Commercial Property Sales

Like his role model Roger Staubach, football great Emmitt Smith has parlayed success in football to success in commercial real estate. He leads a six companies, including E Smith Realty (brokerage and other services), EJ Smith Construction (highway, civic and commercial projects), and E Smith Capital Partners.

We are now in year seven of an economic recovery and the recovery/growth phase of Dallas’ real estate cycle. Given that the average real estate cycle is seven years in duration, some would take this to mean we are in the ninth inning and a couple of strike-outs away from lights out at the ballpark.

When the program works, everyone is happy. Developers get low-cost capital from silent investors who really just want to break even. Investors get those all-important green cards, which provide permanent residency. Those who facilitate the investments get their cuts. And cities benefit from new jobs and tax-generating enterprises and developments.

Takeharu Miyama tells a fascinating story of how he came to the United States in the mid-1970s and wound up making millions in Dallas. His daughter Sawako translates from Japanese: “I told my parents I wanted to see the world. I wanted to go someplace where people didn’t know me. I wanted to see what I could be.”

Along with overseeing development of her company's new project in Plano, One Legacy West, Sabine Gaedeke Stener is busy pursuing real estate acquisitions in Boston and Manhattan—and opportunistic oil and gas buys for Gaedeke Energy, which she also runs.