Houston, Texas real estate development, home buying, landscape, and design

Real estate developer Trammell Crow, the founder of Trammell Crow Company (now a part of CB Richard Ellis), died yesterday in Tyler at the age of 94. “He relied on hundreds of young leasing agents to fill the buildings, and those who proved themselves talented and hardworking became partners. This approach marked the evolution of Crow’s then-unusual methods of working in the real estate industry. As he brought in new people to work on residential and commercial projects, he gave them an equity stake in the business. Crow explained that he believed the projects would thrive if the people managing them were partners rather than employees. He said people worked harder when they had a stake in the company. Biographer Robert Sobel said Crow had another reason for using the partnership strategy: By offering equity instead of pay, he conserved his capital for putting up buildings.” [Associated Press]