Avery’s Abode For Sale

The listing price for Avery Johnson’s condo at the Ritz is $4,475,000. Candy Evans has the scoop. (Shocking, I know.) With the right price, you get everything. Her source says, “Guess someone doesn’t want any reminders of the past…and all the stuff is only a couple of months old.”

Storming The Barricades To Protest (DCAD) Injustice

Over on DallasDirt, a distraught homeowner asks Candy Evans for advice about protesting the county’s new residential valuations. The distraught one might want to check with “Rusty” and Deedie Rose, Bush pals and A-list local movers and shakers. They’ve already got a July hearing set in connection with their 4-bedroom, $8.1 million manse on Willowood in Highland Park.

Belo’s Conflict of Interest With the Convention Center Hotel

The DMN, as you know, is pushing for the convention center hotel. For the moment, I’m not arguing one way or the other. But if I were going to argue for the hotel, and if I owned, say, $44,620,350 worth of land (in taxable value, and we all know how that game works) near the proposed site of said hotel, don’t you think I’d be remiss if, in making my argument, I didn’t at some point mention all that land?

The image you see here was generated by the good people at Crow Holdings (click to expand). You know where Crow Holdings stands on the issue (I’m looking at you, Hilton Anatole), but that doesn’t diminish the point of this map. As I say, if you add up everything in red, it comes to about $44.6 million. That number, as we’ve learned, is probably low. But if the hotel gets built, you can bet that land will be worth even more.

A fact worth mentioning.

Boxing, Politics And Cigars … All For A Good Cause

The testosterone-laden, Dallas commercial-real-estate bacchannal called FightNight marked its 20th year last night, more restrained than it once was, thanks in part to Laura Miller’s anti-smoking jihad. Ironically, Miller was spotted near the VIP pre-party at the Ritz-Carlton Fearing’s–she may have been eating there–while, a stone’s throw away, her old nemesis Ron Kirk worked the bash like a world-champion boxer. There were a couple of those on hand, too, and one of them–Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini–had some choice words about today’s crop of fighters. Jump for more. (more…)

George Bush Moving to Lakewood?

Well, probably not, but each community covered by our sisters and brothers at People Newspapers gets a once-over as a potential spot for POTUS’ pad. Check it out here.

Costa Rica, Beware

Our resident residential real estate maven Candy Evans is in Costa Rica on a second-home tour with Ellen Terry, Virginia Cook, and Dave Perry-Miller. She’s pseudo-liveblogging the trip over on DallasDirt. Candy promises to get the agents drunk and confess their secrets.

The House(s) of the Rising Sun Sales Price

Something weird is afoot in the Dallas residential real estate market. So notes a reader of DallasDirt and so seconds some commentors. Sales prices of some homes are actually going up. Now, they could be exceptions and a case-by-case basis, but it’s still weird.

Deep Ellum Is Not Being “Gentrified”

So says dal-brian, and he makes a good case for why the word is inapplicable.

I Went Birding With Mayor Tom Leppert

And most of the Dallas City Council. We all boarded a bus at City Hall and munched on pimento cheese sandwiches as we made the 12-minute trek to the $11.8 million Trinity River Audubon Center that is nearing completion. I tagged along as the councilmembers toured the 21,000 square-foot facility which is situated on 120 reclaimed acres of land in the southernmost section of The Trinity River Corridor. What a knockout building. Almost 50 % of the space is devoted to an educational wing with 2 labs and three classrooms. The architectural design mimics a bird with outstretched wings rising into flight and the windows are sloped at 12 and 20 degree angles to avoid the reflection of the sky and to keep birds from flying into the glass. (That is thinking ahead, and yes, this is all happening in Dallas.) It’s all, as it should be, eco-friendly and upon completion the center will be LEED gold certified. There will be miles of hiking trails (hey, Jim Schutze: they will be part of the Master Trails Plan but won’t be paved!) winding through grasslands, woodlands, and wetlands. Timmy will be happy to know that the facility will host organized camp outs, bird watching classes, and water conservation awareness programs along with yoga, guided hikes, and club meetings. I got so excited when I met with all of the Texas Audubon Society staff who will manage the property, I applied for a job—and I didn’t even see one bird while I was there! However, Ben Jones, the director of education for the Audubon Center, told me the other day he charted 55 species in an hour and a half. Dallas, birders from all over the world will, sorry, flock here to see those kind of numbers. Note to City Council: do not underestimate the effect this facility will have on the tourism biz in Dallas. Twitchers have lots of time and money. (photos by R. P. W.: (left) Mayor Tom Leppart and a woman who resembles me; (right) Ben Jones in front of the Audubon Center.)

