What Read King does

Read King is a Houston-based full-service commercial real estate firm founded in 1991 by Jeff Read, providing integrated development, brokerage, property management, and build-to-suit services to property owners, national and regional retail tenants, and private and institutional investors. The firm operates primarily in the Houston MSA's nine-county region while extending national reach for single-tenant clients through its Front Row Development subsidiary. Its core offering covers site selection, land planning, financing, design, construction supervision, tenant coordination, lease administration, building maintenance, security, accounting, tax protest evaluation, project leasing (500 SF to 100,000+ SF), tenant representation, and land brokerage.

The company's revenue model combines development and build-to-suit fees (project-based professional services), recurring property management fees on a 10+ million SF managed portfolio, and transaction-based brokerage commissions, with cumulative brokerage volume exceeding $1.2 billion. Read King has developed over 3.5 million SF of Class A retail, office, and mixed-use projects, completed 100+ build-to-suit projects, and built a deep anchor tenant book led by H-E-B, Walmart, Whole Foods Market, JCPenney, Academy, Sprouts, At Home, and Kroger. The firm does not operate a proprietary technology platform and relies on third-party CRE analytics tools (CoStar, LoopNet, Zonda, Placer.ai, Nearmap) for market research and asset performance validation. Leadership is anchored by founders Jeff Read and Ewing King on the Executive Committee, supported by a Managing Partner bench, a COO with two decades of CRE/multifamily operating experience, and a verticalized team across leasing, construction, finance, legal, and property management.

Name

Read King

Legal name

Read King, Inc.

Website

https://read-king.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Read King is a Houston-based full-service commercial real estate firm serving landlords, national retailers, and investors with integrated development, property management, brokerage, and build-to-suit services across the Houston MSA.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Commercial Real Estate

NAICS

Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers (53121), Real Estate Property Managers (53131), Other Activities Related to Real Estate (531390)

SIC

Real Estate Agents & Managers (For Others) (6531), Lessors Of Real Property, Nec (6519), Real Estate (6500), Real Estate Dealers (For Their Own Account) (6532)

akta.pro primary industry

Title Search & Examination (BPAJAOAB)

Keywords

• Commercial real estate development
• Property management services
• Retail brokerage leasing
• Build-to-suit development
• Land brokerage advisory

Headquarters

HQ city

Houston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Development Fees: Revenue generated from ground-up development of retail, office, and mixed-use projects including site selection, land planning, financing, design, construction supervision, and tenant coordination services.
2. Property Management Services: Ongoing property management fees for commercial properties including lease and contract administration, building and site maintenance, site security, accounting and expense control, and tax protest evaluation services. The company manages over 10 million square feet of properties.
3. Brokerage and Leasing Commissions: Transaction-based revenue from project leasing to local, regional, and national tenants (500 SF to 100,000+ SF), tenant representation for market expansion and site selection, and land brokerage services. The brokerage team has completed over $1.2 billion in transactions.
4. Build-to-Suit Development: Single-tenant build-to-suit development through Front Row Development subsidiary, providing comprehensive market development services from strategic consulting through property management.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Read King is a Houston-based full-service commercial real estate firm providing integrated development, brokerage, property management, and build-to-suit services. The firm develops grocery-anchored retail centers, mixed-use projects, and multifamily properties across the Houston MSA, manages over 10 million square feet of commercial real estate, and operates a dedicated build-to-suit platform (Front Row Development) for single-tenant national clients.

Product overview

Read King is a full-service commercial real estate firm offering integrated development, brokerage, and property management services. The company's core offerings include Development Services (site selection, land planning, financing, design, construction supervision, tenant coordination) and Property Management (lease administration, building maintenance, security, accounting, tax protest evaluation). The brokerage division provides land advisory, tenant representation, project leasing, and third-party leasing services. Front Row Development serves as the build-to-suit division for single-tenant clients. The portfolio includes diverse retail centers ranging from grocery-anchored neighborhood centers (H-E-B, Walmart Supercenter, Whole Foods Market) to large-scale mixed-use developments exceeding 1 million SF, plus multifamily apartments. Notable developments include Waterview Town Center (134 acres, 598,717 SF), The Market at Harpers Preserve (138,174 SF H-E-B anchored), Fern Marketplace (182,007 SF Whole Foods anchored), and Vintage Marketplace (143,908 SF). The company has completed over 3.5 million square feet of retail, office, and mixed-use projects since 1994, with anchor tenants including H-E-B, Walmart, JCPenney, Academy, LA Fitness, Star Cinema, and Aldi.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Front Row Development: A full service real estate partner of Read King focusing on build to suit development. Provides comprehensive approach to market development from strategic market consulting, site selection, project financing, building design, construction supervision and property management.

