July 16, 2026
By: David Masters, AIA, NCARB—July 16, 2026—Over the last 40 years, our firm has been fortunate to build lasting relationships with developers, project management firms, corporate clients, and organizations from across the country, as well as several international groups. Even so, many of our longest and most rewarding partnerships have been right here in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. During the late 1990s and into the early 2000s, there was a common thread among many of those relationships—they traced back to Trammell Crow Company (TCC). MAA was fortunate to have a satellite office dedicated exclusively to Trammell Crow at the time, and as we grew, we continued working with developers and project management teams whose careers had begun there.
One of those was Jim Pritchard. After spending ten years at Trammell Crow, Jim founded Pritchard Associates, a project management firm serving commercial real estate developers and corporate clients throughout the country. Jerry Merriman and Jim first met while Jim was at TCC. Jim was a Longhorn, and Jerry was a Sooner, so there was always a little friendly rivalry between them, but it was matched by a tremendous amount of mutual respect. Before long, another Trammell Crow veteran, Brett Ratliff, joined Jim, and together they built an outstanding company.
In those early years, MAA partnered with Pritchard Associates on a wide variety of projects. Among our first clients together was Baxter Healthcare, for whom we designed manufacturing facilities in Grand Prairie, Texas, and Hammond, Louisiana.
One of my personal favorites was the BudCo facility in San Antonio, a Budweiser distributor. An architectural firm from St. Louis designed the shell building, while MAA was responsible for the interiors. Our challenge was to create a space that subtly reflected the Budweiser brand without becoming kitschy or cliché. It’s difficult to describe the design without sounding like exactly that, but somehow it struck just the right balance. The result was understated, elegant, and one of the most memorable interiors I’ve had the opportunity to work on.
We also collaborated with Pritchard Associates on several hospice facilities for Odyssey Healthcare. Mark Potter and I worked together on those projects, traveling to glamorous destinations such as Detroit, Columbus, Houston, and Fort Worth. Some facilities were located within hospitals, while others were stand-alone buildings. We approached every one of those projects with great care because we understood the important role they played in serving patients and families during some of life’s most difficult moments.
More than 30 years later, we are still working with Pritchard Associates. Today, our relationship continues with Jim’s daughter, Clair Potter, and a new generation of professionals. Even so, we remain grateful for the relationships we built with Jim, Brett, Mark, Roger Dahlin, and Paul Jusselin, and we’re pleased to see many of them continue to contribute to the firm’s success.
Just two years after Pritchard Associates was founded, two more Trammell Crow alumni, Mike McVean and Lee Belland, launched Stream Realty Partners. MAA became involved almost from the beginning. I still remember visiting their office on Empire Central Drive. During one meeting, I needed to make a copy of a document, but Stream didn’t have a working copier yet, so we walked next door to MAPP Construction to use theirs.
From those humble beginnings, Stream Realty Partners has grown into one of the country’s premier real estate firms, with offices across the United States. At one point, they even occupied the Chase Tower offices that Trammell Crow had once called home—just a few floors above MAA’s former office.
Like our team at MAA, the Stream team was scrappy, hardworking, and determined. We worked together on numerous tenant improvement projects and eventually became the architect for their first ground-up building, a facility for Arrow Electronics on International Parkway, just a stone’s throw from Addison Airport. Fittingly, MAPP Construction served as the contractor.
We are proud to have played a small role in Stream’s remarkable growth, but even more importantly, we value the friendships that began during those early years and continue today. The same is true of Pritchard Associates and so many other clients who have trusted us over the years. Their confidence in our work and their commitment to lasting relationships have been just as important to our success as the projects themselves.
The construction and real estate industries have never been predictable. Over the past 40 years, there have been seasons when we fought for every project and others when we wondered how we would possibly keep up with the workload. Those cycles are simply part of the business.
If there is one lesson we’ve learned, it is that success is never achieved alone. Our longevity is a reflection not only of our team’s dedication but also of the clients, partners, and friends who have believed in us along the way. For relationships like those we’ve shared with Pritchard Associates and Stream Realty Partners, we are sincerely grateful.