There Goes the Neighborhood

If slum lords and crack heads moved onto my block, I’d pack up and move. These Oak Cliff residents chose to buy the crime-ridden houses and reclaimed their neighborhood. That’s one way to get property values back up.

Laura Bush Confirms She and Hubby Are Moving Back to Dallas

And by “Dallas,” I assume she means “Highland Park,” natch. She made the comment yesterday while she was in town. No big surprise. I think we all assumed they’d move back to the warm, nurturing bosom of Dallas. A spokesman claims the couple hasn’t bought yet, but for a January move, and considering all the lead time you’d think the Secret Service needs to fortify the future, I’d guess they’ve already tapped a Realtor. No? Yes? Am I looking at you, Dave Perry-Miller?

Good News/Bad News (For Certain People)

Housing prices have a 1 percent chance of declining in Dallas and Fort Worth, according to a press release regurgitated by the News’ Steve Brown. Riverside, California leads the list of “riskiest markets.” Why should we care about Riverside, California?  No reason, unless we are Belo shareholders and own the Riverside Press-Enterprise. 

Cheap And Not-So-Cheap Homes For Sale

If you’re interested in a bargain, here’s Countrywide’s listing of real estate it’s foreclosed on nationwide. Alas, the pickings in Dallas are small, which is reflective of the strength of our real estate market. There’s one good one, though: 6326 Lakehurst in North Dallas, listed at $2,637,900. Although DCAD appraises it only at $2405,970, it does come with a lovely $51,579.53 in estimated annual taxes. Go ahead and make ‘em an offer. They may take it.

Philippe Starck Calls The House “Unnecessary”

Have you bought your place yet at The House? You know, the place designed by Philippe Starck? Well then: ha! Because Starck says he’s “ashamed” of the place. Ashamed of everything he’s done. It was all unnecessary. Design is dead. Thanks to the FBvian who points us to the story.

New Four-Star Golf Resort to Open on Northwest Highway

I need some help, dear FrontBurnervians. On my way last weekend to secure an Easter ham, I saw the below house under construction on Northwest Highway, just west of Inwood. DCAD and Google street view weren’t much help. Anyone know who is building that monster?

Update: You’ll find the answer in the comments.

Dirk on the Move

Real Estate Maven Candy Evans hints very, very strongly that Dirk Nowitzki is moving to Strait Lane. Here’s the listing. It doesn’t look very MTV Cribs-y. Yet.

Ebby Marks Her 97th

Ebby Halliday celebrated her 97th birthday with the help of her physician Dr. Hugh McClung, who hosted a dinner for the uber-Realtor Saturday night at The Palm Restaurant in the West End. Everybody in the joint joined in singing “Happy Birthday” to Ebby, who’s also set to receive the 79th annual Linz Award March 26 at the Fairmont. You can recite all these facts, but they don’t do justice to the utter remarkableness of this public treasure, who has retained such a clear-eyed vitality she puts the rest of us laggards to shame. Forget Jesus and Willie; my mantra for all questions in life has become, “What would Ebby do?”

Bum Bright’s Old House Razed

Bum Bright’s former Lakeside Drive pad, seen here, has been torn down. It’s a corner lot, so I assume a CVS is going up.

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Developing? Not Really

Sam Merten has a solid piece in this week’s Dallas Observer about Fairfield Residential’s fight to tear down the dilapidated, crime-infested Signature Pointe Apartments and replace the complex with a mixed-use development (with retail, restaurants, and residential). Trey wrote about the dust-up in our March issue. City councilwoman Angela Hunt, apparently, was not a fan:

“The developer is well-represented by PR people who can contact folks in the media, can frame this a certain way, and can get photos and stories in D magazine. Neighbors with concerns about it aren’t represented by anybody.”

That is Angela’s reasoning as to why it’s not a big deal that she met with the opposition, but hasn’t yet met with supporters of the necessary zoning change. Let’s go ahead and jump, because this is long and about to get longer.

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Staubach Co. Featured In Best-selling Book

A best-selling new book by Keith R. McFarland called The Breakthrough Company puts a spotlight on Addison’s The Staubach Co., which was founded of course by the great Dallas Cowboys QB. A key tenet of the book, which profiles nine companies that have grown to $1 billion in sales or more, is that such firms spend more time building corporate character than fretting about corporate culture. And few, McFarland says, do it as well as Roger Staubach’s commercial real estate company. Jump to find out why.

