HomeVestors CEO Resigns, Third Bridge Plants in Dallas

The president and CEO of Dallas-based HomeVestors of America resigned last week, less than two months after a scathing ProPublica investigation into the company. 

The publication found that franchisees of HomeVestors, whose slogan is “We Buy Ugly Houses,” used deception and targeted the elderly, infirm and impoverished. President and CEO David Hicks took an executive role with the company in 2009 after running two franchises, and he oversaw tremendous growth. He said he resigned to “focus on my family and my health.”

Hicks will be replaced by Larry Goodman, the company’s chief operating officer, Aug. 1.

Here are a few more major moves in Texas real estate:

• Dallas commercial real estate veteran Peery Wood has joined Stream Realty Partners as an executive vice president in charge of tenant representation “across the Dallas-Fort Worth area,” according to a news release. Wood has previously worked for Lincoln Property Company, CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield and Studley Inc.
• Healthcare real estate veteran Chris Bodnar has joined CBRE as leader for Advisory Services Healthcare nationally. Bodnar returned to CBRE after starting his own practice and was a co-founder of CBRE’s healthcare capital markets practice in 2006. He has been involved in $20 billion worth of transactions, according to a news release.
• CP Group has appointed senior vice president Tommy Spinosa to lead its acquisition and asset management efforts across the Sunbelt from a base in Dallas. Spinosa is moving to Texas from Washington, D.C., where he opened a regional office for the Florida-based firm. 
• Global investment research firm Third Bridge is opening its third U.S. office in Dallas’ Victory Park, the Dallas Morning News reported. The London-based group leased 40,000 square feet in the Victory Commons One building at 2601 Victory Avenue. The firm also has locations in New York and Los Angeles.
• One of the best-known architecture companies in the United States has acquired Allen-based architectural technology services firm. New Jersey-based Michael Graves Architecture purchased Parallax Team, an 8-year-old firm that provides tech services to architects, landscape architects and general contractors, the Dallas Morning News reported.
• Dallas-based real estate services firm BBG promoted Matt Rader to managing partner. “Rader has expertise in assignments involving cost segregation, purchase price allocation, due diligence, tax and tax credits,” a news release states. He was previously a senior director at Kroll and a managing director at CBRE.
• Yuli Gurriel departed the Houston Astros for the Miami Marlins, and Garrison Matthews left the Rockets for the Atlanta Hawks. They’re both leaving behind multimillion dollar homes and have signed on to sell them with Nan and Company. The brokerage recently kicked off a sports and entertainment division, PaperCity reported.