Last Thursday, Harlan Crow was the keynote speaker at the Park Cities Historical and Preservation Society’s Distinguished Speaker Luncheon. Why? Because his home, the fabulous 4700 Preston Road, designed by Anton Korn, and his fantastic Americana collection, will be featured on the society’s Historical Home Tour on April 12.  Speaking at the Dallas Country Club,  Crow gave an overview of his vast collection which he looks forward to sharing with friends and neighbors.

Harlan is the third son of Margaret and Trammell Crow. After World War II, Trammell Crow came to Dallas and created one of the most successful real estate empires in the U.S. Harlan began working at his father’s firm in 1974, after earning his bachelor’s in business administration at UT Austin. He is now the chairman and chief executive officer of Crow Family Holdings, a private family business that manages the Crow family capital. Harlan said he has long been fascinated with history, a love that began when he was eight years old. President Herbert Hoover visited his childhood home in Highland Park. Crow’s father, Trammell, gave him the president’s business card, which became the very first piece of Americana he would collect.

He was also fascinated with historical homes, including 4700 Preston. As a child he recalls sneaking onto the property. Years later, he was able to acquire the home on 7.7 acres north of Exall Lake Dam. He and his wife, Kathy, have added two wings. The first wing is the family wing, added  in 2003, which includes a two-story family room with three bronze and glass fixtures suspended from the ceiling. Harlan added his library/gallery wing in 2004, designed to showcase his 18th and 19th century art collections of portraiture, rare documents, manuscripts, and books. With a collection of more than 10,000 books and more than 5,000 manuscripts, Crow’s is one of the most significant collections in the nation outside of the Library of Congress. Highlights include a 1493 pamphlet based on Christopher Columbus’ hand-written letter to King Ferdinand. Crow says his copy is one of only 16 known to still exist, and it’s the only one in private hands. He also has one of four known copies of Amerigo Vespucci’s Mundus Novus, which contains the first published use of the phrase “New World.” He has William Pierce’s hand-written notes from the Constitutional Convention in 1787 .

Besides Hoover,  other occupants of the White House are represented in Crow’s art collection. His collection includes a portrait of George Washington by Rembrandt Peale, and the personal paintings of Dwight D. Eisenhower and now George W. Bush, which were recently gifted.

Then there is his famous sculpture garden. It is divided into an “uphill zone for the good guys” aka Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher; Ronald Reagan is on his way to stand right next to Mrs. Thatcher. Then there is the “downhill zone” for the bad guys like Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong. Why did he spend good money on these guys?

Crow says because he wants them as reminders: people of his generation will never forget the Cold War and political struggles that ring true today.

“If these statues can be utilized as a tool to remind newer generations of the failure of the bad guys and the triumph of the good guys,” he said, “then it’s a lesson worth having.”

But he does draw the line. One rare book he owns had a companion for sale for $12 million.

“I couldn’t afford it,” says Crow.

Other homes on this fantastic tour include 5 Willow Wood, The Pump House, now an art gallery and entertainment facility designed by Gary Cunningham, 4243 Beverly, designed by Lucius E. O’Bannon, and the McWay House at 4221 Lorraine.

Everybody knows Dallas is a city of transplants. You’re as likely to meet someone from Berlin or from Seattle here as you are someone who’s a born-and-raised, cowboy-boot wearin’  Texan. Our city is growing by leaps and bounds and is consistently ranked as one of the top-five fastest growing cities in America. So it makes sense that we’re welcoming transplants from all over the country.

But where are the MOST coming from?

The population of the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area is inching ever closer to 7,000,000. You know most of those millions aren’t natives. Here’s a handy-dandy graph that uses incoming cell phone area codes to discern exactly which cities and states are sending the most transplants to Dallas.

You’re gonna be surprised.

Turns out, Dallas really is a melting pot. A full one-third of our newest residents are coming from states that contribute less than 2.5% of our overall transplant population. That means we’ve got folks from Connecticut, Iowa, Hawaii and pretty much every great state in the nation!

Unsurprisingly, our neighbors in Louisiana and Oklahoma are sending the most folks down our way. This is likely thanks to our fabulous higher-education and our ranking as the #1 city for jobs in the country. What’s a little more unusual is that Colorado transplants make up about 7% of all incoming Dallasites. No kidding. Denver itself is growing rapidly and real estate values are heading up, but it seems even the scenic mountains and the new Rocky Mountain “high” can’t compare to our thriving business scene, excellent home values, and easy-living spirit.

Now if we could just do something about those public schools.

It’s interesting to note that all five of the top-contributing cities to the Dallas area are major metropolitan areas. From San Francisco to Chicago, people are figuring out they can afford a far better quality of life and avoid adverse weather if they simply come on down to the Lone Star State. We can’t blame them. A few standouts on the city list include Washington DC, Orlando, and Las Vegas. Of course cold Chicago, my birth city, is number one but it’s interesting to note how many Bay area transplants we have.

We know why we’d move to Dallas if we didn’t already live here. We came down in 1980 and were going to camp out for four years, then head back east to New York City or New England. But I fell in love and declared my loyalty, becoming a Born Again Texan. I liked the weather, the friendliness, and the cost of living. Did we miss mountains and the beach? Yes, but those are just a plane-ride or car-trip away.

Where are you seeing newcomers coming from? What brought you to Texas and… would you come back?

Great Western Mortgage’s Realtor of the Week is Anthony Graham of Elite Home Sellers. We sent Jeff Lindigrin up to McKinney to get the scoop on the Iowa-born super Realtor:

CD: So are you a native Dallasite or where were you born?

AG: No, I was born in Iowa…corn-fed, but we moved here when I was 4 years old, so I consider myself a native.

CD: Where do you live? House, Condo, Barn? House style?

AG: I am about to list my house in McKinney and move back down to Dallas. I have a 15-year-old Highland Home that I put granite, wood floors, travertine, etc. Totally needs to be featured on this blog. It’s gorgeous and I hate moving, but I hate sitting in traffic a lot more. It should sell to the first buyer who comes through. Fingers crossed!

CD: And in that traffic you drive a… let me guess, Mercedes Benz or a pickup truck?

AG: Haha, close… are Dallas realtors THAT predictable? I drive a Jaguar XF and I LOVE IT! I’m on my second one and will probably buy a third when I run this one into the ground. Which I will do.

CD: What’s your favorite ‘hood in Dallas and why?

AG: Hmmm, this is a hard question! I like everything in Dallas for different reasons. I really love the historic homes in Munger Place and Junius Heights… and I love all the mid-century modern homes in JanMar. If I’m dreaming, or showing clients, then my favorite areas are Old Preston Hollow, Bluffview, and Strait Lane/Taylor Estates area. We have so many cool neighborhoods, it’s really hard to pinpoint an absolute favorite.

CD: What’s your favorite restaurant ?

AG: Al Biernat’s is my favorite for special occasions… I’m craving the diavolo sauce that comes with the calamari right now. Otherwise, my favorite hole-in-the-wall/more obscure restaurant is Urbana Café in East Dallas… and I really like Lucia in Bishop Arts.

CD: If you could move in Dallas, where else might you live — what other neighborhood?

AG: I daydream about remodeling a mid-century modern in JanMar… but I’m looking at Lake Highlands, M Streets, and Lakewood right now. The mid-century modern is more of a 5 to 7 year goal.

CD: How the heck did you get started in Real Estate? Who’d you work for first? How long selling? Inquiring minds and all that…

AG: I got into real estate to make a little money to pay for chiropractor school. No kidding. I started in October of 2007 at the age of 23 and watched the market fall out from underneath everyone. It wasn’t easy to be successful back then, but I immediately fell in love with the game and knew I wouldn’t be returning to chiropractor school. Sorry mom. I started as a buyer’s agent for the Michael Reese Home Selling Team at KW in Frisco. I was there for about two years before leaving to start my own team, Elite Home Sellers. I was getting burned out selling the same floor plan and same cookie-cutter house over and over in the suburbs. I had dreamt of selling million dollar homes in Dallas and decided it was time to start making my dreams a reality. It wasn’t easy because we all know what the luxury market was like in 2010 and 2011, but we’ve come a long way since then and I’m glad I took the leap!

CD: Wow, we almost had to call you Doctor? That’s scary. Speaking of scary, what’s your worst sales nightmare? Just worst transaction ever?

