Our Team, Process & Reach
The Parkes Development Team
What are we?
An Experienced Team of CRE Veterans that loves real estate and approaches all projects with an 'Entrepreneurial Spirit' and a sincere interest in You! In the end, we understand that Service and Relationships are at the heart of all real estate development.
The Grit we possess is hard-earned and a product of the scars born of lessons learned.
Projects don't happen for any number of reasons, but there are VERY few things our team hasn't already seen or dealt with when it comes to commercial real estate.
"You cannot swim for new horizons and the beginnings they hold, until you have the Courage to lose sight of the Shore."
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-William Faulkner
Gary Parkes
Founder & Managing Principal
Gary is a Founding Principal of PDG, and currently serves as its Managing Principal. He has over 30 years of experience with an emphasis in the development of Lifestyle, Power Centers and Mixed Use projects. Gary also has extensive experience with project level incentives, including State and Federal Historic Tax Credits, Sales revenue Bonds, and many other forms therein. ​​
Gary has also led the education process of various issuing municipalities and jurisdictions, with specific emphasis on feasibility and structuring. Prior to founding PDG, Gary was a project manager for RP Industries, and worked on a coast to coast basis, managing some of the most technically challenging and time constrained projects undertaken by the company.
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He is a two-time graduate of Vanderbilt University, with an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from the Owen School of Management. He holds many different accreditations and affiliations, including ICSC, NAOIP, ULI, and many others such organizations.
(615) 595-2400
David Parkes
Founding Principal
David is a Founding Principal of PDG, but currently oversees the operations of the Parkes Construction and SiteSolutions. David was instrumental in planning, designing, and implementing systems that allowed both of these companies to scale and grow in the 2000's. ​
In terms of today's emphasis, Business Development, Estimating and Pre-con Services as a form of Pipeline Management, and General Corporate oversight are areas of specific focus.
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By receiving a degree in Civil Engineering, David is a 1986 graduate of Tennessee Technological University, He also enjoys Golf as both a passion and a pursuit, and is a dedicated member of The Golf Club of Tennessee.
(615) 595-2400
Evan Gower
COO and General Counsel
​Having served for over eighteen years in various executive and legal positions within both the Commercial and Residential industries, Evan joined PDG in 2025 as its COO and General Counsel.
​ With his hard won breadth of knowledge and experiences from previous roles, Evan will manage the daily development and operational activities of PDG. ​
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Evan was previously responsible for overseeing the execution of operational activities at other sizable privately held, Nashville based development firms. Those projects ranged in type, but were predominately retail and BTS projects. The BTS related activities included a nationwide 'rollout' program for a large, publicly traded retailer. Beyond these outwardly focused efforts, he also has experience managing the organizational improvement process.
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Evan is involved with various local charities, including the Nashville Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition, on which he serves on the Board of Directors. Evan received a BA in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia in 1996 and his law degree from the University of Richmond in 1999.​​
(615) 595-2400
Joe Parkes, Jr
Founding Principal
Joe holds a Civil Engineering degree from Vanderbilt University and has been involved in the construction and development business for over 40 years. In the first few years, Joe worked as an assistant project manager, project manager, and jobsite superintendent on numerous projects.
By 1985, he took on the role of marketing and sales, acquiring new clients, building lasting relationships, and managing several historical renovation projects in downtown Nashville. As the company continued to grow, Joe was promoted to Vice President and took on a greater role in the company’s management.
In 1995, Joe became President and led the company forward to transformational growth including the formation of both the Site and Development divisions as well as the full creation of The Parkes Companies, Inc.
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Joe enjoys traveling both domestically and internationally with his wife, and maintains a competitive position in the local cycling/road racing ecosystem.
(615) 595-2400
Patrick Cox
Principal
A multi-decade veteran of the CRE industry and various C-suite roles, Patrick joined PDG in late 2023. Through his previous roles, he has extensive experience with large retail and mixed-use projects, as
well as both medical and retail build to suit programs (in both 'infill' and 'rollout' capacities).
Patrick also has extensive experience in capital markets, including structuring and capital raising, plus corporate structuring and management of the growth process. ​Patrick holds both Bachelor's and Master's of Accountancy degrees from Auburn University, and while currently inactive, was a licensed CPA.
Patrick also enjoys several entrepreneurial pursuits including the restoration of classic vehicles as well as cattle farming and agricultural development.
(615) 595-2400
A Whole Greater than the Sum of Its Parts
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Collectively, we have operated from coast to coast in both highly regulated (i.e. LA, NYC/New Jersey, etc.) and business friendly jurisdictions (i.e. Dallas), in the best and worst of times, in all sectors of CRE, with every type of tenant (public, private, etc.) and personality type possible. Also consider our experience with public-private partnerships and incentives, including both direct and secondary bond offerings, TIFs, creation of Development Districts and Overlays, etc., as well as managing the creation of the "traditional" capital stack...and our comfort in virtually all CRE settings becomes more easy to understand.
