Articles about Real Estate
D Magazine Readers’ Favorite Stories in 2011
Our list of the most popular features on DMagazine.com in 2011 can’t help but make you hungry, as our dining coverage continued to be the best in the city.
See our top 10 most trafficked stories of the year right here.
Khloe & Lamar Will Be Living the High Life at the W
Talk about living close to work. Khloe Kardashian and her husband — new Dallas Mavericks forward Lamar Odom — are leasing a condo at the W Dallas Victory Residences, a stone’s throw from American Airlines Center, where the Mavs play.
They’ll be moving into Mack Hicks’ (he’s the son of Tom Hicks) three-bedroom unit at the W highrise. Realtor-to-the-bold-face set Allie Beth Allman, no stranger to high-profile-athlete clients, did the deal. In fact, they liked Allie Beth so much, they mic’ed her up for Khloe & Lamar, the couple’s reality TV show.
Earlier news reports had the couple checking out the nearby Azure condos, where they were supposedly looking for a three-bedroom place renting for $8,000 to $15,000 a month.
Hebron 121 Station: The Ugliest Apartments in Dallas-Fort Worth?
Does this make you feel like you're five minutes from the beach?
You’ll hear it said about some neighborhoods, almost always meant as a compliment: “It doesn’t feel like Dallas.”
Does this happen in other major cities? Do people feel a sense of pride in living someplace so unlike the rest of the area? Those aren’t rhetorical questions.
Usually I hear these statements made about quiet, tree-filled settings with an actual bit of hill-like topography, qualities rare on this flat plain we inhabit. But take a look at the image above of the Hebron 121 Station apartments. That doesn’t look like Dallas, either, does it? And as Steve Brown notes (behind the paywall) about the development in today’s Dallas Morning News: ”The colorful Caribbean-style architecture, resort landscaping and location on Denton County’s new commuter rail line has made the 90-acre development a hit with renters.”
I was not surprised to learn in Brown’s piece that Huffines Communities is responsible for the project, as they’re the same firm behind “resort living” and “Cape Cod-style homes” in landlocked Denton County. With Hebron 121 Station, they seem to have taken their building philosophy to another level. Given that they’ve got a waiting list for those dying to live in a flood plain former flood plain, and they’re going to build even more units, I guess there are plenty of people who believe more is better when it comes to palm trees in a parking lot. Just listen to this resident:
Leading Off (12/12/11)
Terrell Owens Financial Troubles Shine Light on Dallas Real Estate: From the look of the photo on TMZ, the condo that the mercurial Dallas wide receiver purchased for nearly $2 million in 2008 was in The House. Owens was forced to part with the condo for $1.6 million last month, or somewhere around $350,000 less than he spent on the place, which says as much about the team-less Owens’ financial health as it does about the ever-softening Victory Park real estate market.
UPDATE: The House, Azure; Victory Park, Harwood: all the generi-lux really does blur together. That said, the FBvians in the comments are right, TO’s former pad was at the Azure.
Parents in Custody After Severe Case of Child Neglect: This story is pretty disgusting (flaking skin?!), but it is encouraging that it was a teenager visiting the house of Justin and Brittany Alston in Hood County who called the police after noticing that the couple’s 8-month-old child was starving to death. The baby is now in critical condition at Cook Children’s Medical Center. It may sound odd, but I sure hope drugs were involved. At least it would be an explanation.
Cowboys Iced: For the second week in a row, Dallas Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey hit a last second field goal only to have to try to kick it again because of a last second timeout before the snap. Two weeks in a row, Bailey didn’t make the second attempt (granted, last night’s kick was blocked). Oh, and adding injury to insult, Dallas running game revelation, DeMarco Murray, fractured and sprained his ankle. And the defense blew a 12-point lead. Hello December!
Ellen Terry, Sans Agents, Leaving Ebby Halliday
Remember how less than two months ago Ellen Terry’s high-end residential-realty brokerage merged with Dave Perry-Miller’s operation under the Ebby Halliday banner, and vowed to go snap up more luxury agents for Ebby from rival outfits like Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty? Well, there’s been a slight change of plans. Terry said today that she’s decided to throw in with … Briggs Freeman. RealPoints has the scoop.
