Daniel W. Aston

Senior Principal

Fort Monroe, VA

Phone:   757.967.9500

Daniel W. Aston has over 45 years of experience in the real estate business. Raised in a family of real estate professionals, Mr. Aston obtained his first real estate license during his first year of college. Mr. Aston graduated from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, with a Bachelor of Science degree, with special attainments in commerce in 1977. Subsequently, Mr. Aston associated himself with Mr. Chip Johnson and Mr. Clint Murchison, III (The Murchison family owned the Dallas Cowboys), operating as Johnson Investments in Dallas, Texas. He was an in-house real estate broker whose responsibilities included locating and contracting for real estate in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. His main areas of activity were renovation of apartment complexes and raw land for residential development.

In 1979, Mr. Aston formed his own commercial real estate brokerage company, Daniel W. Aston, Inc. The firm grew rapidly to a staff of over 20 persons. Between 1979 and 1986, the firm had annual sales between $50-$150 million. In 1982, The Whitmore Company was established as a holding company for the brokerage company and a newly formed apartment management division to better ensure clients and investors the opportunity to deal with a full service real estate company.

In 2003, Mr. Aston joined Roseland Property Company as the partner for the Mid-Atlantic region. Roseland Property Company (http://www.roselandproperty.com) is a large urban housing and mixed-use developer with offices in New York, Boston, and Hampton Roads. The firm has annual construction starts in excess of $1 billion. The flagship development of Roseland is Port Imperial, one of the largest mixed-use developments in the nation having two and one-half miles of Hudson River frontage facing New York City. Roseland opened an office in Portsmouth, Virginia in 2003 to begin development on several large scale urban developments in Hampton Roads. The developments range from urban housing to urban mixed-use. Roseland Property Company has announced over $400 million in development in Hampton Roads’ market since the fall of 2003.

Additionally in 2004, Mr. Aston formed The Olde Towne Company (http://www.theoldetownecompany.com) for the purpose of building high quality infill, for sale single family housing. The company is presently building 50 new homes in the historic Park View neighborhood of Portsmouth, Virginia as a compliment to existing Roseland developments.

At the end of 2011, Mr. Aston decided to leave his long standing position with Roseland Property Company so that he could pursue more local development opportunities. Subsequently, The Whitmore Company was reactivated to serve as the development entity. The goal is to continue to build urban styled developments throughout Virginia.

Mr. Aston also has a strong background in community issues, serving in numerous capacities. In 1982, the Mayor of Dallas asked Mr. Aston to chair the Oak Lawn Forum, which was a new coalition of developers and neighborhood groups who were brought together to successfully rezone the uptown area of Dallas to allow for urbanization of this area to be reflected in a new zoning code. Today, due to the long range urban planning of the Oak Lawn Forum, there are over 40,000 new housing units in the area that would not have been possible without this urban framework. This new housing is complimented by millions of square feet of new offices and retail all built in an urban environment. Subsequently, the Uptown/Oak Lawn area of Dallas is considered one of the most successful and extensive urban revitalizations in the nation.

Mr. Aston served as chair of this organization until the time when the city council accepted as ordinance the planning effort of the Oak Lawn Forum (1985), which was known as PD 193. This effort allowed Mr. Aston to better understand the necessary steps for the urbanization of America’s cities, early in his career. Mr. Aston had the pleasure and privilege to work with a wide variety of city leaders, civic leaders and world class architects in this process. Mr. Aston has also served the City of Dallas as a representative on the Dallas Transportation Committee, a technical sub-committee of the City Planning Commission, reviewing all transportation issues of the City of Dallas. This position was appointed by the Planning Commission of Dallas.

As a church volunteer, Mr. Aston has served as chairman of the Development and Redevelopment Committee of Grace Presbytery, primarily responsible for reviewing the real estate requirements of all of the existing and to be built Presbyterian USA churches in the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area. Presently, Mr. Aston is an active member of First Presbyterian Church USA in Portsmouth, Virginia, where he recently rebuilt the courtyard facilities. Mr. Aston also has served extensively the Presbyterian and Southern Baptist Churches in the capacity of mission work throughout Mexico and Honduras.

During college, Mr. Aston served as president of his fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta, and after college he has served as director of the House Corporation. In 1984, Mr. Aston was nominated and accepted as one of the US Jaycees Outstanding Young Men of America. Mr. Aston has also served as a fundraiser and volunteer for Camp Grady Spruce (Boy Scout Camp), as a captain of the real estate industry for March of Dimes Spring Walk, and as a member of the building committee of Highland Park Presbyterian Church. Mr. Aston is currently a member of Sons of the American Revolution. In Portsmouth, Virginia, Mr. Aston has served his community as a member of the executive committee of Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, Portsmouth Division. Also, Mr. Aston has served as past president of the Park View Civic League which is the neighborhood in which he resides and builds and restores homes. In 2007, Mr. Aston was asked to serve on the Foundation Board of Directors for The Mason School of Business at The College of William and Mary. In this capacity Mr. Aston has been instrumental in creating a real estate program for the MBA students at the school. In addition, Mr. Aston has served as chair or co-chair for the real estate conference at The Mason School of Business. Finally, Mr. Aston has served as a member of the Hampton Roads Partnership, a group comprised of every mayor, university presidents, commanding officers of every major military unit, and significant business leaders, who offer leadership to the Hampton Roads area of Virginia