PLANO – Hunt Consolidated Executive Chairman Ray L. Hunt and Provident Realty Advisors founder and CEO Leon J. Backes will be inducted into the North Texas Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame (NTCAR) on May 5 at the Dallas Country Club.
Hunt and Backes are being awarded for their remarkable contributions to Dallas’ commercial real estate industry, as initially reported by D Magazine. NTCAR selects its inductees based on collaborations with North Texas real estate brokers who have led to substantial quality-of-life improvements in their communities.
Hunt graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1965 and initially worked in the oil fields of his father’s petroleum company, Hunt Oil. In the 1970’s, Hunt established Hunt Oil’s real estate company while also starting partnerships in Dallas’ real estate industry. This allowed him to initiate a public-private partnership with the City of Dallas that eventually paved the way for the construction of Reunion Tower and the Hyatt Regency Hotel in 1978.
Today, Hunt Realty owns several local assets including Uptown’s North End Apartments and Hunt Consolidated headquarters located downtown. Hunt’s company is also one of the developers of Frisco’s The Fields, a 2,500-acre residential and commercial development that will include the PGA of America’s national headquarters.
Backes is a former Coldwell Bank employee and investment firm partner who founded Provident Realty Advisors in 1991, focusing on real estate projects offering risk-adjusted and above-market returns. This includes multifamily project acquisition and development; land development; and retail, office and self-storage space leasing, management and construction.
The company has developed or acquired more than $500 million in retail developments, 30 self-storage projects, 1.5 million square feet of office space, and 15,000 apartment units. Provident Realty additionally manages over 8,000 land acres.
Backes has also made major oil and gas investments and holds majority ownership institutional pharmaceutical, commercial lighting distribution, and emergency room businesses.
Butler Burgher Group Founder and CEO B. Diane Butler will receive the Michael F. McAuley Lifetime Achievement Award at the NTCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony for her more than 30 years in the commercial real estate industry and with civic organizations.
As the founder and principal of Butler Advisers, Butler has contributed strong efforts in the multifamily housing, health care, industrial, retail, and mixed-use sectors.
In addition to being a member of the National Multifamily Housing Council, the Appraisal Institute, the Urban Land Institute, the Dallas Assembly, and the City of Dallas Housing Acquisition Development Board, Butler volunteers her time in leadership positions at Texas Women’s Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Volunteers for America Classic, and Gov. Greg Abbott’s Small Business Forum for Women.
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