ASPEN SNOW POLO 2016 ICON GLOBAL FIRST LOOK 2017
Who Is...
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BERNARD UECHTRITZ?
Today the name is associated with a successful entrepreneur, an award-winning real estate broker over a dozen times over and founder of the global brand International Icon Properties (Icon.Global), but to understand today, one must see yesterday through a clear lens. What motivates a mongrel-bred kid to not only succeed, but excel in the intricate, fast-paced and competitive world of the real estate industry? The Uechtritz family is the “David versus Goliath” story of a small noble family that originated from the East Austrian Thüringen Knights of the early 12th century. In the short version of the legend, the year is 1187-ish and the current emperor has left his castle guarded by one of his knights and a small band of soldiers. For many days, the loyal knight and his small band’s defenses were tested as they came under repeated attacks by a large army trying desperately to overtake the castle. But although they tried, throwing the full weight and overwhelming numbers of the larger force against the walls, the castle held strong. The lone knight, skilled both in combat and strategy, always outmaneuvered his opponent. Eventually, with supplies and energy exhausted, the leader of the opposing army tried one final “trick”. He sent a messenger on horseback to the gates of the castle. Calling up to the battered, but unbroken walls, the man yelled up to the knight and his men, “Surrender the castle with honor and, in return, we will ‘spare’ your life!” Half amused by the leader’s attempt to sway them into believing he had the upper 20
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hand in their duel, the knight climbed to the top of the castle’s highest turret and shook his fist at the army that shadowed the once verdant hillside with their weapons and horses and camps. They had come to his land, to the home of his family and not only dared to tread on its beauty, but to stain it forever with the memories of needless bloodshed. They dared to take that which they held no claim, dared — in their arrogance — to conquer those who they thought lesser. Little did they know the knight’s strength of will and much did they underestimate the man they sought to intimidate. Lifting his voice, he faced the massive force and shouted into the wind that flowed through the valley and up the hillside, carrying just two words: “Ich trutz!” (I resist!) Shortly after, the very gates at which the messenger stood did fall, but not at the will of the army. From within the walls, the knight led his soldiers into the heart of the larger force and, after a fierce battle, left the bulk of the army fallen and the rest fleeing for their lives. And thus, the castle was saved. When the Emperor returned, he gave the heroic man the status of a free knight and the right to use the Emperor’s shield and symbol of keys as his coat of arms, along with the name “Von Ich Trutz” as his descriptive surname. Many years later, the Ich Trutz name evolved phonetically to become simply Uechtritz (You-Tridge). And when one of the Von Uechtritzs married a commoner, the “Von” was dropped to simply become Uechtritz. 2017 FIRS T LOOK
THE UECHTRITZ FAMILY IS THE “DAVID VERSUS GOLIATH” STORY OF A
“Queen Emma”
SMALL NOBLE FAMILY THAT ORIGINATED FROM THE EAST AUSTRIAN THÜRINGEN KNIGHTS OF THE EARLY 12TH CENTURY.
And like every great origin story, a family history holds two sides. Richard Parkinson was born under a cloud of scandal, but lived and left a legacy. The illegitimate son of an heir to the Danish throne, Duke Christian II of Denmark, Richard was the result of an affair with one of the duchess’s ladies in waiting. Unwilling to see the bastard son ostracized and stifled by his name and situation, Richard was given to the king’s head groom (Parkinson) of Augustusborg Castle to be raised and educated. Later, Richard met and married Phebe Coe, sister of Queen Emma Coe (also known as Queen Emma) and daughter of Joana Coe née Le'utu, of Samoa's Malietoa Royal family and Jonas Myndersee Coe, the United States Consul in Apia. Richard, a botanist, scientist, ethnologist and author, and Phebe, an excellent linguist fluent in English, German, French and Samoan, made a lasting and positive mark on the formative modern years of Papua New Guinea’s native people. They also worked and lived with famed anthropologist Margaret Meade for many years. They brought education and agriculture in the form of cattle ranching as well as coconut and cocoa plantations.
