Today we’d like to introduce you to Monte Anderson.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Monte. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started off as a professional motocross racer in my late teens and early 20’s. Because I had not real education, I went to work for my father’s construction company. Soon after that I realized that I liked sales really well and got my real estate license to do commercial real estate brokerage. In the process of getting business, I got involved with the local chambers of commerce and became a community town building activist, preservationist and environmentalist. While trying to convince developers to come to this end of the county unsuccessfully, out of desperation I decided to start doing development myself.
I have chaired several local chambers of commerce, started the North Texas Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism and have served as President of the Oak Cliff Foundation which is the owner of the infamous Texas Theatre (where Oswald was captured after he assassinated Kennedy), and am a co-founder of the Incremental Development Alliance.
Some of my projects besides Tyler Station and the Texas Theatre include the Belmont Hotel mixed use development in Dallas, downtown Duncanville Main Street redevelopment and MidTowne, Midlothian a multi-generational, mixed use, 130 acres in town urban development.
Currently I am one of 3 finalists to take over the management and development of Fair Park in Dallas which includes 277 acres near downtown.
I currently travel the country in my spare time teaching locals how to be developers for the Incremental Development Alliance.
TYLER STATION is collaboration village consisting of 125,000 square feet located less than 10 minutes from Downtown Dallas on a light rail station. Originally in the 1920’s it was the Dixie Wax Paper Company owned by responsible local entrepreneurs, but over the years and after the deaths of the original families it became a polluter of the air, the ground and the water. All of that has been cleaned up and we removed about 500,000 pounds of smoke stack equipment and trash from the property. When finished it will have everything from metal and wood workers to office, retail and restaurants including a brewery and a small school. The spaces are divided with cages, not hard walls in most cases. Therefore, the many businesses that co-exist will see each other on a daily basis and collaborate. Eventually, we will add about 20 units of residential to the site along a beautiful creek that surrounds the property.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Nothing I have done has been easy because I work in the “have not’s” side of the city. I have gone through segregation, bussing, white flight, black flight and many cultural shifts in my life. I have been one of very few people who have stayed in my community.
Our company has stayed true to its mission of making Southern Dallas County a better place for my grandchildren. In addition, I am very hands on with my projects; hotels, theaters, restaurants, housing, retail, office and more have made me a generalist and the amount of time I spend with the projects has made me a workaholic.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Our company Options Real Estate is an old fashioned real estate company that does brokerage, leasing, management, development, investments and community work. In other words, we spend our own money, along with some of our partners, sign real estate notes personally and work in areas that no one else wants because it is our home.
Our company has no executives, we are all workers even though I am the President on the corporate documents. My job each day is to sale and lease spaces to local entrepreneurs and to provide financing for our projects and those businesses.
We are known for our close relationships with the neighborhoods we work in Southern Dallas County.
I am very proud of all of our projects, but I am most proud of the entrepreneurs and rookie developers we share out experience with.
We are very unique in our approach of sharing wealth with others. We do not try and own everything. We believe that the only thing you take from this life is what you give away. I intend to give everything I have away before graduation.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was a decently smart kid, but love to get into trouble and race my motorcycles. In the beginning, I was not that good at racing motocross, but I worked very hard and eventually became a professional. My mom was a telephone operator for AT&T and my dad was a carpenter who became a general contractor.
Pricing:
- We have spaces in Tyler Station that start at $350 per month and up. Prices include state of the art internet and the environment where all businesses collaborate.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1300 S. Polk Street,
Dallas, Texas - Website: www.optionsre.com
- Phone: 972-283-1111
- Email: monte@optionsre.com
- Facebook: facebook.com/montewanderson
- Twitter: @montewanderson
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
