Broker puts down roots in South Dallas

Scottie Smith II continues to make his mark on South Dallas real estate, seven years after forming his vision for the neighborhood.

He plans to move his company, Shekinah Legacy Holdings, to a site at 1708 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, near Interstate 45, with the redevelopment of a former doctor’s office and a vacant lot, the Dallas Morning News reported. 

Smith wants a coffee shop on the vacant lot, while converting the two-story office building into mixed-use, with a restaurant spanning 4,400 square feet on the ground floor. His firm’s office will be on the second floor, which will also serve as a real estate training center. His goal is to train and deploy at least 100 new real estate professionals each year.

“Having a company that is actually a for-profit entity here in South Dallas is important, because we want to create jobs, we want to create economic opportunities,” Smith told the outlet.

The property is under contract, and Smith expects to close in about a month. Smith will use a $450,000 loan and a $200,000 grant from the City of Dallas, approved in April, to fund the project. 

Founded in 2011, Shekinah Legacy Holdings comprises brokerage Scottie Smith & Associates Real Estate Advisors, Phoenician Development Group and Phoenician Construction Group. The company clocked $20 million in sales last year in North Texas.

Smith became keen on South Dallas about seven years ago when he made a wrong turn on Malcolm X Boulevard, after leaving his office in Deep Ellum. He noticed loads of vacant lots and has since remained bullish on the area. Smith has built 60 homes around Fair Park, with 34 duplex units on the way.

Part of his vision has been developing areas with a mix of market-rate and affordable housing, for which people thought he was crazy. The neighborhood mostly consisted of homes for low-income families built by nonprofits in the past.

“I think that market-rate and affordable can coexist together, and that’s been my mission ever since,” Smith told the outlet. “With things like that, just good development around South Dallas, it really helps to move the community.”

—Quinn Donoghue