Up Close With Richard Barbles

Richard Barbles just joined Colvill as director of leasing over a 3M SF portfolio. His first order of business: Repositioning and leasing up Wedge International Tower, which will be renamed 1415 Louisiana. (The header on all the contracts there should read "Louisiana Purchase!")

Richard says real estate is in the family--his grandfather was in property management 70 years ago, and Richard's brother and cousin are both in the biz. He’s particularly excited about 1415 Louisiana because of everything happening Downtown. He says the 43-story, 520k SF building has been pretty well occupied through the years, but now it’s got 28% vacancy and needs to be brought up to new Class-A standards. The renovation, designed by Ken R. Harry Associates, will take place over the next 12 months. Connor Saxe will help Richard with leasing for owner Wedge. (Note the bulldog, we’ll get back to that.)

Before joining real estate, Richard spent five years as a pro golfer—here he’s showing president Chip Colvill how it’s done. (His advice to Chip: Take up tennis.) Richard joins Colvill from Fuller, which he feels is the best in the business at owning/operating suburban boutique Class-B office buildings. Now, he’s thrilled to work on a new class of asset (Colvill’s often considered the best in the biz at major Class-A leasing). Richard had never leased up a new development office project and said it was on his professional bucket list. No longer: Now he's working on 4477 West Sam Houston Parkway and Enclave Place.

Here’s Richard with his wife and twins. On his personal bucket list is taking his son to play golf in Scotland. (He’s only 5, so they’ve got a few years to plan their trip.) They take at least one trip a year to Mississippi State—thus the bulldog in his office—to watch a football game; Richard and his wife are both alums.