The journalist who covered commercial real estate for the Dallas Morning News for over 40 years is retiring.
“The Steve Brown era” ends on March 1, the outlet’s business editor Paul O’Donnell said in a note to staffers, Talking Biz News reported.
“For 47 years, Steve’s byline has graced The News. He’s as well known locally as anyone on our staff, with a reverence that’s only surpassed by the widespread respect Steve receives from his real estate peers across the country,” O’Donnell’s note said.
Brown’s reporting contributed outsized monetary value to an ailing company. His stories accounted for nearly 10 percent of the newspaper’s digital conversions last year, the note said, meaning posts that brought in paid subscriptions.
The Dallas Morning News offered employee buyouts last year in an effort to shed 40 employees, or about 6 percent of its editorial staff, Poynter reported. DallasNews Corporation operated at losses of almost $9 million in 2022. Its operating losses amounted to $5.6 million in the first three quarters of last year.
Mitchell Parton, the newspaper’s former residential real estate reporter, left at the end of last year and now covers commercial real estate for the Dallas Business Journal.
Anna Butler, a former managing editor for that publication, started in January as a real estate reporter at the Dallas Morning News.
Jess Hardin has been covering residential and commercial real estate in Dallas-Fort Worth for The Real Deal since November.
Here’s what else is shaking in Texas real estate.
MetroTex Association of Realtors, the professional real estate association for Dallas-Fort Worth, has named Justin Landon as CEO. He replaces Janet Kane, who “transitioned out to seek new opportunities,” in July, according to a news release.
Landon returned to Texas after six years in Lexington, Kentucky, where he worked for Bluegrass Realtors and its subsidiaries Imagine MLS and the Realtor Community Housing Foundation. He previously worked as the vice president of government affairs for the San Antonio Board of Reartors, and “spent more than a decade working in Congress.”
That experience could prove valuable as copycat lawsuits inspired by the landmark Sitzer/Burnett ruling named MetroTex among plaintiffs accused of conspiring to keep broker commissions high.
The Greater Fort Worth Association of Realtors installed Blake Barry of Williams Trew Real Estate as its 2024 board president. A Baylor University graduate, he is a third-generation real estate agent, the grandson of Joan Trew. He’s served on the association’s governmental affairs and young professionals committees, and on the board of directors since 2020.
Former Olympic athlete Kevin Ellis has joined Compass’ P. Murrell Real Estate Group in Dallas, Candy’sDirt.com reported. Ellis competed on the U.S. men’s team in the sport of skeleton at the 2006 Winter Games in Torino.
Newmark hired Elliott Hirshfeld to its Houston office agency team. Hirshfeld previously worked for CBRE and has over 25 years of commercial leasing experience, from mixed-use developments to large corporate headquarters.
—Rachel Stone
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