Products and services

• Development Services End-to-end commercial real estate development covering site selection, land planning, financing, design, construction supervision, and tenant coordination. Has produced over 3.5 million square feet of retail, office, and mixed-use projects since 1994. Served national and regional tenants including H-E-B, Walmart, Whole Foods, JCPenney, Academy, LA Fitness, and Aldi.
• Property Management Day-to-day property management and accounting services for commercial properties including lease and contract administration, building and site maintenance, site security, accounting and expense control, and tax protest evaluation. Read King currently manages over 10 million square feet of commercial properties.
• Brokerage Services Commercial real estate brokerage including project leasing for properties ranging from 500 to 100,000+ SF, tenant representation for market expansion and site selection, third-party project leasing for property owners, and land brokerage for buyers and sellers. The brokerage team has completed over $1.2 billion in transactions and brings more than 100 years of combined experience.
• Front Row Development (Build-to-Suit) Wholly-owned build-to-suit development subsidiary providing end-to-end single-tenant development services including strategic market consulting, site selection, project financing, building design, construction supervision, and property management. Serves national single-tenant operators including 7-Eleven, Starbucks, Chipotle, and Texas Children's Hospital.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 3.5 million square feet of Class A retail, office, and mixed-use space developed since 1994
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Weitzman Group: Texas-focused full-service commercial real estate firm providing brokerage, development, and investment sales across retail, office, and land — directly comparable to Read King's integrated Texas-centric platform (Cort King interned at Weitzman).
• Lovett Commercial: Houston-based commercial real estate developer and manager of a 1.5M+ sf retail portfolio. Directly comparable in Houston grocery-anchored retail development, leasing, and property management (Erin Dyer previously led leasing at Lovett).
• EDGE Realty Partners: Texas-based commercial real estate firm specializing in tenant representation, site selection, and project leasing for national retailers (In-N-Out, 7-Eleven, Public Storage). Comparable build-to-suit tenant rep focus overlapping with Read King's Front Row Development (Travis Read previously worked at EDGE).

Broad incumbents

• Newmark Group: National commercial real estate services platform offering investment sales, leasing, and advisory across all major property types — comparable to Read King's brokerage division but with substantially greater scale, capital, and geographic reach.
• Marcus & Millichap: National investment real estate brokerage firm specializing in commercial property sales, financing, and research. Overlaps with Read King's land brokerage and investment sales capabilities at a national scale.
• Phillips Edison & Company: Public REIT focused on grocery-anchored necessity retail shopping centers — directly comparable asset category to Read King's H-E-B/Walmart/Whole Foods/Kroger-anchored development pipeline and a likely institutional buyer/competitor for similar product.
• Kimco Realty: Large public retail REIT and developer with national grocery-anchored shopping center portfolio — comparable asset class to Read King's grocery-anchored developments and a counterparty for acquisitions of stabilized Read King centers.
• JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle): Global commercial real estate services firm offering brokerage, property management, and capital markets — broad incumbent competing with Read King for tenant rep, project leasing, and property management assignments in Houston.
• CBRE Group: World's largest commercial real estate services firm with full-service brokerage, valuation, and property management — comparable in service breadth but vastly larger scale than Read King, particularly relevant for national tenant relationships.

Regional players

• Giammalva Properties: Houston-area commercial real estate firm with land brokerage and tenant rep services — comparable Houston-centric land brokerage focus overlapping with Tony Patronella's practice at Read King.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Read_King
• Facebookfacebook.com/ReadKingCRE

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Read King