AG: Haha, I don’t know how much I can say because he is a real estate fanatic and reads this blog : ) Long story short, in my first few months as a luxury agent I had a client rob me blind of all my commission because he was a jerk and knew I’d fold like a cheap tent. I sold an $800k house that ultimately netted me around $4800 when it was all said and done with. I needed the sale and the social proof more than I needed the money, but he was a total jerk and we all had to walk on egg shells around the guy.

CD: Geeze! What’s your best/highest sale?

AG: $4,350,000 is my biggest sale to date. It’s an amazing 14,000 sqft castle in Southlake. Easily the coolest house I’ve ever seen, let alone shown or sold. I currently have it as a hip-pocket listing for $5.25M if you know anyone : ) I also got to work with my first NFL football player last year. I’m a huge football fan, so I must admit I was pretty star-struck the entire time.

CD: Wow. How quickly have you ever turned a house?

AG: The market in our Metroplex is just insane..in the last twelve months we only had one house stay on the market longer than 10 days and we had two of them sell in the first two hours! We just listed a home in Preston Hollow last month that was on the market for over 4 years with multiple agents and we sold it in less than 48 hours! The market is amazing right now and we know what the buyers want!

CD: Candy says she wants the story on that one. How much did you sell last year?

AG: I did just over 10 million in production last year. My goal is to do at least 15 million this year.

CD: Secret Sauce to marketing a house?

AG: Oh boy… I don’t know how many of my secrets I can share! One things is for certain, MARKETING MATTERS! We do A LOT of stuff that most people aren’t doing yet. My newest addition to our marketing campaign is the helicopter videos and photos we do for our clients. It’s somewhat new technology for the real estate industry and we’ve figured out how to make it work really well for us! You can find a copy of our latest listing video on VIMEO.com. Just search 5835 Waggoner, and you can see what I mean!

CD: If you ever change careers for an encore you’ll…?

AG: I don’t ever see myself leaving the industry. Even if I had more money than I could spend in 10 lifetimes, I’d still be showing houses on the weekend to excited buyers! Real estate is my life!

CD: OK, we get it! Finally, what is your favorite place for a second home (do you have a second home?) and why?

AG: It would have to be warm and beachy…I love the water and hope to see myself on Island Hunters on HGTV one day!

April and May are traditionally the best months for home tours, because that’s when houses and gardens look the best! As we have been telling you, there are some fantastic tours coming up starting right this weekend! Stay tuned to CandysDirt.com for all the dirt on Dallas home tours including ticket giveaways. Since homes are just about my most favorite thing in the world, I support ALL of them:

Park Cities Historic and Preservation Society, April 12

Four Park Cities homes will be on tour, including 4800 Preston Road, the home of Harlan Crow and his famous library with one of the world’s largest collections of Americana, plus Gary Cunningham’s famous Pump House located on Willow Wood. Tickets are $20 in advance, and $25 at the door.

State Thomas Historic District Spring Architectural Tour, April 13

Highland Park on Saturday, on Sunday you can tour one of Dallas’ oldest neighborhoods closer to downtown, filled with pastel-colored historical homes, and a discussion led by three experts. This tour not only includes original residences, but also some remodeled former homes. The afternoon will begin at Hotel ZaZa Art House and Social Gallery with refreshments and a symposium.  The discussion will be led by author Virginia McAlester, author Judy Smith Hearst and State-Thomas resident Patricia Meadows.  They will discuss the timeline of the neighborhoods transition to an historic district.  You will be intrigued by the preservation efforts of this urban oasis in the hub of the city.

White Rock Home Tour, April 26 and 27

Cannot miss this one: modern homes of Lakewood unite. There’s  a speaker reception at Design Within Reach on April 25, and then meet the architects at each of the homes  on the tour.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door, and all proceeds benefit the Victor H. Hexter Elementary School.

Hollywood Heights Home Tour: April 26 and 27

The Hollywood Santa Monica Neighborhood Association has selected five historic homes that will be showcased during its 23rd annual Home Tour. The art and architecture-filled weekend, which includes an art fair and auction party, benefits the Lindsley Park Community School, J.L. Long Middle School and REAL School Gardens.

The Home Tour will run from noon until 5:00 PM on Saturday April 26 and Sunday April 27. Tickets are available for $15 at www.hsmna.org, at Curiosities (2025 Abrams Parkway) beginning April 1, or during the event at Lindsley Park, located at the corner of Lindsley Avenue and Tenison Memorial Drive.

Sunday’s tour will be accompanied by Art in the Park, a family-oriented art exhibit and fair that will feature local artists and vendors, fun entertainment and art activities for kids, and food and drink for the whole family from some of Dallas’ best food trucks. Also available will be a guided walking tour of the neighborhood’s unique historical sites departing at 1:30 PM. Both the tour and Art in the Park are free to all, and do not require a ticket to the home

Turtle Creek Home Tour, April 27

Five residences, including a home designed by Dallas architect Lionel Morrison, will be on display for an afternoon. Those who purchase their tickets early enough can also gain access to the post-tour reception atop The Mayfair at Turtle Creek. (You don’t ever blow a chance to see this place.)  Tickets are $60 for non-Turtle Creek Association members and there will be shuttles available to drive you from stop to stop.

Our own Tom Greico, one of our select CandysDirt-approved homebuilders — we are kind of picky about these guys, and we interview folks they have built homes for — has a home that was recently featured in the Lakewood/East Dallas Advocate. It belongs to Mike and Donna Webster. And since April is Home Tour month in Dallas, we thought you might want to know their gorgeous Tom Greico home was also inspired by the Dallas Modern Home Tour:

The home of Mike and Donna Webster poses on a corner in Lakewood Heights with striking confidence. It has both a simplicity and elegance that mid-century modern architecture seems to capture so well.

The Websters wanted their home to embrace the street yet still offer some privacy. By pushing the front door away from the street, they were able to create a serene courtyard area. “We’ve always wanted a really gracious entrance to the house with a place where we could sit,” Mike explains. The Websters enjoy the view of the courtyard from their formal dining room, which overlooks the yard through a large window wall.Photo by Marissa Robles

When the Websters bought the property three years ago, building such a home wasn’t even on their radar.

“We were going for more of a rustic modern, Hill Country style,” Donna says, “but it took us a while to develop the floor plans, so we started to go to home tours. We went on the Dallas Modern Home Tour, and we fell in love with modern architecture. So we switched gears.”

Pretty, no? We’re getting with Tom for some specifics. See how important our home tours are?

With the wind blowing and crazy storm forecast on tap for the weekend, I thought we ought to feature a home that was not just beautiful but provided some shelter from the storm!

When Gordon Todd and Randy Hughes built this beauty at 10104 Lennox Lane back in 1994, this home was the cat’s meow! Talk about a grand entrance: the home is gated, and you drive into the gated entrance on Lennox, drive out on South Lindhurst. The downstairs is huge and designed for entertaining with marble floors, a light-filled floor-plan and master overlooking almost one acre in the most pristine part of Preston Hollow. There’s the large kitchen with island spilling open onto the breakfast room and the large family room with huge, 20 foot windows overlooking the glories of the property. The master was certainly a jaw-dropper back then, and still turns heads: his and her closets, resting areas, and a bathroom full of marble.

That fainting couch would be the perfect place to settle in with your ipad — I swear Todd & Hughes had ESP even back in the day!

Now here’s the safe room part: off the master closet, on “his” side,  is a secret door with a tall cedar closet nestled inside that is right in the center of the house. This would be a perfect room to huddle in come a tornado. Not only are you protected by the rooms around and above you, you can breathe in the sweet cedar wood while Mother Nature unleashes her fury outdoors.

And of course, you won’t get moths!

Upstairs are three huge bedrooms, all with en suite baths, something we take for granted now. Then there is the playroom up there, and an extra bedroom downstairs that could double as a media room. Back then, you needed to shell out at least $100,000 to do a media room right. Today, just buy the widest screen TV you can, hang it and settle back to watch.

This home also has an elaborate, mahogany-walled study with a fireplace. Oh and a FOUR car garage complete with a workbench and sink!

Like most of us, this home needs a little updating. Many of my CandysDirt home builders tell me this is a piece of cake. You go in and remodel the serious areas — kitchen, appliances, master bath, spiffing up other living areas and replacing floors, some woodwork, fixtures and appliances. A few weeks and a hundred grand later, you practically have a brand new home.

Because this home has something that tornadoes, windstorms, age and even wrinkles can never steal: LOCATION! Almost one full acre loaded with trees and mature foliage in the estate section, one block west of Strait Lane. I’ve heard it said that Lennox is even better than Strait because you don’t have as many rubber-necked lookey-loos, all gazing at the famous houses.

