Roberto Contreras Sr.

Roberto Contreras Sr. has shown a command of literal and figurative building blocks with DC Partners, a Houston-based real estate development firm known for its luxury residential and mixed-use projects. 

He began his career with a stint in the stone and surfacing industry, establishing Super Marble as a source of custom fabrications used on high-profile projects such as the Holocaust Museum and the Houston International Airport. Also in his portfolio is Houston EB5, a service provider for international investors seeking U.S. residency through real estate development. The visa-seeking investors have been key backers of DC Partners, helping it pursue a roster of projects including Astoria, Arabella, and Marlowe in Houston as part of a portfolio that now tops $1.3 billion in value. 

Indeed, Contreras is a one-man comparison of ways in which politics intersect with real estate. He counts ties to one late former president as an element of his success with the EB5 program, while the current president makes noise about replacing them with an immigration “Gold Card.” The links to the past come through his son and DC Partners co-president Robert Contreras IV, who lived in China for five years, establishing Houston EB-5 offices there, serving at the same time as director of the George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations. It remains to be seen whether President Donald Trump will make good on talk of replacing EB-5 visas, or how Contreras and son might navigate any change.