Dennis R. McDaniel

Dennis McDaniel has been dedicated to value creation in investment real estate for over 30 years. Since 2008, McDaniel, individually and with private and institutional partners, has concentrated on:

• large scale new developments in East Austin and downtown San Antonio
• urban infill sites—repurposing, entitling, and revitalizing buildings and land in Austin and San Antonio
• master planned Tech/Flex developments in the Austin growth corridors

In 1985 McDaniel founded Austin Fairchild Management Company, LLC as a real estate investment, development, and management company. In 1988 McDaniel co–founded Merit Texas Properties, LLC, a regional real estate investment and management company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with properties in Texas and Oklahoma.

Serving as President of Merit Texas Properties, AMO, McDaniel created the property management company and directed the acquisition, development, rehabilitation, and disposition of approximately 5,000 apartment units and 4,000,000 square feet of office and light industrial properties.

In 1998, Merit Texas began developing new apartment communities in Texas and Oklahoma. McDaniel relocated to Austin in 1999, acquired the historic Littlefield and Scarbrough Buildings at Sixth and Congress with Merit Texas and became active in Austin civic and cultural activities. By 2007, McDaniel had sold all the apartment communities and all but two of the commercial properties sponsored by Merit Texas.

In 2007 Weal Development was established to begin the development of master-planned communities, now focusing on joint venture developments of Tech and office buildings in three high growth suburban Austin locations.

In 2010 McDaniel began the historic renovation of the Peden Iron & Steel building in downtown San Antonio, and converted the historic structure into the Steel House Lofts, first as rental apartments and later as condominiums, which completely sold out in 2017.

In 2016, with institutional and co-development partners, Weal started construction of urban infill buildings on the edge of downtown in East Austin, including a 132,000 creative office building currently under construction.

In 2018, Weal began the predevelopment of St Johns Square, an 8 story mixed-use development in downtown San Antonio.

McDaniel’s education includes a B.S. in Economics from the University of Texas at Arlington and an MBA from Southern Methodist University. He spent four years with the United States Army, attaining the rank of Captain. He has three children, five grandchildren, and lives in Austin with his wife, Jill.