Meet the Team

Barry J. Smith - Biography bsmith@marathoncommercial.com
Experienced in commercial real estate since 1977, Barry was employed and trained in commercial development by two of the top developers in the State of Texas and moved to Las Vegas in 1989. During his employment as Vice President of the retail division of Henry S. Miller Corp. in Austin, Barry supervised and trained a retail leasing staff of 16 employees. He was directly responsible for overseeing the leasing and management of 1.5 million sf of retail properties and maintained a fairly constant 98% occupancy. Barry’s real estate accomplishments in Texas include the sale of 14 shopping centers – 10 to the Pennsylvania Teacher's Pension Fund totaling $88.5 million. Barry and Diane Smith formed Marathon Commercial Real Estate in 1993. From ’93 to present a few of their accomplishments have been: The sale of a 352 unit apartment project in Henderson, Nevada (Pacific Islands) for $25.5 million, the exclusive leasing of the Showcase Mall anchored by Coca-Cola on Las Vegas Boulevard, the development and exclusive leasing of a 160,000 sf Smith’s grocery-anchored Shopping center in Henderson, Nevada (Horizon Marketplace). In April of 2003 they commenced construction on a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Grocery anchored 140,000 sf center in North Las Vegas (Simmons Marketplace). Barry and Diane Smith have a total of 43 years combined experience in the development and leasing of shopping centers and office parks. Together, Diane and Barry have leased over 5 million square feet of retail space. Barry’s expertise is finding ‘A+’ shopping center sites, matching those sites with anchor tenants and consummating the anchor tenant deal. Barry’s extensive knowledge of shopping centers enables him to design a site plan that will lease effectively and function properly. Mr. Smith is also involved with the project from early engineering through completion of construction. He says “From start to finish, it’s one-stop development – we do it all”. Member of International Council of Shopping Centers since 1978. Active member of Green Valley United Methodist Church. Barry has two children, Jacquelyn Taylor Smith, a graduate of Texas State University and Bradley Jay Smith, a student at University of Nevada Las Vegas. In his ‘spare time’ Barry enjoys golfing; flyfishing; archery; hunting; snow skiing and reading.
Diane M. Smith - Biography dsmith@marathoncommercial.com	back to top
Experienced in commercial real estate since 1984, Diane started working in the business for The Ribeiro Corporation where she leased office, retail and industrial parks for one of the largest commercial developers in the State of Nevada. Following Ribeiro, Diane was employed by H.S.W. Investments as Director of Leasing in Las Vegas. Diane leased the first Smith’s Food & Drug anchored centers in the Las Vegas valley during the mid ‘80s. She went on to lease the Pavilion Centers (Sahara & Decatur and Nellis & Stewart) in Las Vegas for Allied Development in Las Vegas, who was the largest community shopping center developer in Texas during the ‘70s and ‘80s. During the leasing of these three centers Diane worked closely with the developer and was exposed to the many aspects of the development business and soon became very knowledgeable in not only the marketing aspects, but the development business in general. Diane and Barry Smith formed Marathon Commercial Real Estate in 1993. From ‘93 to present a few of their accomplishments have been: The sale of a 352 unit apartment project in Henderson, Nevada (Pacific Islands) for $25.5 million, the exclusive leasing of the Showcase Mall anchored by Coca-Cola on Las Vegas Boulevard, the development and exclusive leasing of a 160,000 sf Smith’s grocery-anchored Shopping center in Henderson, Nevada (Horizon Marketplace) and the current development and exclusive leasing of a 140,000 sf Wal-Mart Neighborhood Grocery-anchored Shopping center in North Las Vegas, Nevada (Simmons Marketplace). Diane’s expertise and primary role in the company is Director of Marketing, Property Manager and CFO. Diane’s exceptional background in leasing and management gives her a competitive edge at creating the ideal tenant mix with most centers leased to approx. 60-80% national tenants. The marketing goal is to have the center 80-90% pre-leased when the anchor tenant opens for business and 100% leased and open for business during the first 12 months of completion. Diane is well experienced in financing, income analysis, land assemblage and site acquisitions. In April of 2003 Marathon began construction on a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Grocery anchored 140,000 sf center in North Las Vegas (Simmons Marketplace) at Ann Rd. & Simmons Street. This will be the first Wal-Mart Grocery open in the Las Vegas valley. Member of International Council of Shopping Centers since 1986. Active member of Green Valley United Methodist Church. Diane enjoys golfing; weight training; swimming; flyfishing, snow skiing and reading in her ‘spare’ time.