Dallas’ Washburne Family Launches Real Estate Company

Two of the Big D’s wealthiest families are spinning off a real estate company from their family offices.

Gillon Property Group, a subsidiary of Gillon Capital, consolidates the management of assets owned by the Washburne and Hunt-Hill families, including the portfolio’s centerpiece Highland Park Village, according to a news release.

Drew Steffen, who led the Highland Park Village Management Company and the Village Collection, will be the firm’s president and CEO. Ray Washburne, whose wife Heather Hill Washburne is a descendent of oil tycoon H. L. Hunt, will be vice chairman.

Gillon Property Group’s portfolio spans 81 properties across 10 states, the release said. It includes a mix of retail, hospitality, multifamily, office and mixed-use properties.

Highland Park Village was established in 1931 as the country’s first inward-facing open-air shopping center. Today, the 10-acre luxury retail plaza at Mockingbird Lane and Preston Road is home to high-end brands like Rolex, Jimmy Choo and Fendi.

The Washburne family bought the property in 2009 for $171 million.

The other crown jewel of the company’s portfolio is Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri, which the Washburne family acquired last year for $175 million. That property features nearly 1 million square feet of commercial space across 15 blocks and is known as one of the first suburban malls built to accommodate people traveling by car.

When he bought the property, Washburne shared plans to invest $100 million into the century-old shopping center.

Properties that were previously managed by the A.G. Hill family office, such as the Shops at Clearfork in Fort Worth and Watters Creek Village in Allen, have been brought under the Gillon umbrella.

Washburne is also a development partner in an upcoming project in Dallas’ Knox-Henderson neighborhood.

He’s partnering with Trammell Crow Company, BDT & MSD Partners and the Retail Connection to develop a 12-story office building on the site of Chuy’s Tex-Mex restaurant at 4544 McKinney Avenue, with plans to deliver the project in 2028. The 300,000-square-foot Knox & McKinney will include ground-floor retail space.