Leon Backes

Backes launched his career in real estate with a focus on distressed properties acquired during down markets. He’s since broadened his company’s focus to include development, leasing and management of various property types, including luxury mixed-use, retail, office, apartment and self-storage projects. His firm has engaged in projects with a combined value exceeding $3 billion since its 1991 founding. It frequently partners with the Kroenke Group, Stan Kroenke’s Missouri-based development and investment firm.

Provident’s signature development is Preston Hollow Village, a five-phased $300 million mixed-use project in North Dallas. The firm has also developed mixed-use projects Midtown Park in North Dallas and Twin Creeks Crossing in Allen. 

Provident has developed or acquired more than $500 million in retail developments, over 30 self-storage projects, and around 15,000 apartment units, managing a land portfolio exceeding 8,000 acres. In 2025, Provident began the annexation of land for the Goodland community, a 5,000-acre master-planned project intended to support a population of around 50,000.

Not every Backes-backed idea has gotten off the ground. In 2024, Provident listed the 3.6-acre parcel at 703 McKinney Avenue, a Victory Park site home to a brewery built in the 1880s. Provident had planned to add two floors to the former brewery and convert it into an office complex and add an apartment high-rise with more than 300 units, but the project never came to fruition. 

— Isaiah Mitchell