Faux Town Squares: Do ‘Suburban Lifestyle Centers’ Create an Authentic ‘Sense of Place?’
Is Southlake Town Square the exception or the rule?
Long-suffering Denton residents have heard this before. Golden Triangle Mall has new ownership. The long-troubled shopping center is going to get yet another renovation. This time the city of Denton itself had to kick in $9.5 million to make it happen.
The news reminded me of something that came up during my recent breakfast with Ray Washburne, he of the MCrowd Restaurants and owner of Highland Park Village. We mostly talked about all the changes coming to the Village, but something that didn’t make it into the published article were his comments about Denton.
MCrowd had a deal in place to put a Mi Cocina location into the Rayzor Ranch development in Denton, but with that planned mixed-use project having slowed down due to economic factors, it hasn’t happened. “It was going to be the classic suburban lifestyle center,” Washburne said. “As a college town, I think a small Mi Cocina or Taco Diner would do well up there.” Then he added:
“Denton doesn’t have a sense of place. That’s what these lifestyle centers have done — like up in Allen — is create a sense of place.”
Obviously, I disagree. (more…)
Luxury Real Estate Boutiques Merging
Two of the biggest names in Dallas’s luxury real estate game are joining forces. Our RealPoints blog has the scoop.
Cheney: Protests “Crazy,” Obama “A Train Wreck”
Former Vice President Dick Cheney may be thinner these days, outfitted with a permanent 
heart pump, and clad in two kinds of shoes due to a leg problem. But he’s still as bluntly outspoken as ever, taking aim at President Barack Obama, his old nemesis The New York Times, and the Occupy Wall Street movement during a Dallas visit flogging his new memoir, In My Time.
Greeting scores of invited guests at a Highland Park manse on Gillon Avenue yesterday, the ex-HP resident (pictured in photo by Jeanne Prejean) was asked his opinion of the Occupy Wall Street protests. “That’s crazy,” he replied, waving one hand dismissively. “I’m not one of those who think that’s going to do any good. It’s hard to tell what they’re for and what they’re against.” The former veep was dismissive of Obama as well, calling the president “a train wreck.”
Al Hill III Buys $9 Million House in Atlanta
Wait, wait, wait. Hang on a second. A couple months ago, Al Hill III and his wife, Erin, were indicted on multiple felony counts of mortgage fraud. He didn’t have a lawyer at the time, and he was wrangling with his father, Al Hill Jr., over what part of the family trust he was owed. In short, things did not look flush for Al III. But now comes word that he just bought a $9 million house in Atlanta? Hightailing it out of Dallas I can understand. But landing in such luxe digs? [scratches head]
Dallas Home Sales Soared in August
U.S. home sales spiked 7.7 percent, surprising analysts who expected a very modest 1.5 percent increase. Dallas-Fort Worth was fifth in the nation among top metros, with a 29.1 percent increase in sales. The local .3 percent increase in prices outdid the other top ten cities, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Dallas Is a Job-Creating Machine
Ryan Avent looks at Perry’s “Texas Miracle” and finds that it is a product of our four major cities. Dallas was second to New York in creating jobs in the last year. Dallas and Houston alone accounted for 10 percent of all new jobs in the U.S. One reason is energy, of course. Another reason is our tight government regulation of home financing (yes, government regulation!). But the third is our availability of housing and our openness to newcomers, wherever they come from:
Yet the big secret to success is Texan cities’ willingness to capitalize on their advantages through an extraordinary openness to growth. Relative friendliness to immigration is one source of strength. Between them, Dallas and Houston welcomed over 600,000 new residents from abroad over the past decade. That welcoming spirit extends to other Americans attracted by low housing costs.
That may explain Dallas, Ryan, but what about New York, which beat even Dallas in job creation? Top cities for job growth after the break.
