DuWest Realty and DBA Commercial Real Estate Merge

Two Dallas-based commercial real estate firms announced a merger this month, yoking together several high-profile retail developments in the North Texas suburbs.

DuWest Realty and DBA Commercial Real Estate merged to form DuWest, bringing more than 50 tenant clients and 3.5 million square feet of managed retail property under one roof, according to the Dallas Business Journal.

DBA Commercial Real Estate was founded in Dallas in 2016 and led by Austin Schenkel and Perren Gasc. DuWest Realty was founded in Dallas in 2008 and led by Corey Duhon.

Schenkel and Gas join Scott Rodgers and Will Walters, formerly of DuWest Realty, as managing partners of the new company, named simply DuWest. Duhon will take on an advisory role as founding partner, the publication reported.

The new firm has 52 total employees and 33 brokers, and it leases more than 500 properties totaling more than 10 million square feet.

DuWest works primarily in retail. Its tenant representation team boasts clients as prominent as Shake Shack, Victoria’s Secret, Pei Wei Asian Kitchen and Hibbett Sports, the outlet reported.

DuWest Realty’s projects include the 52-acre Allen retail center Watters Creek Village, which the firm bought with Ray Washburne in 2022 and sold this March. Its current developments include Westside, a 64-acre mixed-use project in Prosper that will include 14,000 square feet of retail space, 250 multifamily units and a hotel.

DBA Commercial Real Estate’s contributions to the pot include leasing contracts for “The Shed,” a dining and entertainment center in Robert Bass’ ongoing $1.7 billion Westside Village development in Fort Worth, and for the Eldorado Neighborhood Shops, a 13.7-acre shopping center that SLX Capital is developing in McKinney. DBA has also represented the Shops at Panther Creek in Frisco in grocery and retail deals.

DuWest has offices in Houston, Austin and San Antonio as well as Dallas.

— Isaiah Mitchell