5th Annual Houston Retail Real Estate

Mr. Alexander graduated from the University of Texas (Austin) with highest honors majoring in real estate. Drew joined WRI in 1978 as a Leasing Executive in the Retail Division. He held various positions and was named President of WRI in 1997 and was appointed the Company’s Chief Executive Officer in 2001. Mr. Alexander serves on the Board of Weingarten Realty Investors. Mr. Alexander is active in a number of civic and charitable organizations. He serves as a director of The Texas Medical Center, The Gladney Fund, The Endowment Board of the Houston Food Bank, The Real Estate Center at the University of Houston, and United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast. Mr. Alexander previously served on a number of Boards including Houston Food Bank, Houston Achievement Place, The Gladney Center, Rebuilding Together Houston, Charter Bancshares, Academy Sports & Outdoors and Susser Holdings Corp. Additionally, he is a past member of several committees at Congregation Emanu El and the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston. Further, Mr. Alexander is a trustee and past chairman of the International Council of Shopping Centers and current trustee of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.

Lilly Golden is the Principal and Founder of Evergreen Commercial Realty with over 30 years of commercial real estate experience in tenant representation, project leasing, investment sales, and development. She currently represents a wide variety of space users including grocers, big box retailers, lifestyle tenants, and restaurateurs. She leases some of the most notable retail centers in Houston and has developed property for national credit tenants in Texas and New Mexico. Lilly has frequently been awarded the “Heavy Hitters Award” from the Houston Business Journal and the “Broker of the Year Award” from Costar. She has been honored by Bisnow as one of Houston’s Most Influential Women in Commercial Real Estate and by REDNEWS as the 2021 Texas ICON. She earned her “CCIM” which is recognized as an elite designation in the commercial real estate investment industry and often participates in real estate panel discussions as she is known as an expert in her field. Lilly graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in Engineering and from the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business with an MBA. Prior to forming Evergreen Commercial Realty in 2005, Lilly worked at JLL in Chicago, Trammell Crow, and the Chain Links affiliate in Houston. Lilly is involved in several business and charitable organizations. She plays tennis and golf, enjoys snowboarding, and hiking with her husband and two daughters.

Dean Lane joined NewQuest Properties as a Partner in 2003. Dean plays a critical role on NewQuest’s development team, working on the design, tenant-mix and construction. Comprising more than seven million square feet of gross leasable area over the last several years, some of the major town centers include Sherman, Cy-Fair, Brazos, Hutto, Creekside, Stone Hill, Stone Park, Stone Hill Town Center and Grand Morton Town Center. The primary focus of Dean’s career has been on retail tenant representation, representing companies such as Kohl’s, Oshman’s/Sports Authority, Eye Masters, Ross Dress For Less, Sears Specialty Group, Petsmart, Petco, J.C. Penney, Ulta Cosmetics, CompUSA, Toys R Us, Golf Galaxy, Robins Bros. and The Gap Concepts. Due to his dedication, Dean was named Master Broker for Dick’s Sporting Goods in five states. He was overseeing all markets in the major cities of interest in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. During his career, Dean has completed numerous lease transactions for his clients, ranging from 5,000 – 133,000 square feet. One of Dean’s largest transactions completed in recent years was the 138 acre tract of land sale to CBL REIT for the 800,000 square foot Pearland Town Center Mall that opened in 2008. Previously a Vice President and Partner of Boyd Page & Associates from 1991 – 2003, Dean’s career started in the real estate industry with CB Commercial Real Estate Group in 1984. He is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and a graduate of Texas A&M University. In his spare time, Dean likes to spend time with his wife Regina and their two daughters, Halle and Jesse, and volunteers for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Ed James is a founder and Managing Partner and Broker for Streetwise. He is widely recognized as one most influential brokers in the Houston-area market with more than 30 years of experience in real estate brokerage and development. As one of the managing partners of the firm, Ed oversees strategy and day-to-day operations of the business. He has been the driving force behind the leasing and development of premier lifestyle projects and big box regional power centers, managing a portfolio of business ranging from individual to multi-market rollouts. His knowledge, experience and track record speak for themselves. Ed’s ability to see around the corner provides clients with excellent results. Partial Client List – Tenants Bellami Kohl’s (disposition) Newton Nurseries PetSmart Total Wine Projects Juban Crossing |Marketplace Denham Springs, LA Lower Heights District Houston Town & Country Village Houston Towne Center at Cedar Lodge Baton Rouge, LA Ed graduated with a degree in Finance/Real Estate from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. He is a licensed real estate broker with the state of Texas and an active member and past Texas State Chairman of ICSC. Ed also holds the CCIM designation (Certified Commercial Investment Member).

Nick plays a leading role in the strategic direction and leadership of Transwestern in the area of retail services on a regional and national basis. With his Houston team, he is responsible for overseeing and executing retail transactions in the greater Houston market place. A specialist in tenant representation, Nick’s client portfolio includes many national and local retail and restaurant tenants such as Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Eddie V’s, Yard House, Cheddars, and Bahama Breeze), Acme Oyster House, Lidia’s Italy, The Men’s Wearhouse, The Children’s Place, J. Alexander’s, Le Bilboquet, Ocean Prime, Mercantil Bank, Larry North Fitness, Star Furniture, Memorial Hermann, Voicebox Karaoke, Original Pancake House and Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar. Using his skills in the urban/lifestyle retail environment, Nick has been involved in Houston’s most high profile lifestyle/mixed use developments, including Market Street at The Woodlands, LaCenterra at Cinco Ranch, Sugar Land Town Square, CityCentre at Town & Country, West Ave at River Oaks and High Street. Nick currently leads a team that is working on Houston’s most dynamic mixed-use projects including River Oaks District, CityPlace at Springwoods Village, Imperial Market, Allen Center, Capitol Tower and The Shops at Houston Center.

David Luther leads the Investment Sales team at NewQuest. He has over twenty years of experience in underwriting, capital markets, and representing sellers and buyers on the sale of commercial assets. Prior to joining NewQuest, he was a Senior Vice President of Investments with Marcus and Millichap focused on facilitating 1031 exchanges and specializing in retail, medical, office and industrial assets. Having managed brokerage offices throughout Texas and closing over $750 million in commercial sales, David has built a stellar career providing agents and clients with “best in class” investment sales services. Nationally recognized as a leading commercial real estate broker and investment sales professional in his field, David has been quoted for his knowledge and expertise in over 100 trade articles, real estate panels and press releases. A graduate of Southern Methodist University with degrees in real estate finance and mathematics, he is currently a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and National Association of Office Industrial Properties (NAOIP). When David is not working, he enjoys spending time with his family and rooting for his local Houston Astros and son’s little league team.

As CEO of VCC, Derek Alley is the senior officer responsible for implementing the strategic plan for the Company. After growing up in Little Rock and learning many roles on jobsites and projects, Derek went to Stanford University to earn his BS in Management Science and Engineering, Derek then started his career in investment banking. Afterwards he moved to BlackRock, Inc in their Private Equity Real Estate Acquisitions Group based in San Francisco, CA. Under his guidance, VCC is consistently listed in the top 100 contractors by the Engineering News Record, largest contractor in Arkansas, a top 15 multifamily contractor, and recognized as the largest retail contractor in the Country. Derek is a member of the Young Presidents Organization, ICSC, ULI, the Texas Real Estate Council and sits on multiple boards including the Encore Bank Board of Directors and the Variety Charity of Texas.