Fernando de Leon

De Leon was a cross-border kid who was born in Brownsville and grew up in Matamoros, Mexico. He’s now among the biggest investors in Dallas, counting Perot Companies as a partner.

The billionaire Harvard grad started out at Goldman Sachs after graduating college but quickly pivoted to Dallas real estate. He started with about $80,000 in savings and founded Leon Capital in 2006, acquiring and rezoning land. He sold off most of his assets before the 2008 crash and used that capital to buy distressed assets, starting with self-described “modest” real estate projects in Texas.

These days he oversees 12 businesses spread over healthcare and financial services to go with the mainstay of real estate, which includes about 20,000 apartment units, 15 million square feet of commercial space, 10,000 land lots and an industrial portfolio. 

Notable developments include the Academic, an apartment complex built on the former Dallas Independent School District headquarters on Ross Avenue. It has also developed multifamily in North Texas boomtown Celina as well as 10,000 single-family lots in the Sun Belt, according to its website. 

The firm faced community pushback for an industrial development it planned near a Fort Worth elementary school in 2022. The city council voted against it with prejudice, requiring the firm to wait a year before refiling.

DeLeon is a co-founder and early investor of real estate data service Crexi. Leon Capital was sued by CoStar Group in 2021, accused of inappropriately raking in data from that service.