Kidder Mathews, the Seattle-based commercial real estate giant, has planted its flag in Texas for the first time, opening a new Dallas-Fort Worth office staffed with six brokers who arrive carrying more than $3.5 billion in closed transactions between them. The move gives the West Coast's largest fully independent commercial brokerage a foothold in a market that national analysts have repeatedly called the best in the country for real estate investment right now.
The new DFW investment sales team is anchored by Mart Martindale, Brandon Beeson and Wilson Stafford, who together founded Edge Capital Markets in 2012 as the investment sales arm of Edge Realty Partners, according to Bisnow. Edge Realty Partners itself was founded in 2009 and grew into a Sun Belt platform with offices in Dallas, Houston, Austin/San Antonio and Phoenix, representing more than 250 commercial tenants and building over $6 billion in investment sales experience, per LoopNet. Martindale, who brings more than 25 years of experience in CRE investment sales and capital markets, will serve as senior vice president, managing director and shareholder of Kidder Mathews.
Joining Martindale, Beeson and Stafford on the new team are John David Cobb, Claire Schmeltekopf, and healthcare real estate specialist Barrett Jones. Cobb will serve as associate vice president specializing in office and medical office investment sales, while Schmeltekopf takes on the role of senior associate focused on multifamily, office and retail property acquisition, disposition and valuation. Beeson, who has more than 25 years of experience in retail investment sales and capital markets, and Stafford, who has more than 20 years in the field, will each serve as senior vice president and shareholder of the firm.
A Team Built for Distressed Assets and Full-Service Coverage
Together, Martindale, Beeson, Stafford, Cobb and Schmeltekopf have executed more than $3.5 billion in transactions and provided valuations for more than $20 billion in assets. Bisnow's report notes the team covers retail, office, multifamily, medical office and industrial properties, with particular expertise in capital markets, investment sales and distressed assets. Their client roster reportedly includes BH Properties, KeyBank, Trigild and EPR Properties Trust.
Barrett Jones, who previously served as CEO of Jones Healthcare Real Estate, joins Kidder Mathews as a healthcare tenant advisory specialist. Jones has advised healthcare organizations and investors on transactions across property types and has represented clients including Chewy, Redesign Health and Vivo Infusion, the same report states.
Why Dallas-Fort Worth, and Why Now
The timing lines up with a wave of favorable rankings for the metroplex. PwC and the Urban Land Institute's Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2026 report ranked Dallas-Fort Worth the number-one commercial real estate market in the country for overall investment and development prospects for two consecutive years running, 2025 and 2026. Property fundamentals back up the ranking: an Avison Young market report found the DFW office sector posted 1.1 million square feet of positive net absorption in the second quarter of 2026, with trophy and Class A assets capturing 73% of total leasing volume.
Retail has held up too. A quarterly report from Partners Real Estate showed DFW's retail vacancy rate at a tight 5.4% in early 2026, with average asking rents climbing 7.3% year-over-year to $21.23 per square foot. On the industrial side, the Texas Real Estate Research Center has found that Dallas-Fort Worth holds half of all industrial properties larger than 500,000 square feet statewide, making the metroplex the state's central logistics hub — a fact that helps explain why the new team's coverage spans industrial alongside retail, office and multifamily.
Kidder Mathews' Bigger Bet on Growth
Kidder Mathews CEO Bill Frame said the new DFW team gives the firm a strong foundation for a full-service market presence, adding that the company is committed to growing thoughtfully and expanding its capabilities in Texas. Frame also said Kidder Mathews deliberately took the time to find the right people before establishing its DFW office rather than rushing the launch. For his part, Martindale said Kidder Mathews' independent culture lets brokers put clients first and act decisively.
Founded nearly 60 years ago in the Pacific Northwest, Kidder Mathews now operates as the largest fully independent commercial real estate firm in the Western U.S., averaging more than $9 billion in annual transaction volume and managing over 50 million square feet of property, according to Oregon Business. With the DFW launch, the firm now counts 20 offices across six states. Frame himself was elevated to CEO in July 2020 after a three-year executive succession plan, succeeding longtime chief executive Jeff Lyon, who had led the firm for 20 years, per a 2020 announcement carried by PR Newswire.
Kidder Mathews says it plans to keep building out the DFW office with asset services and valuation advisory teams in the future. As reported by Hoodline, the Texas launch arrives the same week Kidder Mathews brokered a $7M Palisades land deal for Johnny Buss and represented the seller in a $14.35 million off-market apartment sale in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood, underscoring the pace of deal activity the firm is running across its existing West Coast markets even as it stretches into a new region.