The thing is, this dirt is worth $1.6 and growing. These folks are asking $2,599,000 down from $3,199,000. I’m telling you, deal of the century. Check with the folks over at Inwood Mortgage and see what they think about buying a rockstar house.  And then, stay safe!

PS: Staging by that genius, Blu Sky Living.

As you may know, the City of Dallas is getting very serious about saving two near-comatose shopping malls: Valley View Center at the intersection of LBJ and Preston in the north, and Southwest Center Mall in the south. The council is considering a budget of around $432 million, most of it aimed at helping the five major property owners between Valley View and the Galleria create what Beck Ventures are calling Midtown Dallas. We’ve talked about Midtown Dallas before, and how excited (and lucky) we are that a private developer wants to transform a weary mall into an exciting development. Turns out, we can thank my City Councilman Lee Kleinman for suggesting a TIF to finance the project and for making a large park a substantial centerpiece of the project. Kleinman recently told the Dallas Morning News that while infrastructure creation is a big part of this TIF (tax increment financing),  it’s not the biggest part of it. The notion of the park up at Valley View is way cool, think Klyde Warren north.  Lee really loves parks as he has been on the board of the Dallas Parks and Recreational Department, and is a founding board member of Friends of Northaven Trail, and Friends of White Rock Creek Trail. Those groups have created a fine network of linear parks, commuter and recreational bike and hike trails in Dallas, plus sites for community-oriented events.

“When we put the TIF in place we put our money where our mouth is, and 45 percent of the TIF will go toward the park, which is highly unusual — the first time the city has done this,” he says. “This will help the developers, but we’ll also get new parkland in North Dallas we haven’t had before. The developers would have liked to have seen more money go toward development, but we held firm: The park is going to be highest priority on this list.”

So glad to hear it. Dallas will, in my opinion, continue to grow as a series of neighborhood depots; there ‘s really not much more space left in Uptown, and downtown is still a slow grow. I think Valley View could become another, better Atlantic Station, a 24-hour community north of Atlanta on the site of the old Atlantic Steel Mill. Atlantic Station has become a poster child model for smart growth and sustainable development, though there have been crime issues, which we need to think about at Midtown. But Atlantic Station has an attractive mix of affordable, middle-income, and up-scale housing with world-class restaurants, theaters, and retailers. Nestled among 10,000 high density homes are charming sidewalk cafes and expansive parks. There’s color-coded underground parking: you ride there, park your car and walk.

Apparently, most of the TIF funds in Dallas will go toward infrastructure redo and the massive Midtown park, and there will be economic development grants for housing.

According to the Dallas Morning News, 10 percent of the total TIF allocation will go toward improving The Mall in Southern Dallas, formerly Red Bird Mall, off Marvin D. Love Freeway and Interstate 20. That mall, too, has seen way better days. In 2009, the city gave a $120,000 grant to the Urban Land Institute so they could come up with a way to salvage the shopping center. Experts say the ULI came up with a bunch of great ideas, but no money to accomplish them. At one point the city toyed with buying a hunk of the center for $2 million — yikes! The last thing the City of Dallas needs is to be in the development business!

The City is hoping that the success of Midtown might spur a developer to have an interest in The Mall.

Aside: why the name change? If people knew and loved Red Bird Mall, why did they change the branding — just to confuse loyal shoppers?

“The malls in their present states are doomed, Office of Economic Development honcho Karl Zavitkovsky said, because they don’t “work anymore and are very complicated to unwind. It’s increasingly challenging without public participation to make the development work, and to create any kind of sustainable development plan is almost impossible without public assistance.”

I write about this because last Thursday night I was at the opening gala for Belk at The Dallas Galleria, and then Wednesday morning shoppers were lined up outside the new store with southern sass that takes up the space vacated by (first) Marshall Fields and (second) Saks Fifth Avenue. I have never been to such an exciting store opening! Country western music, food, lots of thank yous, and sales people handing out free gift cards. There is obviously still a market for shopping centers in some parts of Dallas, just maybe not on every corner. The stores that thrive will have to beat out the internet shopping competition with great customer service and more.

By the way: the Belk folks are looking at Texas as their number one expansion market.

On the weekend that Hockaday celebrated it’s 100th anniversary, and one of her sons generously opened his beautiful home to a home tour benefiting the Park Cities Historical & Preservation Society, comes word that Margaret Doggett Crow, 94, wife of Trammell Crow, one of the nation’s most successful real estate developers, has died. Mrs. Crow died on Friday night, April 11.

Margaret was an exceptional woman, wife, mother, and Dallas citizen with deep North Texas roots. She was a graduate and supporter of The Hockaday School. Her father was a prosperous merchant, but both her parents were killed in an automobile accident returning from visiting Margaret at the University of Texas in Austin. Margaret was just 19. She married a naval officer,  Fred Trammell Crow, to whom she stayed married for 66 years. They had six children: Robert, Howard, Harlan, Trammell S., Lucy Billingsley and Stuart. Trammell built an enormous real estate empire, Margaret by his side. Her husband preceded her in death in 2009. His ashes were interred at the Crow family farm in East Texas, and also at the Daniel Cemetery in Dallas where Margaret’s eldest son, Robert, was laid to rest just two years after his father died. Mrs. Crow was the quintessential lady. She was well-educated, gracious, generous, and incredibly supportive of her beloved family and community.

A public memorial service is planned at the Highland Park United Methodist Church, Dallas.  The Crow family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Margaret and Trammell Crow Chair for Alzheimer’s and Geriatric Research at Southwestern Medical Foundation in Dallas, The Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, or The Hockaday School for Girls. Here is the official obituary release from Cynthia Pharr & Associates:

Margaret Doggett Crow, wife of Trammell Crow, the Dallas-based commercial real estate developer and the founder of the Trammell Crow Company and Trammell Crow Residential, died yesterday April 11, 2014 at approx. 7:00 p.m.  She was 94.

Born in Dallas, Texas on May 17, 1919, Mrs. Crow was the only child of prosperous Dallas merchant E. B. Doggett and his wife, Lillian.  She was a proud graduate of the Hockaday School for Girls, class of 1937.  Margaret tragically lost her parents at the early age of 19 when they were killed in an automobile accident traveling home to Dallas after a visiting her at the University of Texas. She was a member of the  Zeta Tau Alpha sorority at UT. After a Hockaday-sponsored tour of Europe, she and her classmates were part of an event which made history at the beginning of World War II.  On September 3rd, 1939, the SS Athena was torpedoed and sunk by the Germans off the British coast and Margaret and her friends had to be rescued from lifeboats hours later as they drifted in the Atlantic.

Margaret and her husband, Trammell, a commissioned naval officer, were married on August 15, 1942. Shortly thereafter, Trammell began a career in commercial real estate that would eventually lead to the creation of the Trammell Crow Company, which became the largest diversified commercial real estate company in the United States and the world. Margaret and Trammell had a wonderful family of six children. As Trammell grew the business, Margaret excelled in her many roles as hostess extraordinaire, friend, civic leader, mother and wife. Together they attended State dinners at the White House as the guests of five different Presidents. They welcomed many world leaders, foreign dignitaries, business associates and close friends into their home throughout the years. Impressively, Margaret had only one phone number for the entire 94 years of life and lived in only two homes three blocks apart in Highland Park.

She and Trammell traveled the world going to remote and exotic places. Be it to China in the 1970s or to sailing to remote Greek isles, hiking in Canada or deep into Africa, they were always up for adventure and exploration. The world was their oyster.

While much of Mrs. Crow’s work went unpublicized, one of her most notable achievements was also her favorite.  Stemming from their mutual love of travel, Mrs. Crow and her husband developed a passion for fine foreign art and made numerous acquisitions during their frequent excursions around the world.  Having developed a particular appreciation for Asian art, in 1998 the Crows made it possible for the public to enjoy their substantial collection by dedicating the Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art.  The museum is located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas near the Dallas Museum of Art.

Mrs. Crow was also active throughout her life in supporting a variety of charitable, civic and educational causes in Dallas and abroad.  At various times in her life, she served on the University of Texas System Chancellor’s Council Executive Committee, the University of Texas College of Fine Arts Advisory Council, the University of Texas College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Council, the Hockaday School Board of Trustees (Life Member), the Texas Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Board and the Visiting Nurses Association Board.  Mrs. Crow was also a member of the Highland Park United Methodist Church, the Junior League of Dallas, the Dallas Woman’s Club, the Dallas Garden Club, the Founders Garden Club of Dallas, the Daughters of the American Colonists and the Daughters of the American Revolution.

