallas Country Club (4100 Beverly Dr.) with an hors d’oeuvres reception beginning at 5:30 p.m., followed by the induction ceremony at 6:30 p.m. The title sponsors for this year’s event are The Karahan Companies and Farmers Bank & Trust.  NOTE: A very limited number of sponsorships remain for the rescheduled event – inductee table sponsorships at $10,000 and gold sponsorships at $5,000. For more information, go to ntcarhalloffame.org or email HallofFame@eventlinkintl.com

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While Ray L. Hunt’s career has traditionally been defined by his successful stewardship of the oil and gas company his father created in 1934, Hunt is also known for his immeasurable contributions to real estate and community development throughout North Texas for almost 50 years. Starting in the early 1970s, he began a dedicated effort to establish a real estate business for the company, combining a long-term positive view of the industry with a desire to seek innovative partnership opportunities where available. As a result, Hunt’s vision changed and defined the landscape of Dallas, with a unique public-private partnership with the City of Dallas named Reunion, and the ultimate development of the iconic Reunion Tower and Hyatt Regency Hotel.

 

Today, the real estate business that Hunt created is still making its mark throughout North Texas. Hunt Realty’s direct-owned assets in Dallas include its Reunion Holdings including the Tower, the hotel and approximately 20 acres of undeveloped land, the North End Apartments in Uptown and Hunt Consolidated’s downtown headquarters campus. Hunt Realty is also partnering with The Karahan Companies, Chief Partners and Cross Tie Partners to develop the 2,500-acre master-planned and mixed-use project in Frisco known as Fields. Within Fields will be residential and mixed-use commercial properties as well as the location of the national headquarters for the PGA of America and an Omni Resort Hotel and two championship-level golf courses owned and developed by TRT Holdings.

 

Over the 45 years since starting what has become Hunt Realty Investments, Hunt has partnered with key civic leaders such as Walt Humann (Bon Terre Investments) and John Scovell (Woodbine Development Corporation) and several nationally successful operating companies, including JPI, Newland Real Estate Group, Trinsic Residential, Bridge Development Partners and many more. Hunt continues to partner with select, high-quality sponsors in unique projects impacting the North Texas community, including Woodbine as it expands its footprint and transitions to the next generation of Scovells.

“Ray Hunt’s masterful investments in Dallas have contributed greatly to the success of our downtown and literally defined our skyline,” said Greg Cannon, co-chair of the 2020 North Texas Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame event committee member. “His expansion into acclaimed luxury properties and master-planned residential communities illustrates the extraordinary vision he possesses.”

Leon J. Backes formed Provident Realty Advisors, Inc. in 1991, and today the company focuses on acquisition and development of multifamily projects, master-planned communities and land development along with leasing, management and construction of retail, office, industrial and self-storage projects. 

 

Provident has developed or acquired more than $500 million in retail developments, more than 30 self-storage projects, 1.5 million square feet of office space, 15,000-plus apartment units and several thousand residential lots. The company currently manages a land portfolio exceeding 3,000 acres (inclusive of active development projects).

Additionally, Backes has been an opportunistic purchaser of distressed notes on real estate and other assets and has substantial private equity and oil and gas interests.

 

His major projects include Preston Hollow Village and The Katy in Dallas, Paloma Creek master-planned community in Little Elm, Prairie Ridge master-planned community in Ellis and Johnson Counties, and Tavalo Park master-planned community in Fort Worth.

“Leon is an artist at heart, so combine that creativity with incredible business acumen, and you have a winning formula. Not only does he have significant holdings, he is spearheading some of Dallas’ most beautiful developments, including the stunning Preston Hollow Village,” said Lynn Dowdle, co-chair of the 2020 North Texas Real Estate Commercial Hall of Fame event committee member.

Recipient of this year’s McAuley Award, B. Diane Butler is a visionary leader who combines a wealth of real estate wisdom and expertise with a servant leader heart.

