COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LENDING UPDATE - HOUSTON
Did Houston overbuild again? Tim Williamson, Commercial Real Estate Executive for Cadence Bank, and Robert Gilmer, Director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at University of Houston's C. T. Bauer College of Business, discuss the present state of commercial real estate in Houston and the factors contributing to why they believe the current economic downturn differs from the 1980s.
Economic Update is an eight-part video series co-produced by Cadence Bank, C. T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, and KTRK-TV.
Robert Gilmer
Director, Institute for Regional Forecasting
C.T. Bauer College of Business, University of Houston
Bill Gilmer is Director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting in the University of Houston's Bauer College of Business. The Institute focuses on developments in the Houston business cycle, monitoring the effects on the Gulf Coast region of the national economy, energy and global expansion. It also conducts other economic studies of policy significance to the Houston area. Before joining the Institute, Gilmer served for 23 years as a Senior Economist and Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. He joined the Houston Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas as a senior economist in 1989, focusing on energy markets. He co-managed the 11th District's regional economic analysis, and was editor of two of the bank's regional publications. He was the officer in charge of the bank's El Paso office from 2003-2012. Dr. Gilmer holds an M.A. and a Ph. D. in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin. He was born in Amarillo, Texas, and grew up in El Paso where he earned a B.A. in economics from the University of Texas at El Paso.
Tim Williamson
Commercial Real Estate Executive
Tim Williamson is Executive Vice President and head of Commercial Real Estate Lending for Cadence Bank, where he is responsible for managing the bank's commercial real estate loan portfolio. Since 2012, Williamson and his team have overseen the origination of more than $1 billion in commercial real estate loan commitments across Texas and the U.S.
Prior to joining Cadence, Williamson was with Wells Fargo for nine years where he managed their Houston Real Estate Banking Group. Earlier in his career, Williamson was with First City National Bank of Houston and then Guaranty Bank.
Williamson holds a BBA and MBA from Baylor University. He has been actively involved in ongoing leadership roles with the Urban Land Institute (ULI), including serving as chair of the ULI's Houston District Council from 2005 to 2007. Additionally, he is a member of the Board of Trustees at Presbyterian School of Houston, where he currently serves on the Executive Committee and as Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee. He also is active with Avondale House, a school for autistic children and young adults.