Atlanta native takes lead of one of the largest Black-owned CRE firms in country
An Atlanta native recently took over as one of the youngest Black men to lead a commercial real estate firm in the country.
Leonte Benton started work as an intern at the Atlanta-based T. Dallas Smith and Company more than 15 years ago while he was student at Morehouse College.
“I know what it’s like to have a dream and a desire to participate in my future because I was once that kid who benefited from having great mentors to pave the way for me,” Benton said.
His commercial real estate transactions portfolio includes prominent entities like Airbnb, AT&T, The Coca-Cola Company, FedEx, JPMorgan Chase and Microsoft.
Now the brokerage firm’s namesake founder is passing the torch to the 38-year-old Benton to take over as president.
Dallas will retain the role of chief executive officer and expand his role to include the development of additional real estate opportunities for the firm.
A little over a week into the new job, Benton joined WABE’s “Morning Edition” to talk about his direction for the firm in Atlanta’s current real estate market.