“If but one word could be used to describe Margaret it would be “lady.”  She embodied every aspect of the word; she was educated, gracious and tirelessly supportive of her family and her community.  Margaret will surely be missed, but just as surely, she will never be forgotten,” said Jim Carreker, a former CEO of Trammell Crow Company and Wyndham Hotels and a long time family friend.

Mrs. Crow was preceded in death by her husband of 66 years, Trammell Crow on January 14, 2009 and her oldest son Robert Crow on April 16, 2011.  She is survived by five children, Howard Crow, Harlan Crow and his wife Katherine, Trammell S. Crow, Lucy Billingsley and her husband Henry, and Stuart Crow and his wife Shirley, daughter-in-law Nancy Crow, 17 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

A public memorial service is planned at the Highland Park United Methodist Church, Dallas, Texas at a date and time to be determined.  The Crow family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Margaret and Trammell Crow Chair for Alzheimer’s and Geriatric Research at Southwestern Medical Foundation in Dallas, The Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, or The Hockaday School for Girls.

A few weeks ago we told you that Laura Miller, Mitchell Rasansky and a bevy of Preston Hollow  ”VIPs” had joined the debate over a multi-family complex in the early works over at Preston and Northwest Highway, Behind the Pink Wall. This development is the source of all the “No” signs cropping up in Preston Hollow as far east as Hillcrest, as far west as Midway Hollow, and as far north as Forest.

Well, now Miller, that is former Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, has taken it one step further. She WROTE an email to Jennifer Gates asking her to replace Kleinman, claiming he is unwilling to meet with Jennifer’s constituents. Well, she didn’t say he was “unwilling”: she said appoint someone who is MORE willing:

“Therefore, former Councilman Mitchell Rasansky and I respectfully request that you replace Councilman Kleinman with a colleague who is more willing to meet with your constituents — hopefully before the application is filed. There is much at stake here for our neighborhoods but no elected official to talk to. You are unavailable, and your proxy is unwilling.”

In the March 25th correspondence, the VIPs had asked Kleinman to hold a public meeting so hundreds of area residents can “both ask questions about the proposed development and provide feedback to you about the many challenges of living in residential neighborhoods located on and around one of the busiest state highways in Dallas.”

That would be the Northwest Highway and Preston Road intersection, and particularly Northwest Highway.

But Kleinman says he HAS had plenty of meetings with homeowners. He told Scott Goldstein at the Dallas Morning News : “I’m willing to hear new information. But if all I’m going to hear is people saying [current zoning] or nothing … that doesn’t provide me any new information.” He also took his pot-shot at the Miller-Rasansky era of city leadership whose policy seemed to be to block developers before they even have a chance to blink .

“I know during the period of 2000 to 2010, Dallas had no growth, while our suburban neighbors grew,” Kleinman said. “The no-growth, anti-development policy of the council during that period set Dallas back ten years with regards to the massive growth in North Texas.”

I spoke with Lee a few days ago, and then again on Sunday. He says he understands the neighborhood’s concerns over the added traffic the Transwestern development may bring to the neighborhood, though he’s not certain that it is significant relative to the current load and capacity of Northwest Highway. He’s calculating 220 units each, two cars per unit, two car trips per day plus any household help. What we need, he says, is a traffic study — factual information to move the process along.

“I attended no less than 3 large community meetings, and 3 private meetings” he told me. “I’m not interested in a meeting with homeowners screaming at me and the developer. I’m very clear on what a lot of the neighborhood is worried about.”

There is a legally defined process for the re-zoning, and 2 public hearings will be scheduled once the case is filed.  The developer was not obligated to hold nor attend any meetings with the neighborhood prior to the public hearings, but Transwestern has.  Unlike other developments. Kleinman points out that at one meeting he attended, more than 20 HOA Presidents and representatives were present.

He also told me that in one correspondence, Laura Miller accused him of not being familiar with the Pink Wall neighborhood. Kleinman pointed out that Laura “grew up in Baltimore, went to school in Wisconsin and has lived most of her Dallas life in Oak Cliff.  On the other hand, I grew up in the District (Alta Vista and Leachman Circle), went to school in the District (Withers and St. Mark’s) and earned my MBA in Dallas at SMU.  I even live closer to the intersection than she does.”

There are about 1100 Dallas residents living Behind the Pink Wall, and about an equal number living in single family homes north of the area. Not all of the Pink Wall residents are anti the development, Kleinman told me. In the meeting he attended with Michael Jung, who is representing the Preston Hollow North Homeowners, Kleinman said homeowners voiced a laundry list of issues which he says he heard loud and clear including:

-Concerns about the higher views.

-Concerns about site views overlooking the single family homes behind the development.

-People hanging on the balconies of the new apartment (the developer agreed to create false balconies to remedy).

-Loading and unloading zones and resultant traffic snarls (the developer agreed to create a loading zone to accommodate moving, and Kleinman says the target market is a far less transient population).

-Parking for guests and employees of the apartment tenants (the city requires one parking space per bedroom, the developer is providing 1.25 parking spaces per bedroom in underground parking).

-The neighborhood wants no changes to MF1 zoning, which is a 10 foot back setback, and 15 foot front setback (the developer has offered a 25 or 30 foot setback on the side adjacent to the single family homes, which start on Del Norte).

-The neighborhood would prefer condos over rentals.

As a property owner in the area, full disclosure here, this is one of my top concerns. I would vastly prefer to see these as condominiums. But Kleinman told me that the city does not discern between properties for lease or for sale.

“The city just sees multi-family,” he says.

In fact, many of the condos behind the Pink Wall started as rental apartments built in 1955 that were converted to condominiums in the 1970′s and ’80′s. The corner of the 80 acres was owned by Hugh E.Prather, Jr. (who died in 2010) and was zoned retail, according to Ebby Halliday agent Pete Livingston, who knows the area better than just about anyone and who lives there. Prather also leased the now-demolished Lochwood shopping center in northeast Dallas and was one of the founders of the old Park Cities Bank and the Northwood Club. He developed everything from resort properties on Padre Island to high-rises on Turtle Creek in Dallas. He was the son of Hugh Prather Sr., who along with John Armstrong developed  Highland Park. After the city annexed Preston Hollow in 1946, Preston Hollow wanted no retail zoning north of Northwest Highway PERIOD. The City of Dallas promised Preston Hollow they would not change any existing zoning. In exchange, Prather got 80 acres of multi-family to give up that one corner of retail.

“The zoning allowed for hotel and apartment towers,” says Livingston. “They thought even of building a Stoneleigh-type hotel and Maple Terrace.”

In the 1955 the  apartments were built, then 10 years later Preston Tower was built. Going up high, says Livingston, is the only way to preserve the green-space and tall trees in the neighborhood.

Kleinman told me he understands the homeowner’s concerns over increased traffic any high-density complex might add to their neighborhood — it is, he said, the most credible issue. And he wants to get a traffic study done in order to have factual evidence.

“It’s hard to tell where traffic is coming from on Northwest Highway,” he says. “How much of it is a spill-over from people avoiding LBJ now because of the construction? ”

Good question. And how much more traffic would Northwest Highway get if we were to proceed with plans to tear out Interstate 345 closer to downtown? Northwest Highway has all but become the cross-town expressway for Dallas.

As Goldstein reported, Jennifer Gates got her email correspondence from Miller, took it to the City Attorney’s office, and then did not respond.

“The City Attorney and Jennifer had a confidential conversation,” says Kleinman. “My understanding of what went on in that conversation is that she was advised not to respond. Bottom line is that Jennifer Gates is not going to get involved.”

Kleinman also told me that the city was looking into ways to improve the Preston/Northwest Highway intersection. The traffic light in Preston Center south of Northwest Highway (in front of the retail) is controlled by University Park and could be better synchronized with the city of Dallas-controlled traffic lights to the north. Transwestern has also offered to add an extra turn lane on Preston southbound.