Their daughter, Dolly Parkinson (Bernard’s grandmother), married Peter Karl Uechtritz and their son, Alfred “Alf” Max Parkinson Uechtritz was Bernard’s father. On his mother’s side, Mary Louise Harris runs an equally colorful heritage and lineage of Scots, Scandinavian and English relatives who were WWI and WWII heroes, including a British spy killed in Iran and more.
Phebe with native Papua New Guineans Phebe Coe
Today, the generations of Australian New Guinean Uechtritzs remain a small, proud and tenacious entrepreneurial family. Bernard, along with many of his brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, proudly carry “Ich Trutz” somewhere on their body in honor of father and grandfather “Alf Uechtritz”. “I carry mine tattooed across my back and shoulders,” said Bernard. “It reminds me of the weight my father carried throughout my family history and the duty I carry today in all I do. It’s the family code of tenacity and resilience and I’ve tried to put every aspect of the values and traditions I learned from my history, my parents and my own experiences into building my own life.” ... continued on page 50 ICON GLOBAL
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... continued from page 21
Yes, Bernard is from fabled royalty, but the last thing he ever expects is for anyone to take it seriously. It has interesting entertainment value and is a great icebreaker story if anyone has the inclination, but Bernard Uechtritz prefers to think of himself as, “just a mongrel-bred kid from a large family with a colorful background.” And today, he strives to add to that history with challenges and unlikely victories of his own. A knight that defied an army. A couple who influenced a generation. And a bush-school, New Guinea-raised, drop-out kid who sells iconic properties. THE AMERIC AN DRE AM Uechtritz looks like native Texas cowboy, but his accent gives him away. In fact, Bloomberg Business wrote,
GROWING UP IN NEW GUINE A AND AUSTR ALIA AND MANAGING ... L ARGE L ABOR FORCES E ARLY ... TAUGHT UECHTRITZ
HOW TO NEGOTIATE E ARLY AND OF TEN. 50
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he is “a blue-eyed, square-jawed, 50-year-old who can pass for the Marlboro Man — until he greets you with ‘g’day’ in his Australian accent.”
cocoa and oil palm plantation. It’s still highly successful and sells its cocoa exclusively to a French chocolate company.”
“I admit that my Australian passport, PNG heritage and accent have been door openers for me, but hard work, long days and innovation got me the rest of the way,” said Uechtritz.
On the cattle side, he managed about 4,000 head and implemented the first large-scale artificial Insemination (AI) program for PNG, breeding European Charolais semen over gray Brahman and Santa Gertrudis cows.
Uechtritz is a third generation New Guinean, the eighth child of seven boys and four girls. Growing up in New Guinea and Australia and managing cattle stations and large labor forces early from about 17 years old taught Uechtritz how to negotiate early and often. Previously, in boarding schools across Australia, Uechtritz honed his negotiating skills in front of headmasters and disciplinary committees. He left school in the 10th grade. He then enrolled in an animal husbandry program at a junior college in the Outback, which was designed to prepare young people to run a cattle or sheep station. Uechtritz left the program a year early and returned to New Guinea, where he worked at a gas station near the gold mines in the Highlands. Then, he got a job breaking horses on a ranch. Before long, he had been promoted to assistant manager. “When the manager left, I got promoted again,” Uechtritz said. “I worked there several years and transformed part of the cattle ranch into a coconut, ICON GLOBAL
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“First try out of the gate, I inseminated 300 cows,” Uechtritz said. “Big mistake! It was overwhelmingly exhausting and took months. Later, I learned that most people take 10 or 20 cows at a time and develop a program from there.” About the time he turned 22, he decided to see the world. America was his first stop. He arrived in Kentucky with an AI certificate, a saddle, a Polocrosse racquet, a thousand dollars and big dreams. “I grew up watching John Wayne at the town movie matinée on a Saturday once a month about 50 miles from our station,” Uechtritz said. “He was a cowboy in the morning and a Marine in the afternoon — a hero in a nation of heroes. America loomed large in my imagination. Further fueling my fascination with America; our fondest family hobby as kids was searching for World War II relics across mountains, jungles and swamps of New Guinea. Among many such finds, my father and brother once found air crew remains in a B24 Bomber resulting in loved ones being