 

Butler was the co-founder and previously executive chairman and chief executive officer of Butler Burgher Group (BBG), a leading national due diligence commercial real estate firm. She continues to serve on BBG’s Board of Directors and is a shareholder. Currently, she’s founder and principal of Butler Advisers.

Among Butler’s many regional and national contributions, she served as chair for both The Real Estate Council (TREC) and TREC Foundation and chaired TREC Fight Night. Butler was the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) National President in 2012, received the “CREW Entrepreneurial Spirit Impact Award” in 2016 and was honored nationally as a “CREW Distinguished Leader” in 2014. She was a Trustee of the CREW Foundation and was inducted into the “CREW Visionaries” program in 2007 for advancing women in commercial real estate. CREW Dallas honored Butler with its “CREW in the Community Award for Philanthropic Excellence” in 2018.

She is a member of the National Multifamily Housing Council, National Association of Corporate Directors, Appraisal Institute, Urban Land Institute, Dallas Assembly, Dallas Regional Chamber Executive Women’s Roundtable, City of Dallas Housing and Acquisition Development Board and Interprise Design Board. Her nonprofit leadership roles also include Governor's Greg Abbott’s Small Business Forum for Women, Texas Women’s Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, WINGS Advisory Board, Volunteers of America LPGA Classic and First Tee.

“Diane Butler is an industry superstar who is known locally and nationally,” said Kathy Permenter, a 2020 North Texas Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame event committee member. “In everything she does, she leads with excellence whether it’s one of the companies she’s founded, the young professionals she inspires – in particular women – or the nonprofits she supports.”




Founded in 1995, NTCAR is a trade association that exists to enhance the business opportunities of its members through real-time access to critical real estate information, education, recognition and networking events. One of the first and leading local commercial real estate associations in the country, NTCAR’s members benefit from proprietary industry resources and customized services.

The NTCAR Hall of Fame was launched in 1988, when the first six distinguished real estate recipients were Trammell Crow; Lyn Davis; Henry S. Miller, Jr.; John M. Stemmons, Sr. and his brother, L. Storey Stemmons; and Angus G. Wynne. Later additions to the roster included John Carpenter; Roger Staubach; Henry S. Miller Company; Jerry Jones; Ross Perot, Jr.; Gerald Hines and Jeff Hines; and many others.

In 2019, the inductees were Fehmi Karahan, president and chief executive officer of The Karahan Companies, and Holt Lunsford, founder and chief executive officer of Holt Lunsford Commercial. Charles “Chuck” G. Dannis of Crosson Dannis Inc. received the Michael F. McAuley Lifetime Achievement Award.

These and other recent Hall of Fame recipients are currently featured in the third edition of THE BOOK – Dallas/Fort Worth Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame – which was unveiled last summer. Created in 2008 with expanded editions in 2013 and 2019, THE BOOK captures the stories of past Hall of Fame honorees and Michael F. McAuley Award recipients – all legendary figures whose extraordinary vision and real estate prowess played a major role in North Texas’ development over the past 100 years.

The coffee table book, filled with historical photos, is available for $150. Please visit ntcarhalloffame.org/the-book, email HallofFame@eventlinkintl.com or call 214-750-9247.

In addition to event co-chairs Greg Cannon and Lynn Dowdle, the North Texas Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame Committee members are Darrell Hurmis, Robert Grunnah (Emeritus), Chris Teesdale, Kathy Permenter, Bill Cox and Jack Gosnell.

For more information, go to ntcarhalloffame.org or email HallofFame@eventlinkintl.com.

 

NOTE: FOR PHOTOS OF THE HONOREES, PLEASE CONTACT BECKY MAYAD
AT 214-352-1881 OR 214-697-7745 CELL OR BECKY@MAYADPR.COM

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CONTACT:
Becky Mayad
work:  214-352-1881
cell:    214-697-7745
becky@mayadpr.com

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BIOS

 

RAY L. HUNT

Executive Chairman

Hunt Consolidated, Inc.
2020 Hall of Fame honoree

Ray L. Hunt is executive chairman of Hunt Consolidated, Inc. His association with Hunt Oil Company began in 1958 when he joined as a summer employee in the oil fields.

