Trammell Crow Residential Ready to Expand

DALLAS-Atlanta-based Trammell Crow Residential is turning up the heat on its development program for North and Central Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexico. To get the ball rolling, the developer is placing a senior managing director in the heart of Dallas/Fort Worth.

Darren Schackman, a third-generation Dallas native, will lead the North Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas region, earning a promotion from managing director of the Gulf Coast division. Long-time veteran Bob Buzbee, also a senior managing director, will remain in the Austin office, where he too is tasked with expanding the multifamily developer's footprint in San Antonio, New Mexico and his homeport. Buzbee has been working on a major condominium plan for a key property Dallas' Turtle Creek area and will remain at the project's helm.

Schackman tells GlobeSt.com that a couple contracts are in hand for Dallas-area development sites, marking the first ground-up initiative in the area for several years by Trammell Crow Residential. The first land buy could come as soon as late August. "My goal is to get some developments going really quickly," he says, "and to get something started by the end of the year. Hopefully, we will become one of the Top Three multifamily developers in the region." And though his territory includes Oklahoma and Arkansas, he says the "main focus" is going to be Dallas/Fort Worth.

Schackman's assignment is to find and build urban infill, mixed-use and traditional multifamily complexes. The North Texas team includes managing director Rob Robinson, development associate Gina Permann and another associate who's in the process of winding down with another employer. The team's full complement will be six, according to the new local leader, who's moving to Dallas from Houston within a month.

Schackman has developed more than $250 million of properties since he joined Trammell Crow Residential as managing director for the Gulf Coast division in 2001. "Darren is an enormous asset to Trammell Crow Residential," says Ken Valach, the firm's executive managing director. And Schackman's knowledge of the Dallas market, he says "will prove invaluable."