Dallas Power Couple Spins Off Legacy Real Estate Firm

Ray Washburne has been a bold name in Dallas real estate for decades, but he and his wife, Heather Hill Washburne, combined their real estate legacies into the framework of a company with a chief executive just this week.

The couple hired Drew Steffen as CEO of Gillon Property Group, a subsidiary of Gillon Capital, their family office. Washburne will be vice chairman of the firm, which has 81 properties across 10 states. Steffen previously led Washburne’s Highland Park Village Management Company and the Village Collection.

The new firm consolidates assets from two of Dallas’ wealthiest families. Hill Washburne is a granddaughter of oilman H.L. Hunt, and the daughter of the late Al Hunt Jr., whose business interests included real estate.

Washburne is more popularly known as co-founder of restaurant company M Crowd, the owner of Mi Cocina, and for his work in Republican politics. But in real estate, he’s the CEO of investment firm Charter Holdings.

He bought Highland Park Village in 2009 and added a similar holding last year with the purchase of Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri (where his wife’s cousins own the Kansas City Chiefs).

Here’s what else you need to know about Texas real estate this week.

Pacific Elm Properties, led by Jonas Woods, is facing foreclosure on One Dallas Center in downtown Dallas, just a year after losing the Comerica Bank Tower. The firm defaulted on a $34.5 million mortgage for the property, which was converted into offices and luxury apartments in 2014, and it may go to auction on Sept. 2 unless a deal is reached.

The long-troubled downtown Houston office building at 801 Travis Street sold recently for $12.1 million after nearly a decade on the CMBS loan watchlist, revealing the bottom of the office market. The 222,000-square-foot building was 43 percent occupied at the time of sale, reflecting broader challenges with Houston’s aging office inventory, though the CBD submarket commands some of the city’s highest rents.

Austin is “strongly in a buyer’s market,” and parts of North Texas are also favoring buyers. Meanwhile, in San Antonio, canceled contracts are piling up.

Glenstar and Singerman Real Estate’s $25 million renovation of the Terraces at Solana office campus in the wealthy Fort Worth suburb Westlake has boosted occupancy to 80 percent, attracting major tenants like Century 21 Mike Bowman, Pluralsight, and M1 Support Services. Demand for well-amenitized suburban office properties is strong, despite overall high vacancy in the Metroplex.

Silver Star Properties, under CEO Gerald Haddock, is struggling to execute its pivot from office to self-storage, as a recent brush with foreclosure shows. Foreclosure notices were filed on three office properties, in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, tied to a $57.8 million loan from Benefit Street Partners. The firm’s financial woes follow years of alleged mismanagement under former CEO Allen Hartman, who was ousted in 2023 and is now embroiled in legal battles with the company over allegations of fraud and self-dealing.