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Expert: Dallas To Be A U.S. Model For ‘Urban Walkability’

They made you fork over five bucks to park out in the boonies, mass confusion ensued when many of the luncheon tables went unidentified, and they played a really corny new “webisode” for the “Where’s Your D Spot?” campaign. All in all, though, today’s annual meeting of the Downtown Dallas group was heartening for its bullish portrayal of downtown’s future. And much of it came from keynote speaker and land-use strategist Christopher B. Leinberger, whose assessment can be found after the jump. (more…)

A Question for Home Builders and/or People Who Like One-Walled Structures in Their Front Yard

Tim and I stoked each other’s curiosity as we drove by this house being built at the corner of Armstrong and Bryan. What’s up with the mini-house out front? It’s not even a mini-house, but barely more than a wall of a mini-house. I noticed that the wall’s progress reflects that of the larger project: When the house was just a wood frame, the wall was a wood frame. House gets a roof; wall gets a roof. Sheetrock; sheetrock.

Tim thought it might be a city-mandated structure. Something something about codes. I pointed out that other home projects did not have them. He now thinks it’s a really small mother-in-law suite. (LOL, right?) Me? I think it’s a home-builder flourish—a way for passersby (and future owners) to see the level of completion.

But certainly someone out there knows the answer(s). I’ll post this over on DallasDirt, too, to see if anyone over there knows.

Perot Jr.’s Penthouse

A fancy FrontBurnervian points out Ross Perot Jr.’s Penthouse at the W makes an appearance in this month’s Architectural Digest. Check out the slideshow of the 19-room, 12,000-square-foot, not-even-primary residence. He has good taste. (Or he has good taste in designers who have good taste.)

Re: Whole Foods

Someone who is smarter than I–and I’d guess a lot of people could claim that distinction–explain something to me. Because I’m probably just being stupid. The Minyard’s was grandfathered into the Planned Development District, yes? So if Whole Foods hadn’t bought the site, there wouldn’t be a big deal, except people would gripe about the Minyard’s for another 30 years. Now that Whole Foods has given up and decided to refurbish, the store still won’t conform to restrictions on the books, right? The point, I take it, is that retail in that location theoretically should front to Abrams, maintaining the illusion of Lakewood’s “Main Street feel”–a ship that sailed long ago. Whole Foods won’t front to Abrams. I guess I just don’t see what people are fighting against. Again, I’m probably just being stupid.

Mercantile Building Is Friendly Once Again

Is it just me? Am I the only one that’s all geeked up about the Mercantile Building once again giving us the time of day? Even cooler, its spire blinks a code for whether the weather is getting warmer or cooler. Love it. And so will NFL broadcasts when they come to town next season. Something else besides Reunion Tower to show the little ol’ lady in Peoria.

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Catering To Women At New Cowboys Stadium

When The Real Estate Council hosted an event at the Texas Rangers Dallas office last night to discuss all that new development in Arlington–and the 2011 Super Bowl–a lot of huge numbers got tossed around. What with the new Cowboys stadium, the mixed-use center called Glorypark and various infrastructure improvements, we’re talking billions of investment dollars and thousands of new jobs. But one stat that really stood out was the number of restrooms planned for the ‘Boys stadium: For men, there will be one restroom for every 120 fans; for women, the ratio will be one restroom for every 60 attendees. The crowd–the ladies, mostly–whooped it up big when they heard that.

Mum’s The Word At The Mandarin Oriental

Hmm. What is going on at the Mandarin Oriental? You’d think they would be out there scouting the world for a big-name restaurateur to set up shop in their deluxe spot. There was silly rumor circulating that Charlie Palmer was going in to the restaurant, which turns out to be is totally false. However,  now comes word that the whole project—hotel and all—may be “on hold.” Those words didn’t come from folks at Hillwood or the MO, they were spoken by my super-insider snitch. So, with a grain of salt, I report that Hillwood, who is building the hotel which to be run by MO, has closed down their very elaborate preview center. Sounds like they aren’t trying to woo anyone at the moment. Maybe it’s just too early– the hotel/residences isn’t scheduled to open until 2010, but I’m still more than just a little bit curious.

Lakewood Whole Foods Beginning to Take Shape

Jeff Siegel over at the Advocate’s Back Talk blog has been all over the Lakewood Whole Foods story the past couple of months. Today, he’s got a good post for everyone (myself included) wondering what the store is going to look like. Don’t sweat me, Lemmon Ave. Whole Foods. Looking is not cheating.