returned home 40 years later to Texas and Oklahoma.” Eleven families found solace in the closure to the mystery of their boys who went to the South Pacific and until then had never come home. Later, Dad and Gordon were honored by the US Army for their role. Plus, his sister and brother-in-law lived in Lexington, Kentucky, where they worked in the thoroughbred industry. Never one to shy from hard work, Uechtritz pumped gas, built fences, rebuilt horse barns and even had a short stint as a rock station radio DJ, doing “whatever it took” to stay in the states. He also began promoting Polocrosse, an Australian equestrian sport that combines polo and lacrosse and has been called “rugby on horseback.” It took him across the country, as did his passion for polo, which he began playing in 1991. Polo was big in Southern California, especially in areas around Malibu and Santa Barbara. Uechtritz’s American walkabout ended in sight of the Pacific Ocean. He found himself surrounded by beauty, luxury residential real estate and unexplored opportunities. THE UNIVERSIT Y OF RE AL ES TATE Uechtritz obtained his real estate license in 1993. “On its face, real estate was simplistic — very much like buying and selling horses and cattle,” Uechtritz said. “As a young man, I thought, ‘I can get my head around this.’ I barely got out of the tenth grade, so for me to earn my real estate credentials 10 years later was like being a Rhodes scholar. I’ve been going to the university of real estate ever since.” Real estate in Southern California was in the doldrums in 1994 when Uechtritz began to use his newly earned credentials. The market downturn ICON GLOBAL
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A Banner AND B i l l i o n D o l l a r YE AR 2016 WILL GO DOWN AS A BANNER YE AR FOR BERNARD “BERNIE” UECHTRITZ. First, there was the historic and recording breaking sale of the Waggoner Ranch and a slew of industry awards. Second, Icon Global launched and has already almost singlehandedly set a transactional bench mark of a billion dollars (and counting) of production in real estate. SOTHEBY’S INTERNATIONAL
HIGHEST SALE IN THE HISTORY OF SOTHEBY’S INTERNATIONAL W.T. Waggoner Estate, 2016
DALLAS BUSINESS JOURNAL
TOP LAND DEAL OF THE YEAR W.T. Waggoner Estate, 2015
TOP LAND BROKER OF THE YEAR W.T. Waggoner Estate, 2015
FORT WORTH BUSINESS & CEO
TOP REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY WINNER W.T. Waggoner Estate, 2016 LAND MAGAZINES
LAND STAR AWARD-SPECIAL RECOGNITION W.T. Waggoner Estate, 2016 THE LAND REPORT
DEAL OF THE CENTURY W.T. Waggoner Estate, 2016
DEAL OF THE YEAR Camp Cooley Ranch, 2011
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created the opportunity to purchase RE/ MAX franchises, which he did. He bundled the franchises, but only operated a single office. A couple of years later, as the market recovered, he sold them. While the REMAX endeavor foreshadowed his ability to single out overlooked opportunities, another deal demonstrated what would become the trademark of his career, the ability to sell “white elephants.” In 1989, the Lyle and Erik Menendez headline-grabbing murder of their parents resulted in their lifetime imprisonment and liquidation of all property owned by the family estate. The Calabasas Menendez Mansion, as it was known then, languished on the market for five years despite the efforts of a series of California’s superstar realtors. Uechtritz, a young untested realtor, was brash enough and persuasive enough to convince the conservators and lawyers to give him a chance to market the property. He sold and closed the mansion within 90 days. From that experience, he recognized some key elements that make selling “impossible” properties possible. “Usually you have to spin ‘stigmatized’ properties 180 degrees from where they were,” he said. “You have to look at who the buyer is and where they are going to come from. Then you have to create a competitive environment and a closing window of opportunity.” His phone began to ring. In addition to a burgeoning specialty of selling distressed properties, Uechtritz also formed Front Gate Properties, a firm specializing in high-end developments in Hidden Hills, Calabasas, Malibu, and Beverly Hills. “I worked in that market for 15 years,” said Uechtritz, noting the early 90s were tough because most of the high-end homes in California were upside down. “In those days, ICON GLOBAL
