David Craig and Mike Rader, influential visionaries who’ve helped shape the North Texas region for more than four decades, will be named to the North Texas Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame next year.

Craig, founder and CEO of Craig International, and Rader, president of Prime Rail Interest LLC and Prime 45 Development LLC, will be inducted into the 2025 North Texas Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame during an event on Wednesday, April 30, 2025.

Linda McMahon, CEO of the Dallas Economic Development Corp. (Dallas EDC) and the former CEO of The Real Estate Council (TREC), will receive the 2025 Industry Service Award. This recognition is presented to an individual whose impactful contributions transcend the traditional confines of the commercial real estate industry.

Presented in cooperation with the North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors (NTCAR), the Hall of Fame event at the Arts District Mansion in downtown Dallas will begin at 5 p.m. with a reception, followed by a dinner and program at 7 p.m.

“The Hall of Fame event was created 38 years ago to spotlight the men and women whose remarkable grit and leadership not only shaped the North Texas region but led to it becoming one of the most-admired business hubs in the country,” said Chris Teesdale, Hall of Fame co-founder, executive committee member, and chair of the 2025 event. “Our 2025 honorees—Mike Rader, David Craig and Linda McMahon—certainly illustrate the incredible talent carrying forth that tradition.”

Champion for Southern Dallas County

Rader’s Prime Rail Interest and Prime 45 Development helped kick-start southern Dallas County’s industrial district, NTCAR said.

Rader has been involved in ownership and development of real estate across the Dallas-Fort Worth region since 1984. Impressed by the great logistics the convergence of Interstates 20, 35 and 45 provided, Rader began assembling properties, creating many investment partnerships, and developing property ranging from land infrastructure to building improvements.

NTCAR said that Rader set a vision for what could be developed in southern Dallas County from Interstate 20 to Dallas County’s south boundary.

In 2004, after pursuing Union Pacific Railroad (UP) for seven years, UP agreed to locate a $100-million Intermodal facility on Interstate 45 in the cities of Hutchins and Wilmer. Built on time and under budget, the facility was the impetus for the Dallas County Inland Port and resultant growth in Southern Dallas County, NTCAR said.

In 2005, Rader and his partners put together 900 acres on Interstate 45 to create Sunridge Business Park, which has 8 million square feet of industrial buildings and will have 60 acres of commercial/retail businesses when completed. In 2011, he assembled investors and acquired 2,300 acres in the cities of Hutchins, Lancaster, and Wilmer. Subsequently, Rader acquired an additional 700 acres to begin developing a 3,000-acre rail-served industrial park, Prime Pointe, providing sites for manufacturing, distribution/warehouse, and technology facilities.

Rader has been involved in 8,000 acres at Dallas County Inland Port, bringing billions of dollars in private investment to Wilmer, Hutchins, Lancaster, Dallas, and Dallas County, making it one of the fastest-growing industrial areas in the nation.

“Mike Rader typifies what this recognition is about,” Teesdale said. “He recognized the opportunity in southern Dallas County and invested years before others saw the potential in this overlooked area. Through his passion, his efforts have made a huge economic impact and served as a catalyst, turning southern Dallas County into the largest industrial submarket in DFW.”

Master-planning in Collin and Grayson counties

Craig has worked tirelessly to push the boundaries of his development projects, NTCAR said.

He founded Craig International, a commercial brokerage and development company, more than 45 years ago in McKinney, and the company has grown to control and/or develop more than 15,000 acres in Collin and Grayson counties.

His efforts drove the success of Craig Ranch, a national award-winning master-planned community in McKinney that he began developing with his partners 24 years ago.

Craig Ranch started with 1,125 acres of farmland and has a current ad valorem value of more than $5 billion. The thriving, 2,200-acre community includes 500 acres of parks and green space, a 270-acre employment district called McKinney Corporate Center Craig Ranch, and commercial, residential, and mixed-use retail anchored by the TPC Craig Ranch, home of the CJ CUP Byron Nelson Classic.

Craig is the chairman of the board of governors of TPC Craig Ranch and is chairman of the TPC Craig Ranch Host committee for the CJ CUP Byron Nelson.

His current projects include the $250 million District 121, a mixed-use development with retail, office, hotel, high-end restaurants and a multimillion-dollar park, adjacent to Craig Ranch at the northeast corner of the Sam Rayburn Tollway and Alma Road, NTCAR said.