Backing Up Ron Kirk’s Point

We have evidence that Victory is, indeed, a success, as Kirk says. As it happens, the draft annual report for fiscal year 2007 (ending September 30) for the Sports Arena TIF came out on Monday. It won’t go online until the City Council formally accepts it next month. But here are the relevant numbers from page eight:

The district’s assessed 1998 [Ed note: the year of the arena election] tax value was $16,423,773. The total appraised value of all taxable property for 2007 was approximately $386,526,044 … which represents an increase in taxable value of $206,251,094 (114%) from 2006.

So is Victory a success? As an investment by the City of Dallas, it is a huge success.

Foreclosures Up! World Ends! (Or Maybe Not)

“Dallas-Fort Worth home foreclosure filings jump 31%” screams the scare headline on the DMN site. Indeed, more than 5,300 homes are up for auction on February 1. But there’s a little something wrong with the story. The something wrong starts with this:

One reason for the substantial increase in February postings may be that the January auction fell on New Year’s Day, Foreclosure Listing Service analysts said. By law, lenders in Texas are only allowed to take properties through foreclosure on the first Tuesday of each month.

As reporter Steve Brown notes, there were 43,000 foreclosures in 2007 — averaging 3,583 a month. If, as he suggests, the 5,300 figure represents two months’ worth, that’s 2,650 a month. Which means foreclosures are down 26% for the first two months of 2008. Isn’t that worth its own headline?

Dallas Bonds For AA Center Upgraded

Fitch has raised the rating of American Airlines Center bonds to A+. The report notes that the city has earned $50 million in additional tax collections off its $111.7 million investment. And that’s before rental income from the Center itself. Not to say that I told you so, but indeed we told you so.

Romano’s Pad Gets Panned

A tip of the hat to People blogger Kristiana Heap for pointing out the less-than-flattering description of Phil Romano’s Strait Lane home for sale on The Real Estalker. Read the whole thing. (cc: DallasDirt)

‘Stagers’ See Silver Lining in Housing Slowdown

This might be more appropriate for DallasDirt, but I learned last night that there’s a nice upside to the housing/subprime fallout–for some in business, at least. Dallas home “stager” Ann Schooler–basically, she spiffs up empty or tattered for-sale houses with cool furnishings so they’ll move faster–said at a party in Preston Hollow that her business has actually increased as home sales have slumped. Today’s sellers are seeking any edge they can find, it seems, and Ann’s Schooler, Kellogg & Co. provides a big one. Schooler’s handiwork was all around us at 5031 Deloache Avenue–a 15,400-square-foot, for-sale mansion she’d decorated with stuff like Flemish tapestries, even wrapped bars of French milled soap in the bathrooms. You can have the place for $8.6 million.

House For Sale in Cozy White Rock Area

I’m just guessing here, based on the news this morning. But if you’re in the market, check it out.

Jason Terry Likes Short Ribs, Weird Sculpture

I know it was an old episode, but I only saw it last night: MTV’s Cribs featuring Jason Jet Terry. In it, we learn that Jason doesn’t have carbonated beverages in his refrigerator, doesn’t know how big the plasma screen in his bedroom is, doesn’t have assigned seating in his basement movie theater, and doesn’t use the secret playground in his backyard (but his kids and nieces and nephews do). You can check out his Atlanta manse in this YouTube clip, if you’d like. It’s worth it just to see his Impala.

Yes, Steve Brown, I Am Confused

 On Thanksgiving Day, Brown’s lead story on p1 of the business section trumpeted the alarm:

“D-FW Home Prices Fall 3%.”

But on dallasnews.com, Brown takes an entirely different tack (I only saw this online, so don’t know if it made it into Friday’s print edition):

“N. Texas Housing Market Expected To Do Better Than Nation.”

In the print story, he quotes a Texas A&M economist as saying Dallas is affected more by the dismal national trend than other Texas cities. In the online story, he says,

Most respected housing forecasters agree that the Dallas-Fort Worth area will fare better than rest of the country when it comes to home sales and pricing.

Brown’s lead for the online story is, ”Confused about where the local housing market is going?” To that I can only say, yes, and there’s a reason.

No Props for My Property Tax Bill

Only yesterday did I receive my property tax bill. Seems like it came late this year. Turns out, I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Diana Lackey is a Democratic candidate running for the office of Dallas County Tax Assessor-Collector, looking to unseat David Childs, who has been in office for nearly 20 years. Lackey notes the Texas Property Tax Code states the tax assessor “shall mail tax bills by October 1 or as soon thereafter as practicable.” (I couldn’t find the exact mention in the lengthy tax code, but I’ll trust that it’s there.) Lackey has a theory or two about why it’s taken so long this year, viewable here.

