Real Estate Love Stories
On Valentine’s Day, we wanted to spread the love, so we asked some of our favorite Dallas real estate couples to tell their stories.
Robbie & Skyler Baty
Cushman & Wakefield director of Dallas brokerage services Robbie Baty met his bride, IA Interior Architects business development manager Skyler Baty, at a Dallas social club event almost five years ago. (Skyler says their happy hour turned into happily ever after.) Robbie took Skyler on a walk through Baylor University on Thanksgiving Eve 2008. (Nothing says "I love you" quite as much as "Sic ‘em, Bears!") When they reached Pat Neff Hall, Robbie sat Skyler down and presented her with a list of the “Top 50 Skyler and Robbie Moments.” She made it all the way to No. 47 before the waterworks started. The rest is history. They cook together, hit the road occasionally, and play some backgammon. Robbie tells us about 60% of the companies he reps are expanding their offices in Dallas or opening new offices in Dallas.
Chris & Aarica Mims
Swearingen Realty Group VP Chris Mims and Peloton Commercial Real Estate VP Aarica Mims were high school sweethearts and both attended East Central University where she was a cheerleader and he played football. The day they graduated, they returned to Dallas, and Chris tells us they love working in the same industry while working on opposite sides of the field (SRG is an exclusive tenant rep firm and Peloton is a third party landlord rep firm.) Both earned their CCIM and Chris serves on North Texas CCIM chapter board, while Aarica is on the NTCAR YPF committee. Chris is busy planning CCIM’s big networking event in May and is traveling with a national client to LA today, but promises he’ll be back for a Valentine’s dinner with his bride of almost six years. In their free time, they like to travel. The next big trip: Bali and Tokyo. Aarica tells us she just wrapped up 26k SF lease for landlord Billingsley Co at International Business Park for Great Lakes.
Gary & Sheryl Pickens and Brenda & Thom Ridnour
Sometimes love and friendship survives some friendly competition—and even business partnerships. Here’s a good example: United Properties Southwest prez Gary Pickens and his wife, PickensRidnour principal Sheryl Pickens, and PickensRidnour principal Brenda Ridnour and her husband, Parmenter Realty Partners SVP Thom Ridnour. Sheryl and Gary met at Trammell Crow Co in 1979 and married in 1981. Brenda and Thom met in 1986 while she was at Swearingen and Thom was at Transwestern and married in 1988. Their friendship was born when Sheryl and Thom were competing for the same office project leasing assignment. (Sheryl won.)
From that assignment, Sheryl met Brenda and became best buddies. They introduced their husbands to one another and all four forged a bond. In 2012, Brenda and Sheryl decided to start up their own shop. They’ve even partnered with Gary on various development deals. Their advice for work (and love): Always stand your ground regarding faith, ethics, and love for one another; treat others better than you are going to be treated; and under-promise and over-deliver. Gary is working on new ground-up commercial developments in Coppell, Lubbock, and Midlothian, while Thom is leasing 3.2M SF for Parmenter. And the ladies recently closed on about 20k SF of office deals, with another 12k SF in the works and a 30k SF MOB deal.
