San Antonio, Texas Metropolitan Area
I spearhead land acquisition, the commercial real estate market, and site selection criteria to develop top performing new-to-industry land sites for high-growth homebuilding and multi-unit retail companies. ✔Sourced and acquired 2,500+ residential home lots ✔Led, motivated & inspired teams of 500+ ✔Guided $650M capital growth budgets ✔Led a property management team in the oversight of 1,183+ retail stores & 200 leased locations ✔Manned 130 store builds, adding $65M yearly "Power isn't control at all; power is strength, and giving that strength to others. A leader isn't someone who forces others to make him stronger; a leader is someone willing to give his strength to others that they may have the strength to stand on their own." Beth Revis If you could assign two common denominators to my career thus far, they would be a talent for accelerating revenues beyond typical performance and leading with conviction. I began my career at a firm that underwent massive organizational changes. Initially, as an Area Manager of Retail Operations, I had to: (1) Reverse lackluster financials; (2) solve problems rooted in employee under-performance. Despite transitional and divestiture markets (actions that can harm employee morale), I increased revenues by 15% in 18 months. I was assigned to four other markets and duplicated my technique to deliver comparable results. In 2010, I entered the real estate sector to capitalize on a lifelong passion for driving economic growth and building real estate deals. WHAT SETS ME APART: Director-level real estate leader with 15+ years driving end-to-end land acquisition, site selection, and ground-up development for high-growth homebuilding and multi-unit retail. A proven closer who sources and underwrites deals, negotiates complex contracts, and accelerates entitlements - securing 2,500+ residential home lots, enabling 130 new convenience store builds, and supporting $65M in annual accretive net income. A trusted partner to Development, Construction, Legal, and Operations; builds scalable processes, pilots budgets up to $650M, and improves asset/lease performance across 1,000+ stores. Matthew.R.Nichols.RE (at) gmail
Director of Real Estate | Senior Land Acquisition Consultant driving land acquisition pipelines for high-growth home building and multi-unit retail companies. ✔️Leads land acquisition strategy. ✔️Builds and leverages a robust network of landowners, developers, brokers, and builders to consistently originate qualified land tracts. ✔️Specializing in land acquisition and due diligence for residential, land developers and multi-unit retail companies.
✔Led Land Acquisition department strategy, budgeting, and pipeline forecasting; identified market gaps and priority submarkets. ✔Sourced and underwrote deals securing 2,500+ residential lots; drove negotiations, due diligence, and corporate approvals end-to-end. ✔Built and leveraged a robust network of landowners, brokers, developers, and builders to consistently originate qualified land tracts. WHAT SETS ME APART: Director-level real estate leader with 15+ years driving end-to-end land acquisition, site selection, and ground-up development for high-growth homebuilding and multi-unit retail. A proven closer who sources and underwrites deals, negotiates complex contracts, and accelerates entitlements - securing 2,500+ residential home lots, enabling 130 new convenience store builds, and supporting $65M in annual accretive net income. A trusted partner to Development, Construction, Legal, and Operations; builds scalable processes, pilots budgets up to $650M, and improves asset/lease performance across 1,000+ stores. Director Of Real Estate SKILLS Land Acquisition Site Selection Contract Negotiation Commercial Real Estate Strategic Land Planning Real Estate Development Market Analysis Leadership Problem Analysis Interpersonal Skills Entitlement Process Financial Analysis
✔Leveraged negotiations in 45 top quality convenience store sites ✔Developed market and submarket plans for the Houston metro area ✔Forged relationships with three Broker groups to launch growth of the new site pipeline ✔Provided policy and procedure guidance for the Real Estate Department ✔Negotiated successful lease terms for tenants of company surplus property ✔Provided market and site recommendations to the CEO based on analysis of demographics, competitor activity and market knowledge ✔Navigated entitlements involving flood plain areas, utility districts, TXDOT condemnation requirements, replats, TABC requirements, and stormwater management
✔Site selection, analysis and development via single site and multiple site acquisitions ✔Created market development plans through strategic targeting of micro markets ✔Consulted on convenience store retail operations, financial performance and facilities evaluation of targeted chain acquisitions
✔Led, motivated, and inspired 20 direct and indirect reports and 4 direct reports ✔Oversaw $650 MM capital growth budget for new store builds ✔Led team in the management of property and assets for 1,183+ company-operated stores ✔Manned pipeline of 130 new store builds, adding $65 MM in net income each year ✔Doubled new site selection and parcel acquisition quota - from 10 to 20 in 1 year ✔Established standardized processes for the portfolio management team - an action that doubled productivity levels in only 1 year and captured $2 MM in lease negotiation savings ✔Selected to lead and train Real Estate employees on a GIS system to extend mapping capabilities beyond a brick-and-mortar office for mobile access on site ✔Chosen by the VP of Real Estate & Development to explore software options regarding land purchases and new store builds. Ultimately, I selected a custom-tailored software program for CST's use so that Real Estate, Construction, and Legal could track individual site development and performance in real time. Initially joined the organization when it was known as Ultramar Diamond Shamrock (UDS), Valero Energy Corporation acquired UDS in late 2001. In May 2013, Valero spun off its retail operations and launched CST Brands Inc. so that Valero could concentrate its efforts on oil refining. I was promoted to further fuel CST's growth pipeline through new store builds as they expanded across Texas, Arizona, and Louisiana. Featured Skills and Endorsements: Strategic Planning Site Selection & Acquisition Staff Training & Development Sale & Early Termination of Surplus Real Property Capital Asset Management Team Mentoring & Leadership Development Executive-Level Presentations Policy & Procedure Formulation Retail Operations & Project Management Lease Renewals & Lease Terminations P&L Accountability & Budgeting Contract Negotiations Tenant Relations & Retention Financial Modeling & Forecasting
✔Guided 10 direct reports and a portfolio of 1,000 fee-owned properties and 200 leases ✔Trimmed site identification and purchase life cycle turnaround from 24 to 17 months ✔Authored series of policies and procedures to address the initial concern ✔Picked by upper management to present and explain the CST Real Estate and New Store Build programs to Board of Directors to describe growth program and enable strategic decision-making I was promoted to be groomed for executive-level roles during a huge growth mode.