Leading Off: Home Sales

You would think in a DMN story about the decline in national home sales, someone would have thought to trumpet the fact that through October, Dallas is on track for its second-best year in home sales ever. I wouldn’t accuse the esteemed Steve Brown of merely regurgitating press data sheets handed out with the canapes at a Las Vegas convention (nice junket, Brown), but the News has been predicting/harking on/warning about bad news in the home market for more than five years. Brown and his cohorts seem to get their bad news wherever they can find it. But shouldn’t their editors have been the slightest bit curious about how the market is affecting their readers? Or maybe the editors just don’t know. They must be the sort who still get their news from the newspaper.

Re: Deep Ellum’s Beat

I’d agree with Wick that Deep Ellum “is a shadow of its former lively self.” But I don’t think it’s because of the clubs that the landlords have allowed in. At least, not anymore. I think it’s because of all the clubs they haven’t let open up down there. If they’re worried about the wrong kind of club causing a crime problem — or worse yet, the perception of a crime problem — that ship has sailed. Using the SUP process as a hammer isn’t going to work. It’s just going to breed a new generation of Avi Adelmans that will use it to cleanse the neighborhood of anything they don’t like, which is pretty much everything.

The only way to give Deep Ellum life again is giving it more life — more clubs, which will bring in more people, which will bring in more restaurants. They have two choices at this point: Open the doors to more clubs, or sell off all the land to an outside developer and start over. I would hope it would be the former, but I also hoped that I wouldn’t have to burn down my house for the insurance money, and that’s not working out so well for me.

Haggard Not Slowing Down

Toby Haggard, of the Haggard family, sounds nearly giddy as he announces Haggard Properties’ big, LEED-certified project in West Plano.

“Hopefully, it’s the first of many commercial projects in that area. I’ve been dreaming about this building for 10 years,” local developer Toby Haggard tells GlobeSt.com. “It’s the culmination of everything I’ve done to date.”

It’s a $40 million project of 200k sf. on about 420 acres fronting the Dallas North Tollway. And apparently, that’s just the beginning.

Rita Sweeney, R.I.P.

Sad news today. Real estate developer Rita Sweeney died this weekend after battling cancer. I only met Ms. Sweeney once, about six years ago, but she was very memorable — a vivacious, intelligent woman. We were in a group of about 15 people or so taking a walking tour of downtown Dallas. Every half block, it seemed, she’d point to a building she owned or one she wanted to buy or one that needed a storefront or a restaurant or a florist. She had huge ideas for urban renewal; she was a fan of Jane Jacobs, if I recall correctly. Her ideas, as Dave Levinthal writes, weren’t always popular, especially with then-Mayor Laura Miller. (Most notably, the two clashed over Sweeney’s nightclub Blue.) She and her husband were working on big projects at the Tower Petroleum Building and 1900 Pacific Ave. I assume he’ll continue the projects in her honor.

Trey Is A Muckyraker

Pave the Trinity? Why don’t we just move downtown Dallas to Arlington and get completely off the map. (That’s when someone will build a hotel next to the Convention Center.) Pave the Trinity? I think you sprinkled too much of this on your fries at lunch. Have a nice day. Back to you, Timmy. I mean, Dean.

Henry C. Beck Jr., RIP: He Built This City

OK, OK; not all of it. But Henry C. Beck Jr., who died Monday, was a giant in the construction industry and a major force in building modern North Texas. Over the years, his Beck family construction/development company helped put up such local landmarks as the Hotel Crescent Court, NorthPark Center, the Cotton Bowl and Reunion Tower. Henry’s father, Henry C. Beck Sr., co-founded the firm, now called The Beck Group, in 1912; today Henry’s son, Peter Beck, serves as managing director. Henry Beck Jr. was 89.

Glass House Dallas?

Being a dutiful reader of Steve Brown, I was of course aware of Wood Partners’ heightened apartment-building activity. The company has 1,200 starts planned for Uptown, Frisco, downtown-ish, and Las Colinas. I was not aware, however, that one of the projects is called Glass House Dallas. Really? With a name like that, aren’t you just begging people to throw stones, just for the irony of it all?

Our Supposed Real-Estate Bounce Back

Memo to the editors at Business 2.0: When you start a write-up about the rosy real-estate picture in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with the words, “The Metroplex, as locals call the Dallas-Fort Worth region, is smoking,” please be advised that most locals don’t really like that made-up word. No wonder your magazine is kaput.