Steve Shepherd

When Steve Shepherd was 7 years old, his parents took him and his older brother Philip on a family trip to the Great State Fair of Texas in what was then usually referred to as Big D. Steve tells the story of seeing the tall buildings as they drove into downtown, the one capturing his attention most having a Flying Red Horse at the top. Later he would learn it was called The Pegasus - he never forgot the excitement he felt coming from the small town of Graham where he was born.


Steve felt the lure of the City even then and used to tell everyone that one day he would live in Dallas. His older brother and his wife had graduated college and landed in Downtown Dallas while he was still in High School. They moved into a new Downtown high rise called Manor House which was the first new high rise residential construction built in Downtown on Commerce street. He would visit as often as he could becoming totally enamored with life in the big city.


He made it 90 miles to Ft Worth after High School, graduating with a BS from TCU and finally arriving in Dallas to obtain an MBA from SMU with a Specialty in Real Estate, covering all aspects. He was hooked! While at SMU he did an Internship at a Downtown building where The Commissary at Main and Field is now located, was asked to host a live TV show every Monday morning at 8:00 am on an Independent Station about Dallas Real Estate and was hired for his first post graduation job working at Henry S Miller Commercial in the newly finished Bryan Tower. Steve was on his way as soon as he obtained his license.


This fascination with every aspect of Downtown, from the architecture to the historical and newly designed buildings was quite evident in the direction his real estate career took, never working far away from the CBD. His successful commercial career covered working on all types of deals never being restricted to one area of expertise which came in handy with the inevitable ups and downs of the market trends.


In March 2005, Steve and his partner and spouse of now 45 years, Oliver Roberts who is also in the business, finally made the move to downtown they had always dreamed about. They wanted to buy but the residential units that were available were rental only. Finally a developer bought what had previously been built as Dallas Federal Savings in 1957 and was in 2003 being sold as condos. Timing was perfect and they soon had purchased a corner unit on Elm at Akard with 10 windows and expansive views including The Pegasus as well as Manor House.


This was also the year when Steve, Oliver and long time friend Bill McKnight, who had moved into the building a couple of weeks before they did, were at the first grocery store downtown. An acquaintance asked them to again tell her their names. They were standing in the order of Steve – Oliver – Bill and she said they would then become The DowntownSOBs. The rest is history and the DowntownSOBs have been known for many years for their involvement in many fundraising events to benefit the neighborhood community including driving The SOB Mobile in the Holiday Parade.