Hunt also currently serves on the boards of directors of Bessemer Securities Corporation and King Ranch, Inc. His previous board memberships include the Halliburton Company and PepsiCo, Inc.

From October 2001 to January 2009 Hunt was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the President's Intelligence Advisory Board in Washington, D.C.

In 1998, Hunt was appointed to the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. He served as chairman of the board from 2002 to 2006. Additionally, Hunt is a member of the National Petroleum Council, an advisory organization to the Secretary of Energy in Washington, D.C. Hunt served as its chairman from June 1991 to July 1994. Hunt is also a member of the Texas Business Hall of Fame.

Active in civic affairs, Hunt has previously served as chairman of the board of trustees of Southern Methodist University, chairman of the Dallas Citizens Council, and chairman of the Central Dallas Association. He is currently chairman of Dallas Medical Resource and also serves on the board of trustees of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., and the board of trustees of The Cooper Institute in Dallas, Texas.

Hunt also serves on the board of directors of the George W. Bush Foundation in Dallas, Texas.

Hunt has received many energy industry awards, including the American Petroleum Institute Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement, the Distinguished Service and Leadership Award of the 25-Year Club of the Petroleum Industry, the Public Service Award of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, and the Distinguished Service Award for the Texas Oil and Gas Association. Hunt has been elected an All-American Wildcatter and the Southwestern Legal Foundation gave him the John Rogers Award "for distinguished service to the petroleum industry and civic institutions."

Other awards Hunt has received include the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce's J. Erik Jonsson Award, the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies Award for Corporate Citizenship, the Dallas Morning News' Linz Award, and the SMU Maguire Center for Ethics & Public Responsibility's J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award.

Hunt graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1965, where he was designated a University Scholar, with a degree in economics.

 

LEON J. BACKES
FOUNDER & CEO
PROVIDENT REALTY ADVISORS, INC.
2020 Hall of Fame honoree

Leon J. Backes graduated from the University of Missouri in 1979 with a degree in Business Administration. Upon graduating, Backes entered the Coldwell Banker (now CBRE) management training program in Houston, Texas. Coldwell Banker transferred him to Dallas in 1980, and Backes left CB in 1981 with the firm’s two top producers to form Leon Brothers & Associates, specializing in the sale and leasing of industrial real estate.

In 1983 Backes formed Backes & Platt Investments and was a partner in that firm until 1991 when Backes formed Provident Realty Advisors, Inc. Provident’s initial focus was the opportunistic acquisition of real estate assets from failed financial institutions. During the early 1990s, Backes was able to acquire a land portfolio of over 85 land and other assets at the trough of the market. When those opportunities ended, Provident, in addition to land, broadened its interests becoming a major real estate investment and development company focused on opportunistic real estate projects which offered the potential for risk adjusted above market returns. Following this model, Backes has formed and led partnerships to invest in or develop real estate with a market value in excess of 3 billion dollars.

Today, PROVIDENT REALTY ADVISORS, INC is involved in land acquisition and development, the acquisition, development, leasing and management and construction of retail, office, apartment and self-storage projects. Provident has developed or acquired more than $500 million dollars of retail developments, over 30 self-storage projects, 1.5 million square feet of office, over 15,000 apartment units, several thousand residential lots and currently manages a land portfolio exceeding 8,000 acres (inclusive of active development projects).

Additionally, Backes is an opportunistic purchaser of distressed notes on real estate and other assets.

Backes has substantial oil and gas holdings and majority ownerships in an institutional pharmacy business, commercial lighting distributor, and several free-standing emergency rooms.