In 2024, Craig and his partners announced Preston Harbor, a $6 billion master-planned community on Lake Texoma in Denison. The 3,114-acre project is anchored by a Margaritaville resort hotel and will include restaurants, an upscale marina, and approximately 7,500 homes, NTCAR said.

“David Craig is a pioneer in the development of commercial real estate; his contributions and commitment to excellence are second to none,” Hall of Fame Executive Committee member Bill Cox. “His efforts at Craig Ranch have proven to be crucial in the development of Collin County, making it the fastest-growing area in the United States.”

‘Fostering economic growth and innovation’

McMahon is the inaugural CEO of the Dallas EDC, a nonprofit entity created by the city of Dallas to drive the city’s economic growth by promoting Dallas as a globally competitive business destination that fosters economic opportunities for all members of the city.

Before Dallas EDC, McMahon was president and CEO of TREC, the largest and most influential commercial real estate organization in the state, with more than 2,000 members and 650 member-companies.

NTCAR said McMahon led transformative change within TREC, ensuring that the commercial real estate industry had a seat at the table for all policy issues that impacted the industry and the region’s economic growth. She was instrumental in creating the Dallas Housing Opportunity Fund in partnership with Local Initiatives Support Corporation, which was seed-funded by the city of Dallas.

NTCAR said that under McMahon’s leadership, TREC Community Investors created the Dallas Catalyst Project, which has created more than $140 million of leveraged investment in the Forest District over the past five years. She also created the Dallas Collaboration for Equitable Development with a $6 million investment from JPMorgan Chase.

Before leading TREC, McMahon spent three decades in banking, including 15 years with JPMorgan Chase Bank leading the Southwest Community Development group.

She is on the Downtown Dallas Inc. board of directors; a member of the 2024 Texas Metropolitan Blueprint steering committee; the Comprehensive Land Use Committee for Forward Dallas; the Dallas Assembly; Texas Lyceum; Urban Land Institute; and formerly on the board of the Real Estate Councils of Texas. McMahon was chair of the 2023 International Economic Development Conference in Dallas; a member of the South Dallas Fair Park Area Planning Committee; 2019 Texas Urban Blueprint steering committee; founding chair of Impact Dallas Capital; Economic Opportunity Leadership advisory board; and the City of Dallas Amazon HQ2 Bid lead. Linda is an Honorary AIA-Dallas and recently received the Civic Impact Award by D CEO.

“We proudly salute Linda McMahon for her tremendous contributions to the nonprofit sector and the commercial real estate industry in Dallas and North Texas,” said Darrell Hurmis, co-founder of the Hall of Fame event and executive committee member. “Linda’s dedication to service and leadership—and her commitment to fostering economic growth and innovation—truly exemplifies the spirit of the NTCAR 2025 Service Industry Award.”

More on the Hall of Fame

The Hall of Fame was launched in 1987, when the first six distinguished real estate recipients were Trammell Crow, Lyn Davis, Henry S. Miller Jr., John M. Stemmons Sr. and his brother L. Storey Stemmons, and Angus G. Wynne. Later additions to the roster included, among others, John Carpenter, Roger Staubach, Henry S. Miller Company, Jerry Jones, Ross Perot Jr., Gerald Hines and Jeff Hines, and Ray L. Hunt.

The most recent Hall of Fame inductees for 2024 were Scott Rohrman of 42 Real Estate LLC and Bill Vanderstraaten, president of Chief Partners LP. Last year’s recipients of the Michael F. McAuley Lifetime Achievement Award were Jack Fraker, president and global head of industrial and logistics capital markets for Newmark, and the late Robert Grunnah, a widely respected real estate leader and one of the three co-founders of the Hall of Fame event. Grunnah also worked on the conception, creation, and development of “THE BOOK,” a coffee-table book that’s published every five years.

All Hall of Fame recipients from 2024 and prior years will be featured in the fourth edition of “THE BOOK—North Texas Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame,” which is scheduled to be released in December.

The North Texas Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame committee was co-founded by Hurmis, Teesdale, and Grunnah. In addition to Hurmis and Teesdale, other committee members are Greg Cannon, Kathy Permenter, Lynn Dowdle, Bill Cox, Jack Gosnell, Teri Abram Wold, Scott Morse, and Kim Vincent Butler.

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