Dallas Country Club Sues Appraisal District Over Its $15 Million Valuation
Imagine this bizarre scenario: the Dallas Country Club has itself a membership crisis. Swine flu sweeps through the city this winter and kills off all the older members. The DCC can’t replenish its numbers with enough new members because anyone serious about golf knows that Lakewood, Dallas Athletic Club, and Brook Hollow all have better tracks. Whatever. Just work with me here.
Here’s the question: what would the remaining members get for their 118 acres and the clubhouse and all the rest? Does $15 million sound low to you? That’s the current valuation placed on the club’s property by the Dallas Central Appraisal District — and the DCC thinks that’s too high. Over on Unfair Park, Robert Wilonsky, the 10th-most powerful person in Dallas, has posted a lawsuit filed by the DCC to get that valuation lowered. The members apparently felt the previous valuation of $10 million was more fair.
Two things about this. First, as Wick pointed out a while back (and as Wilonsky was kind enough to link to), treating the DCC’s 118 acres as tax-exempt real property amounts to subsidized racism. That’s no good. But forget the land under the club. Let’s talk about the buildings themselves. The DCC is currently undergoing a huge renovation. I’m told, in fact, that the wrecking ball is scheduled to swing in about a week. This sort of work requires the filing of much official paperwork that should give DCAD a fairly precise gauge of what the structures are worth and will be worth when the project is completed.
I rule in favor of DCAD.
Beck Likely to be Safe at Vaquero Estates
One thing’s for sure: Right-wing lightning rod Glenn Beck is unlikely to be assaulted by a mob of liberals–as he was in New York a few days ago–when he settles into that $20,000-a-month rent house at Westlake’s Vaquero Estates. In the middle of a place that’s been called the most affluent neighborhood in the country, Vaquero is a gated expanse of castle-like mega-mansions peopled by pro athletes like Josh Hamilton and big-deal CEOs like BNSF’s Matthew Rose, said to be a potential successor to Warren Buffett.
The other day, for example, Westlake Mayor Laura Wheat and her husband Douglas (formerly of the Haas, Wheat & Partners investment firm) opened the doors of their rambling Vaquero digs for an intimate gathering featuring a mini-concert by American Idol finalist Tim Halperin. Think low-key. Tasteful. Friendly. You had to pass muster with a uniformed guard to get into the neighborhood, and certainly there were no street people, or roving mobs of angry progressives, in sight. Not a big fan of Beck–especially since he threw Debra Medina under the bus last year–but he’s obviously coming to the right place.
How Can a $21.8 Million, 20,000-Square-Foot Dallas Home Have Zero Bedrooms?
By now you’ve no doubt noticed that we’ve published the July issue of D Magazine, which includes our biennial examination of the 100 Most Expensive Homes in Dallas. We used Dallas Central Appraisal District valuations, meaning every Dallas County home was ranked, though only houses in the Park Cities or Dallas proper were worth enough to make the cut.
Online our list is sortable by a number of statistics. Those who’ve played around with this tool may have discovered an oddity: eight of the listed homes have no official bedrooms, according to DCAD records. For example: Ed Cox’s nearly 20,000-square-foot house (No. 7 on the list) has 4 fireplaces and 6 bathrooms, but no bedrooms.
Here at D World Headquarters we discussed among ourselves why this might be. Sure, it could be that DCAD’s information is just wrong, but it was more fun to speculate about alternatives. Perhaps the interior of Cox’s home consists merely of a series of cavernous sitting rooms, libraries, conservatories, dens, dungeons, and man-caves, and he prefers to sleep in a Barcalounger instead of a bed. Or maybe DCAD adheres to some arcane definition requiring any officially tallied bedroom to feature double egress, not merely single.
Whatever the case, I called DCAD to find out. What I discovered might shock or dismay you.
Rosewood is Selling the Management Group of The Mansion to New World Hospitality
Rosewood Hotels & Resorts has signed a purchase and sales agreement to sell the management of The Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek and the rest of the properties to Hong Kong-based New World Hospitality. The deal closes on July 29.
The release follows the jump.
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