Granite Promotes Senior Squad for Expansion

The leadership roles went to John D. Anderson, senior director of operations; William B. Brown, senior director of investments; and David R. Cunningham, director of development and construction. All three are heading up teams that work in concert with managing directors in Houston, Atlanta and Granite's homeport while they scout for opportunities in Granite's hot picks of Austin and Denver, where the plan varies but the end result is to start building a presence.

"This is a very critical part of us being able to realize our goals. It's great to have ideas, but people make ideas happen," Michael Dardick, Granite Properties' president, tells GlobeSt.com.

Before the year's out, Dardick hopes to be holding his first Denver deed as a lead-in to an office opening "when the time's right." It's not likely Austin will be getting an office, but Granite is hitting the market from both sides, with brokers from Houston and Dallas, in search of acquisition and development opportunities. Meanwhile, a large office transaction is poised to close in Atlanta and the ground crew is gathering for a 170,000-sf project start in the Port of Houston.

Dardick says the long-range plan called for more industrial product and more retail investments via partnership strategies similar to initiatives working in Dallas with Margaux Development and Atlanta's Pope & Land Co. The end goal is to double the asset base of all product type, sometimes with partners and sometimes alone.

Roughly 65% of Granite's 100-employee team is under Anderson's watch. Brown's investment team has seven and Cunningham's group has three. Dardick says more employees will be added as Granite grows. As for changes in responsibility, Cunningham goes from handling Dallas to overseeing teams in all markets. Anderson and Brown have been working the cross markets as team leaders, but now they hold the "senior" titles that go with it.