Walt Mountford
Executive Vice President / Development
- 31 years of experience
- 31 years at KDC
Walt Mountford
Executive Vice President / Development
For Walt Mountford, his favorite part of his job is creating something from nothing … taking a blank sheet of paper and coming up with a plan to transform a community. That’s why KDC’s CityLine project holds such a special place in his heart. The 200-acre transit-oriented development includes residential, retail, office, hotel, and public space and is home to State Farm’s 2-million-square-foot regional headquarters.
“I enjoy creating a broad spectrum of individual experiences that collectively appeal to a wide range of employees, customers, residents, and visitors,” Walt adds. “Essentially, place creation”.
I love the legacy aspect of development. Whatever we do will likely be around for many, many decades and we want to leave a place that people can enjoy long after we’re gone—something that is timeless and of lasting quality.
CityLine is just one of several projects Walt is involved in as an executive vice president in KDC’s Dallas office. Most recently, he’s worked on Toyota’s North America headquarters in Plano, Texas.
Walt got his start in the commercial real estate industry in San Diego, with The Koll Company, the predecessor of KDC, focusing on multi-tenant industrial development. He was also instrumental in developing the 560-acre Carlsbad Research Center. He opened Koll’s Riverside, Calif., office before being relocated to New Hampshire to reposition a historic resort into a mixed-use project. From there, he moved to Denver, where he worked with big box retailers.
Walt joined KDC’s Dallas office in 1996 to work on the build-to-suit regional headquarters for the EPA in Kansas City. “The EPA project was one of the most challenging and complex in my career,” he recalls. “It was a project that was environmentally sensitive before that was fashionable. LEED before there was LEED."
Over the past two-plus decades at KDC, Walt has been involved in the development of more than 7 million square feet of commercial projects valued at over $1.4 billion. He’s also involved in KDC’s pro bono development to help homelessness in Dallas.
Walt enjoys vacationing in Colorado, particularly Crested Butte, and Southern California. He plans to visit Hawaii next year.
Walt earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics with cum laude honors from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and attended Harvard Graduate School of Business.