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the big deals were $500,000 to $5 million. I learned a lot about the business and about people.” THE VALUE OF A HANDSHAKE By 2004, the fast-paced life in California had lost its glitter. Uechtritz and his wife, Annie Macdonald, who grew up in a Central Texas ranching family, had four children. The couple wanted to raise their kids in a place where they’d have their “feet on the ground.” “In Texas, handshakes tend to be considerably more reliable than they are in California,” Uechtritz said. The combination of the values and a land ethos with the presence of Annie’s family made the Lone Star State a natural destination. The family has lived in the Dallas area for the past 12 years and has no plans to ever leave the state. While Uechtritz’s hands-on experience in agriculture made ranch real estate a natural fit, he didn’t immediately join the industry; instead, he focused his attention on broadcast and internet television for two years. Then, in 2006, he completed a complicated deal for what is now the Texas Rose Horse Park near Tyler Texas. The market slump of 2007–2009 kept him from being fully engaged in the industry. He reentered full-time in 2010. In 2011, he sold Camp Cooley Ranch — and the rest, including the Waggoner Ranch and now Sandow Lakes Ranch, is, as they say, history. (By the time this story is published, Uechtritz will have gone public with another $200 plus million in listings.) While his professional story continues to be written, Uechtritz enjoys sharing what he’s learned with other industry professionals. “I like problem solving with my colleagues,” Uechtritz said. “This business has been good to me. I hope to be a change agent and good steward of the opportunities and knowledge I’ve been given.”
My individual streak and competitive spirit probably come from two things really — one, being the 8th child and low man on the family totem pole and two, my early years of primary education were spent in a native bush school in a village called “Chivasing,” about 100 miles from the nearest town. I was the only white kid, and except for fishing and hunting, I was pretty useless at most things like soccer, running, long jump, high jump etc. My native picaninny mates beat me at all these sports, even when playing marbles at recess, I was useless. Mondays, I would come to school with a sock full of marbles and ball bearings, and by Friday they had cleaned me out! I was a poster boy for a skinny, white, uncoordinated loser who had to fit in to survive. If it’s a rough deal or they say it can’t be done, those looking to make it happen turn to Australian Bernard Uechtritz, the man they respectfully call “the fixer and a rainmaker.” His “can do” reputation for successful transactions includes expertise in luxury and ranch real estate markets around the world — from cattle stations in Australia to celebrity homes in Beverly Hills and iconic ranches across Texas. Featured in mainstream media print, digital and television worldwide such as Bloomberg Business, CNN, CBS, Sky TV, Nine Network TV Australia, Dallas Morning News, The NY Times, WSJ, and many more, it was Uechtritz who designed and led the unprecedented global marketing campaign of the largest ranch sale in American history, selling the W.T. Waggoner Ranch. LIVING OUTSIDE THE BOX Founder of International Icon Properties Group (www.Icon.Global) based in Dallas, Bernie refuses to be boxed in by convention. “I’ve always been an out of the box kind of guy,” said Uechtritz, who is also an International Real Estate advisor for Sotheby’s. “I was never a good scholar or a rule follower because I’ve never been good at sitting still or staying in the lines.” His innate willingness to stray outside the accepted boundaries and confines of traditional real estate marketing is, in Uechtritz’s opinion, part of the key to his 30-year career as one of the real estate industry’s “go-to fixers”. A partial list of his more publicly, known successful deals in Texas includes: selling Camp Cooley Ranch, in the midst of multilayered bankruptcy proceedings, which in 2011 was the largest sale by price in Texas history; and recently spearheading the global marketing strategy of the 535,000-acre Waggoner Ranch, which at $725 million is the largest ranch sale to date in U.S. history. Another