"Everything basically stays the same," A. Ray Utley, who started with the local firm in 1994 when it regrouped. "It's just a title."
Utley started in the business in 1973, coming off a stint as a football coach at Southern Methodist University. Through the years, his land deals have ranged from a single pad site to 60,000 acres in one fell swoop, with high-profile sales like Ross Perot Sr.'s exotic ranch in Jacksboro to T. Boone Pickens' quail ranch in Pampa. He says he's never calculated how many acres he's sold, but it's on his "to do" list for the future.
Despite the title change, Utley says it's business as usual--Monday mornings at the firm's roundtable to discuss what's available and what's not in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. "This cycle started in late 1992-93. It's still amazing to me that our market is so strong," he says. "It's getting more difficult to find land for developers with infrastructure in place. That's a good and bad problem to have."
Utley's promotion eliminates one hat for Robert S. Grunnah, who has been long-time president of the investment and land divisions. But from Utley's perspective: "There's no change."
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