About Us
Founded in 2007 by Blake Rue and Britt Benton, Oryx Development is a commercial real estate firm specializing in the acquisition, entitlement, and development of residential and commercial property in central Texas. Britt and Blake have utilized their legal and financial expertise to facilitate development of over $250 million in residential and commercial projects in Texas.
Our Mission is to create value by working with cities and communities to develop projects recognized as community assets.
Oryx works closely with vertical developers of commercial and multi-family projects to create high quality assets that meet the needs of the communities we serve.
Development Team
Britt H. Benton
PRINCIPAL
Britt graduated from the prestigious St. Johns High School in Houston, Texas before obtaining a liberal arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1991. Britt has been active in commercial real estate and development since 1994, starting with Transwestern Commercial Services in Houston. At Transwestern he was a key member of an investment sales team that sold over $100 million of income properties in one year. From 1999 to 2006 Britt was Vice President of Crosswell Torian Commercial Services.
As a top producer, Britt provided brokerage services for a variety of individual investors, landowners, and companies. In 2006 Britt founded Oryx Commercial properties, a commercial real estate brokerage firm specializing in land and based in Austin, Texas. In 2007 Britt co-founded Oryx Development with Blake Rue. Oryx Development initially focused on developing affordable multifamily housing projects utilizing federal, state and private funds administered through Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs Tax Credit program. Oryx has entitled and sold land for the development of over 1800 affordable and market rate multi-family units and a large single-family subdivision. In late 2016, Oryx Development acquired the 166-acre Headwaters commercial tract in Dripping Springs, Texas. As markets changed, Oryx has evolved into a self-developer of retail, office and mixed-use commercial projects. In 2020, Oryx added the 78-acre Cannon Ranch mixed use project, also in Dripping Springs. For the foreseeable future, Britt and Oryx plan to focus on the entitlement and development of projects like Headwaters and Cannon Ranch in central Texas.
Blake A. Rue
PRINCIPAL
Blake holds a BBA in finance with a concentration in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin (1996) where he was a letterman and team captain of UT Tennis Team. After graduation, Blake successfully passed all four parts of the CPA examination before he attended Baylor School of Law (1999) where he was selected to the Baylor Law Review ranking in the top 10% of his class. Blake is a licensed attorney in the state of Texas since 2000 and has invested in and developed real estate projects since 2001.
Blake started by working for central Texas family office where he participated in the development of over $60m of custom homes and over $25m in residential lots. In 2007 Blake co-founded Oryx Development where he has used his legal, financial and development expertise to entitle property and close transactions involving the development of over $250m in commercial and residential real estate projects involving federal, state and private funds.