Mark Uhr

Legendary Leader

Rockport Properties

Photography by TresPiña Photography Written by Ruth Gnirk

Mark Uhr has been a catalyst of community growth for three decades. He has transformed himself and the surrounding environment first as a commercial builder, and then as a residential developer. He and his wife are well-rooted in Rockport and continue to serve the Coastal Bend community through civic and social engagements. He is currently building custom homes and resort-style apartment complexes in the area and has won awards for his designs as well.

Mark and his father had been in the turbomachinery business together for many years. After learning that the federal Resolution Trust Corporation would be auctioning off property in the Rockport Country Club, the two set out to improve their community through real estate.

Mark Uhr started his real estate career as a commercial real estate broker focusing on brokering land, office buildings, and pad sites for

regional and national tenants including fast-food restaurants and auto parts stores.

For 10 years, Mark worked for private companies as a build-tosuit developer, building auto part stores for Auto Zone, Chief Auto Parts, and Hi-Lo Auto Parts. He built 38 stores in three states.

“I was dealing with corporations, not with people,” said Mark. Upon successfully obtaining the 200 lots and 70 acres in the Rockport Country Club with his father, Mark relocated to Rockport. Mark recognized that he had an opportunity to make a more personal impact on the community by shifting gears to residential home-building. He built and sold a spec house in the Rockport Country Club Estates, and that was the birth of Rockport Properties Inc.

“In the beginning, we were affectionately called ‘Midnight Realty’ because I would answer the phone any time I got a call,” said Mark. “I don’t have 9-5 hours because I know that people make their decisions after 5 pm when they have time. This is a 24-7 job.”

“It was just my father and me for that first year,” Mark recalled. “24 years later, I have had as many as 18 REALTORS® working for me at a time.” Mark loves inviting newly licensed REALTORS® to his team. “They don’t have bad habits and they are teachable,” he said with a smile.

In addition, Rockport Properties, Inc. had the first business website in town. Now they have a full-time IT professional on staff to handle all the needs of their agents and customers. “We’ve come a long way, from handwritten contracts to DocuSign®,” added Mark.

Over the past 30-plus years, Mark has seen great change in the industry. “I have seen four cycles of real estate in this area. It has followed the fluctuation in the economy based on the oil and gas industry,” said Uhr.

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I have seen four cycles of real estate in this area.

It has followed the fluctuation in the economy based on the oil and gas industry.

In the past few years, his community has been devastated by Hurricane Harvey, a freeze, and most recently a 27-inch rainfall flood event. Rockport is resilient in its ability to rebuild. The next time you see Mark, just ask him to share the story of how his office cat, Pumpkin, was featured by the storm chasers after he survived Hurricane Harvey!

Uhr’s background in construction has been key. The minimal industry standard is to build homes that can withstand winds of 120 miles per hour. Mark Uhr builds custom houses and buildings to withstand winds up to 140 miles per hour or more. Holding himself to a higher standard may cost more up front, but he says it is worth the expense to have that peace of mind.

Mark isn’t only focused on structure, he also has an eye for design. He has won a national award for his design of a kitchen space and was also awarded first place for a bathroom design. Both awards were related to his custom homebuilding.

Mark Uhr has also excelled in multi-home developments. He built his first apartment complex, The Oaks At Bentwater, in 2008,

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and sold it in 2014. He is currently working on phase two of his 34-acre master-planned community, Pearl Point, which is comprised of 216 units in phase one, and 264 units in phase two. Mark has also developed several shopping centers that currently house restaurants and retail businesses.

Mark and his talented wife Annie celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this summer. They have a great partnership in life, and their life’s work is also complimentary. Mark builds and sells safe, elegant places for families to live, work, and shop. Annie captures and sells stunning photography that makes every building instantly seem even more beautiful and inviting. Her nature photography is absolutely stunning, especially her sunrise and sunset collection. featherflare.com/ sunrises-sunsets

Mark Uhr doesn’t have much downtime, but he has enjoyed serving on

several boards in the community including the Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors, sitting as a Wells Fargo Bank Community Board Member, and serving on the board of the Texas Maritime Museum, of which his father was a founding member. In addition, Mark also volunteered his time to be the head of the building committee to design and supervise the construction of both the

Aransas County Humane Society facility and the Curatorial Vault for the Texas Maritime Museum.

“I have watched Rockport grow,” said Mark Uhr. One might also say that Mark has helped it grow. Mark loves the way the Rockport community senses their connection to one another. “The billionaire and the boat mechanic are on the same playing field here,” he added.