Laura Miller and her husband, Steve Wolens, live on South Dentwood in Old Preston Hollow in an 8500 square foot home they bought in November of 2002 from Tomima Edmark, creator of the Topsy Tail. Previously, they lived on Lausanne in Kessler Park. They paid $4 million-plus for South Dentwood. The house was built in 1952, sits on 2.08 acres, and has three stories, including a basement with living quarters. DCAD calls it at $3,736,710. I heard that the former mayor wrote an I-want-to-buy-your-house letter to Tomima, Dentwood never was in MLS. Tomima had split with hubby Stephen Polley a while back, and she got the house. At one point Laura and Steve fancied a home on Audubon Place, and later, the Frank Lloyd Wright house. What that tells us: they want and like their green acres.

If you take a look at the (currently) 57 comments generated by Goldstein’s blog, most are anti Laura Miller, who many blame with Dallas losing desperately needed revenue from Cowboy Stadium to Arlington. This was one of the more telling comments when you look at the area from an outsider’s perspective:

 ”Has anyone noticed that there is the Athena and at least one other high rise less than 400 yards from the tract in question to the east on Northwest Highway? I do not understand why these folks in Preston Hallow are so bent out of shape since high rises have fronted the north side of Northwest Highway west of Hillcrest and east of Preston since the 1970s. Anyway, if you want to avoid high rises you probably need to move to Bonham!”

Here is Laura Miller’s email to Jennifer Gates:

Councilwoman Gates,

 

On March 25, 13 neighborhood associations in your district — plus six current and former elected officials — sent a letter to Councilman Lee Kleinman requesting that he host a public meeting to discuss Transwestern’s zoning request at the NE corner of Preston and Northwest Highway (a copy of the letter is attached). I understand that you asked Councilman Kleinman to handle this zoning request on your behalf due to a conflict of interest. There are now 20 HOAs trying to learn more about the impact that this project would have on our neighborhoods. In the letter, we specifically asked Councilman Kleinman to hold the public meeting before Transwestern files a case so that we can hear from the developer directly and, at the same time, give feedback in real time to the Councilman, your Plan Commissioner Margot Murphy, and Transwestern.

 

When Councilman Kleinman did not respond to the letter, I emailed him last Thursday 4/3/14 to follow up on the request. His response made it clear that he would not host a public meeting before a zoning case is filed. He also did not commit to holding a meeting after a case is filed. I emailed back the same day, asking him to please reconsider. He did not respond. It is particularly disappointing since his prior email correspondence on this issue, quoted below, makes it appear likely that he is meeting with the developer pre-application but not with area homeowners. The email thread is below.

 

While we appreciate your openness and availability on the 29-story Highland House tower proposal, there is no advocate or sounding board in the Transwestern case.

 

Therefore, former Councilman Mitchell Rasansky and I respectfully request that you replace Councilman Kleinman with a colleague who is more willing to meet with your constituents — hopefully before the application is filed. There is much at stake here for our neighborhoods but no elected official to talk to. You are unavailable, and your proxy is unwilling.

 

We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Thank you,
Laura Miller

As I was driving to the Mad hatters luncheon at The Dallas Arboretum last week, I passed by this house and stopped dead in my tracks on West Lawther Drive. In fact, it was the reason why I missed half of Jam Strimple’s fabulous fashion show. Entirely worth it. I was driving in front of 4646 Chapel Hill Road, one of the most beautifully situated homes in Dallas. Set on 1.03 acres, this home fronts on Chapel Hill but overlooks White Rock Lake with clear, 180-degree lake views.

Last week, the wind was blowing, sun shining, there were slight waves, and I was, while standing in front of this home, transported into a tranquility state of mind. No wonder we are drawn to beach homes!

Here’s the deal: it’s a steal. Previously listed at $2,149,000, Doris Jacobs over at Allie Beth Allman now has it for $1,950,000. Built in 1976, the home was remodelled in 1995 and is a statement of late mid-century modern design. This home is so like the homes I grew up in, get this: I have the very same black chinoiserie china hutch in my dining room. It’s by Drexel, was my mother’s.

In 1976, architects knew what they were doing. This home is built into the hillside like a brick you-know-what, has high ceilings, and was built with steel girders. The floor plan is open, with floor-to-ceiling windows showcasing the water views. Who loves terrazzo floors? I do! We had them in our home on Melissa Lane and let me tell you, easy care, they last far better than limestone, are cool in summer, and can be warmed in winter with a rug.

Chapel Hill has 4900 square feet with three bedrooms, formals, four full and one-half baths, a spacious master with split his and her’s master bath. I spy some Sherle Wagner. I’m not going to lie – I think the home needs work. The kitchen needs to be ripped out faster than a reality show season. The home was first built by O. V. Campbell, who owned the Texas Schoolbook Depository, and a whole block of downtown Dallas. He had parties here galore — Frank Sinatra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, with dancing by the lake. The large entry is classically flanked by the formals, then enters the Great Room with those dramatic views of the lake. All three bedrooms have lake views; two are on the lower level with full baths. The closets are large, rooms well proportioned, and the square footage is not out of sight. To me, this location is such a jewel I would totally grab this house and lock in the location, then slowly start the renovation process.

And I’d walk by the lake every day!

One: Gut kitchen and redo, keeping terrazzo floors intact. Do not touch those floors! I’m thinking white Bulthaup with thick white marble counters and an island.

Two: Pluck out those chandeliers, well, some of them, replace with more contemporary lighting. Agree?

Three:  Clean up the master bath, but keep the 1976-era commodes because guess what: they FLUSH!

Four: Moldings, molding everywhere. What to do? Part of me likes them, part of me wants to scrape. Maybe just leave the medallion in the master? Hmmm.

Patio: OMG, let’s get rid of the aggregate, do something with the ceiling, less scroll-y ironwork, and add a mosquito misting system (if one does not exist). Voila, a perfect entertainment area.

Fountain: Make it a pool. Infinity edge. Swim up and look out to White Rock lake.

Doris says there is more than $200,000 in landscaping. I believe it! And I think that with a little creativity and sweat, this house could be one of the most magnificent tributes to the seventies in town.

You know all about the fracas Behind the Pink Wall, the “No” signs all over Preston Hollow. And you know that former Mayor Laura Miller (and former City Councilman Mitchell Rasanksy, both of whom live in Preston Hollow) have asked Jennifer Gates to get another proxy beside City Councilman Lee Kleinman because he isn’t “willing to listen enough” to homeowners who live up and down Northwest Highway who are concerned about increased traffic from this project, homeowners from as far away as Central and Midway Hollow.

Well, get this: turns out Laura’s husband, Steve Wolens, who also signed the March 25th letter to Kleinman asking for a major meeting, owns a unit at The Athena. Yes, he owns at 6335 Northwest Highway, unit 1611, about 1800 square feet that is DCAD valued at $244,100. Looks like Steve has owned this place for a long time. Like since 1999. Did he inherit it perhaps? Buy it when he was a bachelor?

Is this a big deal? Maybe it is, maybe it’s not. Maybe it shows that Steve and Laura have some skin in the game, financial interests in what happens Behind the Pink Wall. If Transwestern gets their project built, some say the older properties Behind the Pink Wall might be worth less. Full disclosure: I own a unit on Averill Way; totally undecided.

I phoned up a hot shot Dallas appraiser, asked what he thinks would happen to the older properties Behind the Pink Wall IF Transwestern builds those brand spanking new multi-family luxury apartments. And does he think apartments there might be a bad idea? Stay tuned for what he says.

Looking at The Athena, looks like units there run from $200,000 to $400,000. The high rise was built in 1966, has 143 units on 21 floors, an indoor pool and an exercise facility. Looking in MLS, there are no listings of units available for sale or lease at The Athena. The interior pictured here is a unit on the 10th floor that sold in 2005 for $200,000 or about $112.99 per square foot.

Dallas is a fascinating place to live right now. Downtown, urbanists are lobbying for the tear-down of a short but squirrely elevated highway they believe is choking urban living, creating a schism of disruption between neighborhoods and sucking up dirt that could be developed as housing units. Go north of the Park Cities to the junction of Preston Hollow and University Park, an entire neighborhood is battling MORE housing units: a proposed luxury, 220 unit apartment complex that would replace dilapidated, tired housing built in the 1950′s. “No” signs can be seen all the way north to Forest Lane, west to Midway Road. Homeowners with ranches valued from $300,000 to $3 million dollar plus estates are so worried about increased traffic, so protective of the peace of their neighborhood, they have hired a seasoned attorney to represent them before the Dallas Plan Commission. Even former mayor Laura Miller is piping in, demanding a new proxy City Councilman to replace the current proxy. East of Central Expressway, investors want to build a restaurant on park land at the northern end of White Rock Lake, just off Mockingbird Road. Though they are just “feeling out” the neighborhood before plowing ahead, most of the feedback has been pretty negative, especially in a neighborhood known for fiercely defending it’s urban lake. Two years ago this ‘hood battled a plan to mow a meadow called Winfrey Point and turn it into a commercial parking lot. Don’t mess with Lakewood.

