Charles Cotton

Charles started in public accounting where he became a CPA but now has over 40 years experience in commercial real estate finance, management, brokerage and development. After public accounting, he became a Controller and then Project Manager for Clint Murchison’s real estate empire, eventually leading the restructure of $250M in debt on projects across the country.

Charles spent 36 years working with the Las Colinas development. Initially, he worked in the Southland Financial hotel division, arranging the financing of the Four Seasons Golf Resort in Las Colinas and Four Seasons Hotel in Austin. He also managed Las Colinas’ ownership of four golf courses: two courses at The Four Seasons, the Las Colinas Country Club, and Hackberry Creek Country Club before handling their sale on behalf of the ownership.

Charles was one of the founding partners of JPI Partners, the largest multifamily development company in Texas, in 1988, which then managed Las Colinas. He headed the commercial office division, managing more than 3M sf of Class A office space in Las Colinas and Austin. Here he also oversaw the improved properties financial restructure, which included the sale of $365 million in improved properties, and the reorganization and refinancing of the Las Colinas development with TIAA-CREF.

Charles then joined Cousins Properties representing TIAA as Development Manager for Las Colinas, directing land sales and marketing, land development, governmental affairs and asset management. While at Cousins, Charles was significantly involved in the refinancing of Dallas County Utility & Reclamation District (DCURD) debt of approximately $200M, which included establishing a tax abatement program for all new development in DCURD and creating a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) program for the City of Irving. While at Cousins, he led their office management & leasing divisions handling 14M sf of Class A office space in Dallas & across the Southeast. He was also involved in the management of Tom Hick’s real estate holdings, working with the Texas Rangers in dealings with the Dallas Cowboys and the City of Arlington regarding the development of AT&T Stadium. He helped TIAA complete a $100 million sale of the remaining undeveloped Las Colinas land in December 2005.

Charles and Bobby Stewart started CSE Commercial Real Estate in February 2006 focusing on development, brokerage & consulting. CSE Commercial focused on development opportunities in and around Las Colinas. They have been involved in more than $3B in real estate transactions in Las Colinas, including the development of the $300M LaVillita neighborhood. CSE developed the $40M Main Street development in Old Town Coppell and Charles also developed, owned, managed and sold numerous neighborhood shopping centers across north Texas.

Charles served as a Director of the Las Colinas Association, one of the largest property owners associations in the country with over $11B in tax base, for eight years. He has also served as a Director of The Real Estate Council (of Dallas), the Irving Chamber of Commerce, the Irving Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Irving Healthcare Foundation and several Home Owner Associations, including the Gentle Creek HOA. He served on the Coppell Planning & Zoning Commission, the Prosper Charter Review Committee and the Prosper Executive Development Team and the Prosper Downtown Development Committee. He also served on the Dallas County Utilities & Reclamation District (one the largest municipal utility districts in Texas with over $5B in tax base) Board of Directors as its President.

Charles is past Chairman of the Prosper Planning & Zoning Commission, was elected to the Prosper Town Council in May 2021 and served on the Town’s Finance and Benefits Committees.

He was a Charter Member, head of the Building Committee and twice an Elder at Hackberry Creek Church in Las Colinas and now attends Rhea’s Mill Church in Prosper.

He is a lifetime Texan and moved to Prosper with his wife, Colleen, in 2014 to be near their daughter and son-in-law, Claire & Kyle Christensen, and their two grandsons.

Charles retired in 2021. His hobbies include: golf at Gentle Creek Country Club, spending time with his grandsons and travel.