​Comfort in the Uncomfortable
Then, even after each of those, consider our experience and knowledge gained in navigating the "waters" of the Great Financial Crisis. Items such as loan restructuring and workouts, recapitalizations, and other such negotiations with bank's and other lending institutions led to a comfort in dealing with challenging situations and finding solutions that allowed all parties to move forward. In other words, while always trying to learn and grow, we have a hard-won confidence in our ability to handle whatever any given Project or Person may throw at us! Moreover, we would welcome the chance to go to work for you and your company!
PDG Hospitality Division - Hotel over Retail
Nashville, TN
PDG Team Members
-Under Construction-
Development - Retail & BTS
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Bob Martin
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​Craig Baucom
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Felice Arredondo
Development - Hospitality ​
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​Jim Hackett
Executive & Loan Admin Support
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Carol Lynne Hensley
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Debi Batts ​
Accounting & Back-office Support
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Tom Schmit
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Betty Brown
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Heather Morcillas
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At Parkes Development Group, we focus on the needs of Others. If a tenant asks us for assistance, there is only one acceptable response..."no problem". ​
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Our Reach?
Coast to Coast.
Our Process...
Project Origination
Projects come about and evolve in an almost unlimited number of ways. However, as presented in the thumbnails below, the genesis for most projects falls under one of three categories...​​
Tenant Directed - Individual or BTS Rollout
Directed efforts can be broken down into two broad categories: Individual or BTS Rollout.
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Individual is easiest defined by, and most likely to occur when a tenant asks the developer for assistance in locating and/or creating a location for their corporate needs. Thanks to its own site research and ID efforts, the tenant may know the exact 'cross-streets' it would like to target, or it may just be the general areas of a City ranked by desirability.
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BTS Rollout is similar except there is normally a meaningful preexisting relationship in place, and the tenant is likely to simply tell the developer the Cities it would like to target and how many units they think they need to generate adequate sales coverage.
Joint Venture
Origination via Joint Venture most often has PDG being contacted by a potential Joint Venture partner to ascertain the levels of interest in the underlying site and the quality of the JV Partner's development plan. Often times, both parties are familiar with one another via a previous JV effort, or the JV Partner is aware of PDGs reputation in successfully performing on a project with similar stressors and challenges.
Speculative
Projects that begin in pure Speculation often times are discovered through pre-existing relationships or the proximity of construction work being performed by Parkes Construction.
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As was noted in one of the previous pages, it is round-world and people remember, good or bad, how they were treated. It's through the building of those relationships that, every so often, a call comes that says "there's a site/building/busted project, that I really think you'd like to see..." and the rest is history.
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Just as likely, and probably more so, is where in the course of performing their work on a construction project, someone at Parkes Construction reaches out to their counterparts at PDG and says "I think you might want to know about this...", then PDG goes for a site visit and discussion, and...another project is born.
PDGs Related Companies: Parkes Construction &
SiteSolutions
What is the relationship between PDG and these entities?
In simple terms: Force Multipliers...
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After the underlying site has been placed under-contract, PDG will work to identify the best aligned personnel at both Parkes Construction and SiteSolutions to assist in early stage pre-development, due diligence, and site design/layout efforts. This is done to ensure continuity of messaging and flow of information, but once identified and their involvement "green-lighted", it is not uncommon for these individuals to have a "force multiplier" effect on the process. In truth, that is the hope and goal for each project.
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In being aligned with a large, multi-disciplined company (i.e. building and civil construction), it affords PDG and its retail or project level partners speed and surety in the overall execution. This is part of the "secret sauce" in making PDG so effective. In reality, with the possible exception of the creation of formal legal documents, the entire development life cycle...literally, cradle to grave...can be addressed by PDG or its sister companies.
Color to Consider - the Beaulieu Plant
The picture above of the Beaulieu Plant in Aiken, SC speaks to the determination, ingenuity, and relationship building qualities demonstrated by Gary Parkes as early as 1993. Beaulieu of America was a pioneer in the manufacturing of carpet via a 'forced extrusion' process. Because they were the pioneer in such, there was no tried and true "blueprint" to follow in the plant's construction, except that it would require cooling towers standing 10 +/- stories high. Gary was charged as the project manager and quickly determined the only way to meet Beaulieu's schedule would be to haul generic sized sections of steel to the site and "cut and lift" on demand...and even that got challenging at points in time. Still, the schedule was met and a notoriously challenging Owner was overwhelmed by the results...moreover, the project is still in operation to this day!