But what about our highways? We define so much by them: “we are east of Central, south of Walnut Hill” or “we live north of LBJ”. Our highways are woven into our way of life in Dallas because we are on them so much. That’s the first thing you learn about Dallas when you move here. You can’t do much in Dallas without a car.

I have talked to many Realtors and homeowners who have no idea there is even a discussion about removing a mini Dallas highway, I-345. While I’ve followed the debate, I don’t know enough yet to write intelligently on it. All I know is that I spend a lot of time in San Francisco and the Bay area, where a highway was torn down, and the traffic is AWFUL. I was in Atlanta last summer and was glad to leave — traffic there may be even worse than San Francisco. Recall this January when winter storms crippled Atlanta, with hundreds of accidents and traffic so bad people abandoned cars? Atlanta’s traffic is the seventh worst among major metropolitan areas. Drivers there waste an average of 51 hours in traffic each year, burning 23 extra gallons of gas. That adds up to a cost of $1,120 per commuter annually. Why? Funding: according to The American Society of Civil Engineers, Georgie has the ninth largest interstate system in the country, but it ranks 49th in per capita transportation funding. It also has a poor public transportation system. Bad roads means lots of traffic and back-ups, like when you’re on I-35 and everyone has to merge into one lane for miles.

“Along many major metro Atlanta region corridors,” the reports says, “inadequate capacity and substandard interchanges have created congestion and safety issues.” Only a “small percentage” of the 1,300 traffic signals in Atlanta are synchronized. In Los Angeles, all 4,500 signals are synched up to keep vehicles flowing smoothly.”

Dallas roads are also in bad shape, and we have roughly 121,000 people moving to Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington per year, congesting them. So does it make sense to tear a highway down rather than repair it? Ed Woodson, a Dallas attorney, and Aren Cambre, a computer scientist, are frequent commenters on local media voicing opposition to the the I-345 tear-down. What better people to ask to examine the issue, and give us their thoughts:

I-345, Public Enemy No. 1 for New Urbanists in Dallas

Patrick Kennedy wants to rip out downtown Dallas’s Interstate 345, and the D Magazine editorial board agrees with him. When we realized this, courtesy of D Magazine’s Front/Burner blog and its 17 posts on this in 2014, we thought “What is Interstate 345?” Upon answering that, our second thought was “That sounds like a bad idea.”

Nothing we’ve discovered since has changed our conclusion. What we have discovered, however, is that much of the evidence used by Mr. Kennedy, et al, is unhelpful and misleading, and Mr. Kennedy’s agenda is broader than we think.

What is I-345?

Interstate 345 is the elevated freeway on the east side of downtown between US 75 (North Central Expressway) to I-45. Really, it’s just a part of a continuous freeway from Galveston to the Oklahoma border.

There are no I-345 signs; this designation exists only on paper. It runs along Deep Ellum, the Arts District, and the Farmer’s Market. You use I-345 if you travel between US 75 and I-45 or between US 75 and I-30 east of downtown.

I-345 needs about $100 million in repairs, and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) intends on starting soon.

Why do some want to tear down I-345?

The short answer, as we understand it, is some think downtown’s highway loop (Woodall Rogers, I-345, I-30, and I-35E) is a “noose”, preventing residential and commercial development in downtown’s immediate vicinity. Under the theory, removing I-345 opens downtown’s east to development and removes a barricase. This type of high-density, mixed-use development would help Dallas become a “world class” city and create new tax revenue.

Also, the theory holds that I-345 is primarly used for through-traffic. Therefore, I-345’s teardown will minimally affect traffic as through traffic will exit affected highways before downtown and re-route to other roads: surface streets, Northwest Highway, I-635, George Bush Tollway, Ledbetter, and others. To the extent traffic elects to flow through city streets between US 75 and the the southern highways (I-30 and I-45), that will simply further economic growth in the area to be developed (i.e., busy streets = more customers).

While we have tried to honestly represent Mr. Kennedy’s arguments, please refer to his own site at www.anewdallas.com for his arguments in his own words.

The longer answer, which we think is more enlightening to what is actually going on, is that Mr. Kennedy and his fellow new urbanists don’t approve of how North Texans live their lives, and they see the I-345 teardown as a means for forcing people closer to a utopian urban-ideal lifestyle. While Kennedy pays lip service to the concept that we can have our cake and eat it too (i.e., we can have a new urban downtown Dallas without material impacts on everyone else), that is wrong. We also doubt Mr. Kennedy believes this himself; for new urbanists, inflicting traffic misery on everyone else is a feature, not a bug.

Dissecting the short answer.

Looking at our version of the short answer, a few questions jump out. Will traffic impacts be minimal? Does Dallas need the teardown to be a “world class” city? Is there a “noose” around downtown preventing development? We’d answer those questions with, in order,  ”no“, “that begs the question”, and “we don’t know”.

Traffic Impacts

The “A New Dallas” website cites five examples of freeway teardowns in the United States in support of the demolition of I-345, described below. The site claims that these demolitions occurred with minimal traffic impacts while triggering valuable development. Even if one assumes that the development benefits as described by Mr. Kennedy are accurate, none of the examples are remotely similar to the situation in Dallas.

The Embarcadero Freeway (San Francisco)

The figure below illustrates the status of the Embarcadero Freeway (highlighted in red) prior to the Loma Prieto earquake of 1989. The Embarcadero Freeway was intended as an extension of I-480 from the Bay Bridge to the Golden Gate Bridge (both highlighted in green). It was divisive from its inception and aborted mid-construction: the red dots represent the portion of the freeway that was never built.  Cars traveling on the freeway were diverted onto surface streets for about a mile, between the two segments of completed freeway.

At its peak, the Embarcadero only had a half of I-345’s daily vehicle count.

Mr. Kennedy is wrong to compare I-345 to an incomplete freeway with only a shadow of I-345’s traffic.

Perhaps of interest to local politicians, a public referendum to remove the Embarcadero Freeway was defeated prior to the earthquake, and after the Mayor championed its removal post-equathquake (without a referendum), he was promptly voted out of office.

Central Freeway (San Francisco)

The map below indicates the location of the Central Freeway (circled in red) in San Francisco. In case it’s not clear from the map, the portion of CA 101 extending north from the Central Freeway spur is not a traditional highway and is, instead, a surface road. When originally planned, the Central Freeway, like the Embarcadero Freeway, would have extended north and connected with the Embarcadero.

It was also controversial from its inception, aborted mid-construction, and removed following significant earthquake damage. Prior to demolition, the spur was a highway to nowhere, and its removal simply meant that cars entered surface streets less than a mile farther south than prior to demolition. Yet again, Mr. Kennedy is attempting to argue that the destruction of an incomplete, dead-end freeway somehow relates to his I-345 removal fantasy.

Park East Freeway (Milwaukee)

We may have identified a trend. The map below shows the location of the Park East Freeway in Milwaukee. The part of the freeway that was demolished is in red. The part of the freeway in green however, was never built. For the third time, Mr. Kennedy is comparing the I-345 to an incomplete, “dangling” freeway that ended in surface streets.

Harbor Drive (Portland)

Harbor Drive was actually completed prior to its demolition. Portland is not, however, a strong argument in favor of destroying highway “nooses” around downtown necks. The figure below is a map of Portland freeways. As the arrow points out, like downtown Dallas, downtown Portland is encircled by freeways

The former position of Harbor Drive within Portland is illustrated below (highlighted in red).

Harbor Drive bisected the downtown Portland loop and occupied prime river-front real estate. Furthermore, Harbor Drive was removed only after traffic levels declined thanks to the opening of the Fremont Bridge. Therefore, the removal of Harbor Drive followed a change that reduced its need, and its removal did not impact the major flow of traffic in the city by breaking up a direct connector between two heavily-used freeways. Yet again, this freeway is not remotely similar to I-345.

West Side Highway (New York City)

Though cited by Mr. Kennedy as the West Side Highway, it might be more accurate to describe the demolished highway as the “West Side Elevated Highway” since a new “West Side Highway” replaced the earlier, elevated version. The elevated highway, which was old and too poorly-designed to handle commercial traffic, was closed in 1973 following a partial collapse. It was replaced by a modern, urban highway that was completed in 2001. We do not know what this case study is intended to illustrate, as even the comparative traffic flow figures (before and after demolition) seem to have no value given the 28 year period between the “before” and “after” statistics.

