Hillwood Flying High

Hillwood VP Steve Boecking (here with wife Tami) recently scored Foreign Trade Zone status for 3PL firm ATC Logistics and Engineering.  With a   1M SF three-building site at Alliance’s Gateway Park,  it saves the company millions. When not cutting costs, this 12-handicapper is eliminating strokes on his golf game. He’s a lefty, so, naturally, his favorite PGA golfer is Phil Mickelson.

Hillwood  Community Relations Director Bill Walker stopped Fort Worth Mayor Pro Tem Danny Scarth mid-bite for a handshake. Don’t believe Bill when he says “I don’t really do any work.” He made the rounds and greeted every guest. Danny tells us Cowtown’s commercial development is taking a vacation while the credit market strengthens. Speaking of vacations, Danny spends much of his free time working with Turning Point, which provides outdoor activity opportunities (hunting, fishing, parachuting) to children with disabilities. He helps organize 35 outdoor experiences at Bachman Lake as well as a fishing tournament Caddo Lake.

Colliers International EVP Allen Gump and Hillwood VP Steve Aldrich exchanged Texas Tech and Texas A&M football jabs that can’t be repeated. (It’s our first day publishing; we don’t want to upset anyone until Day 2.) Allen kept mum on his latest projects but says he has a big one in the next 30 days. Everything is on hold, but starting to release, he says, as deals that have been in the works are finally coming through. Eg, he sold 13 acres in Fort Worth and 18 acres in Lancaster to unnamed firms planning to build new facilities.

Steve jumped into another shot next to Hillwood colleagues, Marketing VP Tony Crème, SVP Russell Laughlin, Marketing Manager Reid Goetz  and Associate General Counsel Don Reid. Steve worked with Tony and Reid on the sale of 15 acres to Lubbock-based United Supermarkets  for a new distribution center. Avid UT  football fan Reid said he’s managed to sneak out for dove hunting a few times this fall, bagging his limit at least once. Don may be pickin’ and grinnin’ on his guitar and piano, but he said he’s been playing too long not to be any better than he is. Tony and Russell? They darted for the cold drinks before they could be cornered.

Knowing they had a real estate audience, the Blue Angels closed by skywriting a picture of a 4-lane highway, to demonstrate the importance of transportation-oriented development. (Or are we reading too much into this?) They flew on the outskirts of Cowtown, but no white hats were seen in the cockpits.