Winter 2016

TEXAS LAND / Profile
Then, recently, Icon Global brought to market 3 North Texas
farms under the Icon Global Co. marketing alliance program
bringing in Bryan Pickens and Jeff Boswell of Republic Ranches.
Subsequently, Republic then turned to Uechtritz to team up and
engage in another high-end lead and listing pitch where in these
sellers required an international marketing exposure and platform.
The result-another $50–100 million dollar Icon Global listing.
“I’ve been fortunate to earn a reputation as a ‘go-to, cando
guy’ because I firmly believe there is no one-size-fits-all
approach to real estate sales,” Uechtritz said. “Icon Global
formally delivers the same customized service as I always
have, backed up by a deep bench of savvy players and a global
network who have expertise in different nuances and different
areas of the marketplace. I simply form and lead different
teams for different projects. I create think tank alliance’s and
relationships to best position and get a client’s property across
the line.”
The fresh approach has been welcomed in the marketplace.
Uechtritz anticipates the company’s 2016 transactional
inventory will be close to $1 billion by year’s end. The firm
focuses on the “super asset” class of deals that generally start
around $50 million and other outstanding deals that fit Icon
Global’s criteria for representation.
“I’m only smart enough to realize that I need to surround
myself with people who are smarter than I am,” Uechtritz said.
“When it comes to administration, expertise and international
reach, Icon Global’s mission is to be the Seal Team 6 of real
estate. I create a plan, strategically and tactically, to pre-position
in the market place, go in, get out, close the deal and then…
next!”
I can say without equivocation that the sale of the assets of
the estate would not have occurred, in the successful manner
it did, without the expertise, skill and herculean efforts of
Bernie Uechtritz. The details could fill a book…
— Counsel Mike Baskerville, court appointed
receiver for the W. T. Waggoner Estate.
By tapping into a global network of talent that he’s built for
years and continues to add to annually, Uechtritz has been able
to leverage an unprecedented level of expertise. For instance,
when international aluminum giant Alcoa decided to sell its
34,000-acre property in Central Texas which was the former site
of the nation’s largest aluminum smelter as well as an industrial
electrical generation station, reclamation lands, mining and
unprecedented water rights, the company issued an RFP with
extensive requirements. Uechtritz responded with a detailed
marketing plan, including re-branding the property as “Sandow
Lakes Ranch,” and convening what he pitched as “The A Team,”
a group including legal, and other niche professionals on water
rights, industrial uses, reclamation, mineral rights and more.
Icon Global landed the opportunity to market one-of-a-kind
Sandow Lakes Ranch with a price tag of $250 million.
“Sandow Lakes Ranch is fantastic multi-use property, and
it will be the biggest water rights deal done in Texas to-date,”
Uechtritz said. “Water is the new oil in Texas and globally—
and I like that because it’s both an intellectual and marketing
challenge, with its combination of water rights, reclamation,
remediation as well as industrial uses and leasing, Sandow
Lakes Ranch may be my most complex deal so far. I’m
learning a lot.”
The recognition that he doesn’t—and can’t—know it all is not
only the foundation of Icon Global, but his working relationship
with sophisticated clients.
“At the level where I ‘play,’ the buyers and sellers are already
incredibly successful at something,” Uechtritz said. “They’re
smart. I never bluff. If I don’t know something, I say ‘I don’t
know, but I’ll find out.’ Icon’s network of experts just helps me
find out, solidly and quickly. If your clients can’t trust you or your
advice, you’re out of business.”
While the Sandow Lakes’ commission check will be sizable,
it will pale in significance to the feeling of doing something good
for his fellow Texans.
“The thrill I get today doesn’t come from the fee, but from
the knowledge that I delivered something of value to society,”
Uechtritz said. “Like keeping the Waggoner intact, the water
rights that come with the Sandow Lakes Ranch will directly
serve humans as a water source for consumption and for
agriculture. It’s going to make a difference, and to be a part of
that is satisfying.”
In 2013, you put the ranch (and the entire estate) on your
radar and began a campaign to convince the owners that
you were different from past failures and that you could
craft marketing strategies to succeed where others had
failed. Fate rejected your initial efforts, but you adapted and
demonstrated a creativity that convinced me to trust your
judgment and your experience. Your determination created a
marketing plan that simultaneously emphasized worldwide
exposure to a pool of qualified prospects and personalized
access to proven domestic buyers. Your willingness and
ability to bond with co-brokers was not only critical to your
selection as the lead broker in this case, it was a major
reason for the overall success of the effort. You obviously
have unique abilities to motivate yourself and others to
expand a complex marketing effort beyond expectations, as
developments warrant. I saw those efforts grow and succeed
in the “deal of a lifetime” in marketing the W. T. Waggoner
Estate for $725,000,000.
— Glen H Johnson, counsel for the largest shareholder of the W. T. Waggoner
Estate, in a personal memorandum to Uechtritz after the sale of the century.
THE AMERICAN DREAM
Uechtritz looks like native Texas cowboy, but his accent gives
him away. In fact, Bloomberg Business wrote, he is “a blueeyed,
square-jawed, 50-year-old who can pass for the Marlboro
Man—until he greets you with ‘g’day’ in his Australian accent.”