Interstate 345 (Dallas)

The function and use of I-345 in Dallas are dramatically different from the case studies cited by Mr. Kennedy. The map below shows the major highways within the I-635 loop in Dallas (we apologize profusely for the limitations of our MS Paint skills):

In central Dallas, five “Northern” freeways feed into the downtown loop:I-35E, US 75, Texas 114, Texas 183, and the Dallas North Tollway (the blue arrows). In addition, six “Southern” freeways feed into the downtown loop: I-30 from the east, I-30 from the west, I-45, US 67, US 77, and US 175 (the red arrows).

Those two groups of freeways are connected by the two sides of the downtown loop (highlighted in green), I-345 on the east and I-35E on the west. Those two routes are choke points between Dallas’s northern and southern freeways, and the overall capacity of the highway system is limited by the capacity of these choke points. The fact that they are serving a vital function is supported by the large volume of traffic which flows throgh them. If I-345 were removed, any traffic which didn’t “disappear” or reroute to the outer loops (Loop 12, I-635, Bush Turnpike) or to surface streets would be forced through the Mixmaster (the intersection of I-30 and I-35E and nearby freeway segments).

For anyone who drives in Dallas, that is terrifying. The Mixmaster is already highly congested, causing peak hour backups on all of the freeways leading to downtown. Shifting even a portion of the traffic from I-345 to the Mixmaster will make things far worse. Note that this will impact not only through traffic, but also commuter traffic into and out of downtown. Even worse, part of the Mixmaster is about to undergo a three year reconstruction ( “Horseshoe” project), during which conditions will further deteriorate. Common sense says that even if you wanted to tear down I-345, Dallas should stage its construction projects so that the teardown occured after completion of the Mixmaster upgrades.

This situation, and the 200,000 cars travelling on I-345 each day per TxDOT’s 2012 traffic counts (or 160,000 per Mr. Kennedy’s optimistic but inaccurate figure), is vastly dissimilar to that found in Mr. Kennedy’s case studies. Quantitatively, even the Embarcadero Freeway, the largest cited by Mr. Kennedy, only experienced 100,000 cars per day of traffic. The qualitative differences are even more stark, and make us seriously question how anyone could honestly attempt to rely on such case studies in the first place. Mr. Kennedy seems like a smart man. Based on that, we can only assume he realizes this and just doesn’t care.

Part II: What is a “World Class City” tomorrow.

I know, I hear you. We all wrote huge checks Tuesday, got drunk Wednesday, and just feel poor today. Even worse, I had to return stunning borrowed gems to The Diamond Doctor.

Where does our moola go? Did you notice not as many deductions this year? Feeling that ACA pain? Well, I have just the thing to charm you right back into sunshine spirits: 6523 Lakewood Boulevard.

This house is story-book cute, so much that it reminds me of a Hugh Comstock home from Carmel-By-The-Sea, where we all would like to be and could be if we hadn’t blown our wad with the Department of the Treasury.

Hugh Comstock built these fairytale cottages in the 1920′s in idyllic Carmel -by-the Sea. Hugh’s wife, Mayotta, made and sold rag dolls that she named “Otsy -Totsys”.  When her dolls outgrew their home , she asked Hugh to build her a Doll House to use for her sales and as a showroom. As they sold, he kept building more and more. Just ask Ebby agent Joe Kobell all about Carmel-by-the-Sea and the Comstock homes, he’ll tell you!

Our Lakewood treasure here has the same Tudor-esque doll house feel, at least on the exterior. THAT FRONT DOOR! Inside you get gleaming hardwoods, cathedral beamed ceilings, lovely formals, a sunroom, stained glass windows, a Rookwood fireplace, study, den with a second fireplace, a newer garage with quarters, electric gated driveway, granite counters in the kitchen, plus a mud room & patio area. Laundry is a stack unit in a closet. Built in 1925, she is 2899 square feet of rock-solid construction and secure as homes were built like castles in those days. That was the same period Comstock was building charming cottages by the sea in Carmel. The home has updated electrical panels, driveway concrete, foundation, roof, hot water heater, den cathedral ceiling, mudroom, granite, and 50 year roofing shingles with over-sized gutters to handle all those Lakewood trees — something very important to think about in this neighborhood. If you buy in Lakewood, know there are leaves and critters! There are three bedrooms, two full baths including one off the master suite, and both have been updated.

Now I am not a red girl. In fact, I have a huge closet and all of TWO red items: a scarf and a sweater. So I would so whitewash those red walls, covering them with creamy white or the palest aqua so fast the plaster would pucker. And I am wondering if there is a Jenn-Aire vent-a-hood for that gas stove. Think an integrated refrigerator would also look better. Otherwise, I am gaga over these interiors with the charm. moldings and archways. And are you seeing those gorgeous floors? Could the color be more perfect?

Now here is the best part: this house is under one million. Yes, so when you have to give Uncle Sam all your hard-earned money, this home is quite affordable at $950,000. Just hit the market and is the sweetest thing on Lakewood Boulevard. And it won’t last long, I guarantee it!

The day started with a few tweets from Rob Hahn, the founder and managing partner of 7DS Associates, a boutique management consulting firm specializing in corporate strategy, product management, and strategic marketing for real estate and related industries. Gosh, that’s a mouthful. Rob is one of the nation’s loudest voices for change in the real estate industry, whipping the MLS’s of the nation into shape and technology.

“The MLS industry needs focus and strong leadership to turn its attention away from the noise and concentrate on the serious challenges it faces. It needs a plan of action, one that contains some new and perhaps radical (at least by traditional conservative thinking) ideas.  It needs to focus on that plan, execute on that plan, daily – not just once or twice each year at convention time.”

Rob is a Yalie with a law degree. Anyhow, he was tweeting about Dallas this a.m:

“Learning that at least in Dallas area, Facebook might be the new MLS…”

I said, “you talking bout Facebook Friends?”

“No, Facebook Groups and Facebook Business Pages, where agents post their listings #pocketlistings”

Then he went on to say that a top  producing Dallas agent, named Erin something, told him “One-third of sales in Dallas last year was off-MLS, so they’re “pre-MLS” or “pocket listings”. Comps can’t be reliable.”

This just brought me round to a post I have been chewing on for months: Facebook Friends. Not any private, closed Facebook Friends in particular, because it seems there are many out there, NOT just the one so well executed by Devin Rambie at Legacy Title.

But I know, and we all know, that homes are being sold and traded through Facebook groups in increasing numbers so much that one-third of real estate transactions are happening this way outside of MLS. And Rob Hahn just confirmed that this morning.

It’s a natural: Facebook has become the new water-cooler gathering place for people of similar interests. So you share a new listing, your Facebook friends see it first, it’s gone: this is a hot market and inventory is pitifully low. So these groups, which started as fun networking groups, have now become the top places to find homes.

I hate to tell agents this but guess what: some consumers are selling their homes on Facebook, too, without an agent!

Consumers ask me all the time: how do I get into these groups to find a home? Well, you can’t. But your Realtor can. So more than ever it is CRUCIAL to have an agent who is hooked, tuned, and plugged in to the networks.In fact, the BEST REALTORS of today may NOT be the ones with the shiny, pricey $7,000 ads in the magazines but the ones with the best Facebook Friend connections! Ask your agent: how many social networking groups are you plugged into? Answer should be at least FIVE!

But this begs the question: will Facebook replace the MLS?

Then Rob said something I think I’ve posted: almost one-third of real estate transactions in Dallas were done off MLS. Private sales, homes that never even made it into MLS.

Could this be because people wanted privacy? Wanted to keep their home sales price out of the MLS now that they are required to be put in? Or did it just all happen so fast?

The problem is, with one-third of Dallas sales off MLS, how in the hec do we get decent comps? And is that leading to appraisal issues?

Or is the steaming market is raising the appraisal tide, when those sales actually get recorded?

“The market is increasing, and there’s no sign of a slow-down,” says veteran appraiser Brian Hagan with D.W. Skelton & Associates. “If it stabilizes, it will be in the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2015.”

