David Watson

Founded in 1997, Direct Development has developed or acquired over 33 shopping centers comprising over 3 million square feet under the watchful eye of David Watson, Managing Principal.  Under David's direction, the firm has grown and was recently ranked 22nd among Dallas fastest growing private companies.  David is a player-coach at Direct Development, leading some of the company's largest accounts including Super Target, Belk, JC Penney and Lowes.

Prior to founding Direct Development, David spent 12 years at Cencor Realty Services, a large private shopping center development company based in Dallas.  During his tenure with Cencor, David was directly responsible for the development, renovation and re-development of numerous grocery-anchored shopping centers in the DFW Metroplex.  David was also the head of the Landlord Representative Group at Cencor where he directed the leasing of an approximately 3 million square foot shopping center portfolio acquired by an affiliate of G.E. Capital in association with Cencor from the RTC.

He received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Southern Methodist University in 1985.