Over the years, Provident has enjoyed successful relationships with many major financial institutions such as Comerica Bank, US Bank, Plains Capital Bank, BBVA, Simmons Bank, Wells Fargo, as well as many regional and local firms. Investors with Backes or Provident have included; Angelo Gordon Real Estate, Institutional Housing Partners (CalPERS), Farallon Capital Management, Centerline Capital Group, Hudson Housing Capital, The Kroenke Group and many local and regional firms and individuals.

Backes is the former Chairman of the Board and current board member of New Horizons Ranch and Center, a non-profit residential treatment center specializing in the care of sexually and physically abused children.

Backes is married to Jane Backes and has two sons, John, and Blake. He resides in Dallas.

B. DIANE BUTLER
FOUNDER AND PRINCIPAL
BUTLER ADVISERS
2020 Michael F. McAuley Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

B. Diane Butler was the Co-Founder and previously Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Butler Burgher Group (BBG), a leading national due diligence commercial real estate firm. She continues to serve on BBG’s Board of Directors and is a Shareholder.

She has more than 30 years of commercial real estate expertise in valuation, consulting and feasibility studies. Butler has significant experience in all types of multi-family housing, student housing, healthcare, single and multi-tenant office buildings, industrial, retail, mixed-use developments and master-planned communities including expertise in Agency, FHA and Affordable Housing Appraisals and Market Studies.

In 1998, she co-founded Trophy Investments with David Burgher, using their multi-disciplinary backgrounds to invest and develop various projects. This included grocery-anchored and strip shopping centers, office buildings, a self-storage facility, industrial and medical office buildings, specialty hospitals, various tracts of commercial land and the redevelopment of a 28-acre, 270,000 square foot mixed-use project in Fort Worth.

Butler is a change agent and visionary acknowledged nationally for building organizations and growing revenue. As an entrepreneur and business consultant, her expertise includes real estate development, acquisitions and dispositions; investment management and consultancy; location and footprint strategy; market research and diligence; business consulting; corporate mergers and acquisitions; property and portfolio financing strategies; risk management and underwriting; valuation counseling; and board and advisory leadership.

She served as Chairman of TREC (The Real Estate Council) in 2016, and previously was Chairman of TREC FightNight and Chairman of the TREC Foundation. Butler was the CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) National President in 2012, received the “CREW Entrepreneurial Spirit Impact Award” in 2016 and was honored nationally as a “CREW Distinguished Leader” in 2014. She was a Trustee of the CREW Foundation and was inducted into the “CREW Visionaries” program in 2007 for advancing women in Commercial Real Estate.

Butler was also recognized by Real Estate Forum among “Women of Influence in Commercial Real Estate,” honored by Commercial Property News as a “Top Woman Executive in Commercial Real Estate” and selected by Bisnow as one of “Dallas’ Most Influential Women in Commercial Real Estate.” Additionally, she has been recognized multiple times in DCEO Magazine‘s “Dallas 500” among “Top Commercial Real Estate Executives.” CREW Dallas honored her with its “CREW the Community Award for Philanthropic Excellence” in 2018. Butler was honored as the “2018 Extraordinary Woman” by the Powerful Purses organization.

She is a member of the National Multifamily Housing Council, National Association of Corporate Directors, Appraisal Institute, Urban Land Institute, Dallas Assembly, Dallas Regional Chamber Executive Women’s Roundtable, City of Dallas Housing and Acquisition Development Board and Interprise Design Board.

Her non-profit leadership roles have included CREW Dallas, TREC, North Texas Appraisal Institute, Governor's Greg Abbott’s Small Business Forum for Women, Texas Women’s Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, WINGS Advisory Board, Volunteers of America LPGA Classic and First Tee.

Butler is also a designated expert witness and has testified in a variety of court cases concerning real estate valuation. She was born in Alligator, Mississippi, but as the saying goes, “got to Texas as fast as she could.” A graduate of Mississippi State University, Butler has a bachelor’s in business administration with a double major in finance and real estate. She holds the MAI, FRICS and CCIM designations.

 

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