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Inspired by purpose, driven by passion.
Terra Halona, LLC is a real estate development and investment firm which focuses on land and retail development projects in the Central Texas and the Greater Houston areas. We create investment programs through these development projects and invite our investors to partner with us by participating in ownership shares in these ventures.
The name Terra Halona was created with the inspiration from the names and meanings of TerraMark Ventures and Halona Development.
Since 2013, Joel Scott, President of TerraMark Ventures, and Benny Nguyen, President of Halona Development, have collaborated on numerous real estate projects. Terra Halona, LLC was formed to unite their extensive experience and expertise in real estate investment and development, in pursuit of unique opportunities to create relational communities. Our team excels in identifying, entitling, and acquiring land for development, where we create a vision for sustainable and prosperous communities, consistently delivering top-tier results for investors.
JOEL SCOTT
Co-Managing Partner
Joel’s role at Terra Halona is to draw on his years of experience and industry relationships in identifying and pursuing unique investment and development opportunities for the company, as well as providing strategic direction and guiding the capital structure for the investments. The principals of Terra Halona invest their own capital alongside its investors which are primarily family offices and high net worth individuals.
Joel Scott has a 38+ year career in the commercial real estate industry which began with Coldwell Banker Commercial (now CBRE) in 1984 after graduating from the University of Texas – Austin with a BBA in Real Estate Development & Investment. Mr. Scott was with CBRE for 18 years, beginning in the retail specialty which quickly led to a concentration in land transactions. The majority of those transactions, representing both buyers and sellers, included the purchase and/or sale of raw and entitled land to users, developers, and investors. During his long tenure at CBRE, Mr. Scott was consistently a Top 10 producer in the Houston office.
In the late 1990’s, Mr. Scott began a transition from the land brokerage side of the business into the land development arena, and in 2002 formed TerraMark Communities with the principals of a former commercial development client. TerraMark was formed as a land development company with a focus in residential and mixed-use community development in Texas. Mr. Scott was responsible for the identification, acquisition, entitlement, partnership formation, capital structure, and marketing vision for many successful projects. TerraMark Communities acquired, entitled, planned, and developed and sold over 3,500 acres of raw land.
In 2015, Mr. Scott reconstituted TerraMark by forming TerraMark Ventures which has been actively acquiring, developing and marketing strategic mixed-use and residential projects in Houston and Central Texas. Mr. Scott and his development team cultivate and maintain a wide range of industry contacts and professional relationships which helps provide the current information and tools to understand the current market trends and identify the growth patterns which lead to the opportunities TerraMark pursues.
Personal: Mr. Scott is a native Houstonian and is married with four children in college.
Benny Nguyen, PE, CCIM
Co-Managing Partner
Benny Nguyen is responsible for site selection, project management, and the marketing and disposition of commercial properties at Terra Halona. As a licensed Professional Engineer in Texas, he brings a wealth of experience in civil engineering, covering design, feasibility studies, project management, and construction administration. Additionally, Mr. Nguyen’s qualifications as a licensed real estate broker and Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) allow him to contribute valuable brokerage and investment expertise to the team.
Before founding Halona Development and Terra Halona, Mr. Nguyen served as Vice President at Resolut RE (formerly Retail Solutions), where he provided commercial real estate brokerage services, representing both buyers and sellers of commercial land and investment properties, as well as retail tenants and landlords across Texas. His exceptional deal-making skills have earned him numerous industry accolades, including the prestigious Power Broker Award from CoStar in 2018, and recognition as a Retail Heavy Hitter by the Houston Business Journal in 2019, 2020, and 2021.
Prior to his tenure at Resolut RE, Mr. Nguyen held key development roles at TerraMark Ventures and Cernus Development, and worked as a land development engineer at BGE, Inc. During this time, he contributed to significant master-planned community and commercial projects, including Cross Creek Ranch in Fulshear, TX; Woodridge Forest in Porter, TX; Woodson’s Reserve in Spring, TX; and Canyon Field Plaza in Richmond, TX.
Mr. Nguyen holds both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University, as well as a Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston – Victoria. He is an active member of the Innovating Commerce Serving Communities (ICSC) and the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) networks.
Personal: In his free time, Benny is an avid tennis player and enjoys traveling with his wife and two children.
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