Texas deal that looms large in his memory is the former HTC Ranch in east Texas. Uechtritz successfully outmaneuvered a repeatedly resistant and remorseful seller who had for years stonewalled and thwarted several prior buyers’ attempts to close, including one buyer, who was so determined to prevail he took the seller all the way to the Texas Supreme Court on a specific performance suit, only to lose. Years later, in 2006, in a deal to sell to Uechtritz’s client, the seller got up to his old tricks again and tried to wiggle. However, as real estate attorney Robinson stated, “When the seller started playing checkers, Uechtritz played chess and closed the deal.” ICON GLOBAL
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I FIRMLY BELIEVE THERE IS NO ONE-SIZE- FITS -ALL APPROACH resources, which a local broker may not have. The goal? To lead and co-list bigger or outof-scope deals delivering to a seller a can do global strategy with good boots on the ground local knowledge. A case in point was his partnering with West Texas broker Sam Middleton on the Waggoner Ranch.
photo by Gustav Schmiege
“Bernie and I had vastly different styles and backgrounds, leading some to call us the “Odd Couple.” However; he is a team player, thoughtful, organized, creative and forward thinking, with a positive take charge attitude, and he was always focused on one goal, consummating the sale of the Waggoner Ranch.” - Chas. S. Middelton’s Sam Middleton, Uechtritz’s sale team partner
Uechtritz professes to love thinking outside of the box, whether it’s on the buy or sell side of complicated deals. “Handling complicated deals — those with high public profiles as well as those that by design and confidentiality agreement are conducted behind closed doors and whose details will never see the light of day — is a niche that I fill,” Uechtritz said. As a serial entrepreneur, Uechtritz launched Icon Global to formalize and expand on what he has been doing globally for years, which is running a highly specialized practice in the world of complex real estate of all kinds. A part of Icon Global’s model is aligning with and providing other brokers an international face and brand, global marketing reach, savvy and network 54
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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 was another $50–100 million dollar Icon Global listing. “I’ve been fortunate to earn a reputation as a ‘go-to, can-do guy’ because I firmly believe there is no onesize-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 alliances and relationships to best position and get a ICON GLOBAL
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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 Globals 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 oneof-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.
“Throughout it all, I’ve maintained a passion for polo. I didn’t get to play much the past two years because of the Waggoner deal, but I’ve tried to make up for it. This year we launched Icon Global Polo. My daughters and son now also play. So far, we’ve played in Santa Barbara, California, Chicago, Texas and Australia, and have had a great season. I will also be returning in December to compete in the 2016 Aspen World Snow Polo championship to defend our feature match title of last year. (AspenValleyPoloClub.com) More importantly, though, polo provides a platform for philanthropy. Part of our team’s mission statement is ‘to be involved in human, animal and environmental causes.’ We participate in any event we can that supports one of these causes.
For more information on Bernard Uechtritz and International Icon Properties, visit www.Icon.Global. With the exception of the expanded introductory content, this profile editorial was featured in the Winter 2016 issue of LAND magazine under the original title “Living Outside the Box” and writing credits for that profile belong to Lori Woodward Cantu. The article is adapted here with permission.
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Polo has also become an integral part of my real estate business. It offers marketing avenues as well as incredible networking opportunities. This past year, we’ve even hosted some polo and polocrosse events on ranches we were representing. These events generate publicity while creating a social event where lenders, brokers and potential buyers can mix and mingle. It’s a win-win for everybody.” www.ICON.GLOBAL
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