Rob Fox, MPLD, CNU-A

Operations Manager

Based in

Burnet, Texas

Follow Rob On

Registrations

Congress for the New Urbanism
CNU-A
Real Estate Finance and Investments, Linneman & Associates
REFM

Professional Affiliations

Congress for the New Urbanism–Central Texas Chapter
Strong Towns

Strengthsfinder Top 5

Focus, Learner, Intellection, Achiever, Belief

Education

Master of Land and Property Development
Texas A&M University

BS, American Politics & Law
U.S. Naval Academy

About

Robert’s passion for town building took root after reading A Pattern Language and The New Civic Art as a Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy. After leading troops at home and abroad as a Marine Corps officer, he returned to Texas with a new mission: leveraging timeless design principles to build communities imbued with a sense of place, permanence, and prosperity. Robert earned his spurs managing site development projects for Stylecraft Builders while completing postgraduate studies in Land and Property Development at Texas A&M University and accreditation through the Congress for the New Urbanism. He went on to work for David Weekley Homes in San Antonio, ultimately acquiring, planning and developing over 1,900 residential sites across twenty-nine communities before journeying to the coastal farmlands of Eastern Cape, South Africa, where he managed the development of Crossways Farm Village, a 1,280-acre mixed-use Traditional Neighborhood Development.

Robert has honed a broad skill set in real estate acquisition and development that includes market analysis, due diligence research, contract negotiation, land use entitlement, community outreach, financial modeling, and site development. Having learned that timeless placemaking comes from “brilliance in the basics”, he seeks to show that enduring design emerges out of market constraints–it is not precluded by them. Robert’s experience in aligning the interests of public stakeholders and private entities enables Verdunity to help its clients steward their local resources while delivering on market demands.

Just Because…

What do you do outside of work? You can usually find my wife and I playing with our pups (Gus & Brooks) in Lake Buchanan or wandering some tiny Hill Country town just to enjoy our state’s incredible folk architecture. We like to call ourselves “ruralists” instead of urbanists but that doesn’t keep us from heading into Austin occasionally for the finer things from time to time… like pancakes from Kerbey Lane.

Favorite podcasts? If we’re keeping it professional, The Strong Towns Podcast and RCLCO’s Conversations with the Best Minds in Real Estate are top-notch. My guilty pleasure, though, is Aaron Mahnke’s Lore–if you’re in the market for creepy folklore (and why wouldn’t you be), there’s nothing better!

Music you put on while you’re working? I have a carefully crafted Spotify playlist full of nothing but contemplative instrumentals from every genre you can imagine–including a (surprising) number of Norwegian folk tunes. I throw that on when I’m dealing with “thinkers”.

One book (or more, if you must) you'd recommend that you've read in the last 2 years? This is like choosing between children so I’m going to cheat. Dr. Chris Alexander followed his legendary book A Pattern Language with a four-volume set called The Nature of Order. I don’t know of any work that better describes how we might go about capturing that transcendent, ephemeral quality of “life” that only our most special places possess. It’s the link between a religious text and an architectural pattern book.

Favorite childhood breakfast cereal? Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Full stop. So many cavities…