Every time Hagan sees a new listing, the prices are higher, he says: Park Cities, Devonshire (smokin’), Preston Hollow, Bluffview, Lakewood. $2.2 million for an acre on Alva Court, in the honeypot of Preston Hollow. There are a couple more sales on Strait Lane, and Erin Mathews just closed Wildwood in Bluffview. The market is buoyant. This year is even better than last year’s record year, and both January and February 2014 sales topped 2013. So keep in mind, if you are buying, sellers are getting full price offers in some price ranges, sometimes more.

What are those hot price points? Hagan says $700K to $1.5. Go over $2.3 and there are fewer buyers, so not as buoyant. After all, Erin did lower Wildwood (above, sigh) to $8,995.000 from $9.75 and then the magic happened. Ryan Streiff with Dave Perry Miller says the 6000-ish square foot family homes built ten to fifteen years ago in Preston Hollow, east of Preston Road, are in direct competition with the newer builder homes fetching full price. There is some price softening on those older McMansions.

Your take-away: Dallas dirt is gold again, and will remain so for at least one more year, according to Dallas real estate insiders.

Yesterday,  Ed Woodson, a Dallas attorney, and Aren Cambre, a computer scientist, gave us part I of their insightful, well-researched counter to Patrick Kennedy et al’s passion to tear down I-345 in downtown Dallas, an elevated highway they believe is choking urban living, creating a schism of disruption between neighborhoods and sucking up dirt that could be developed as housing units. Etc. Today, Ed and Aren bring you part two of their post, asking what makes Dallas a “World Class” city? They also ask, if we tore down I 345, where would the traffic go? A very interesting question as I spent the morning looking at development proposals and learning that Northwest Highway is already choking from extra traffic as people avoid LBJ/635 construction. A NCTCOG traffic study reports that Northwest Highway, essentially our city’s cross-town expressway, held 56,659 cars per day in 2011. With the current LBJ re-routing, that number is probably closer to 67,000 cars per day today. Traffic is like water: while a small amount may evaporate, most just finds the route of least resistance:

Dallas as a “world class” city

With regard to what constitutes a “world class city”, Mr. Kennedy sees densely urban cities like New York, Boston, or European cities. We see a “world class city” as one with a large population, healthy job market, and typical “big city” amenities like good restaurants, arts and culture, sports teams, good airports, and major universities. Dallas is already a world class city! The fact that we can drive from place to place does not change this.

Dallas also offers something that many other “world class” cities can’t: affordable single family housing. Key to the American Dream is home ownership, and all levels of government have supported that through tax breaks and other means, including the construction of highways connecting citizens to major employment areas. The result is, in many of the high-growth areas of the United States over the last fifty years (e.g., Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Atlanta), we see lots of suburbs and smaller urban cores (sometimes called “sprawl” for those who don’t like it). There are downsides to any type of growth, but in the absence of fifty years of suburban expansion the greater Dallas area would be a pale shadow of its current self. It might be denser and more walkable, but it would be a lot smaller and wouldn’t be “world class”. It also would not be what, by all appearances, Dallas’s citizens want.

Mr. Kennedy also invokes the flip side of this argument, namely that in the absence of embracing his concept of a new urban Dallas we will slowly devolve in to Detroit. We applaud his ingenuity in using a modern boogey man to try to bamoozle us. The argument is also scare-mongering that ignores the historical differences between Detroit and Dallas. Dallas has a stable population, better city government, and a lack of race riots and rampant crime, and has not experienced the near wholesale departure of entire industries, for example.

Mr. Kennedy’s argument regarding “world class” cities also begs the question, “What about Uptown, the Dallas area of fastest growth in the last decade?” Does one high growth area adjacent to downtown equate to a provincial city, but two high growth areas adjacent to downtown equal to a “world class” city?

The “noose” around downtown

As for the “noose” around downtown, or “wall” as Mr. Kennedy also refers to it, we don’t have a strong opinion. Based on the fact that many surface roads flow under I-345, the wall at the very least seems quite porous. In addition, there has been eastward renewal over the last 20 years in downtown. However, Peter Simek at D Magazine strongly disagrees with that line of argument and we do not understand real estate development enough to push harder on this issue, particularly since there are low hanging fruit elsewhere.

However, we do have one observation. For pedestrians, cyclists, and cars, getting from one side of I-345 to the other is a dream compared to the closest corollary we can think of: Northwest Highway near Preston Road. That’s exactly what we’ll get if we replace a freeway with a series of congested surface streets. I-345 helps us avoid this mess by getting traffic away from the surface, leaving the resulting area safer and more tranquil for everyone.

Considering the longer answer, and “New Urbanism”

Mr. Kennedy is a new urbanist. “New Urbanism” is an urban design movement promoting walkable neighborhoods and the balanced development of jobs and housing in urban environments. A central tenet of New Urbanism is that “high density” cities (more people per square mile) are good, and “low density” cities are bad. Corollaries of New Urbanism would be that the features of high density cities are good, such as multi-family dwellings (apartments and condos), and less reliance on cars. Traditional single-family houses are, if not bad, at least undesirable. Cars are bad. SUVs, we can only image, must be very, very bad. Living in Dallas must inflict physically pain on Mr. Kennedy. He would like for us, for our own good, to leave our single family houses, ditch our cars, move into the urban core, and heavily use public transportation.

So if the impact on traffic of tearing down I-345 is more intense than he admits, and causes a substantial reshuffling of Dallas living habits, that is probably a good thing in his view, as long as it is realized by Dallasites after the fact. After all, according to Mr. Kennedy, tearing down I-345 is just the first step in reimagining Dallas. How does the teardown start the process beyond obvious new development immediately adjacent to the current I-345? By changing our driving habits.

Induced Demand

Many teardown advocates love the concepts of “induced demand”, and “disappearing traffic”. What these theories boil down to is if you build more roads, more total traffic will be created, and if you remove roads, the total traffic will eventually be reduced. This seems true. We built highways in Dallas to aid suburb development. The suburbs developed, and now more people use the highways. If we tear down some highways, and capacity is diminished, over time the total traffic will go down as people avoid the traffic issues by driving less or elsewhere.

Where would the traffic go?

How do people adjust to (more) horrible traffic? By reducing commute length, by using alternate freeways or surface streets, or by using public transportation.

People can reduce commute length by either working near where they live or moving where they work. This effect would seem to be a clear positive to a new urbanist. Some people would move closer to downtown to be closer to their jobs (greater density in Dallas), and other people would move to jobs closer to their suburban homes (less driving in the ‘burbs). Mr. Kennedy specifically states that some of the traffic which dissapears following I-345′s destruction will be attributable to people moving to his new urban oasis east of downtown. Hypothetically, the worse the post-teardown traffic, the more rapidly the density of central Dallas would increase as people would be highly motivated to be closer to their jobs. Of course, the opposite could also occur. Jobs are already moving out of downtown, especially to Uptown, Plano, and parts farther north; reverse-commuting is already on the rise, and worse downtown traffic will accelerate that movement.

There is also the key issue of most people not wanting to change where they live or where they work. Mr. Kennedy’s proposed disruption is for the benefit of well-positioned property owners and hypothetical people who would move to the urban core at the expense of everyone else. There may also be very real limits on Mr. Kennedy’s perceived “pent up demand” for urban housing. While downtown, Uptown, and newly developed areas may be very appealing to single people or childless couples, relatively few suburban parents will be abandoning houses and school districts for apartments adjacent to downtown.

Through traffic, hypothetically, would find different freeway routes through Dallas in lieu of I-345. Mr. Kennedy estimates that 75% of traffic on I-345 does not exit into or out of downtown, and argues that following demolition such traffic would divert to other freeways, such as I-635, or surface roads such as Northwest Highway. Unfortunately, the details regarding traffic origins and destinations are very important, and this is why we and others argue that we should defer any demolition until after a definitive traffic study identifies such origins and destinations. To the extent the traffic in question is true “through traffic”, and both originates and terminates outside I-635, then alternate routes may be less problematic, if we are happy to subject current users of I-635 to more time stuck in traffic. That portion of the traffic, however, which either originates or terminates within I-635 will probably not have alternate freeway options, and will instead have to move to surface streets or, more likely, traverse the Mixmaster. The true breakdown of traffic types on I-345 is poorly understood, and rational people would want to know the answer prior to the irrevocable destruction of the only direct connector between two freeways.

But let’s suppose Mr. Kennedy is right, and the 150,000 daily vehicles (75%) of I-345 through traffic diverts. Where’s this traffic going to go? Loop 12, I-635, Bush Turnpike, and other roads. In essence, the rest of the Dallas area are victims who must endure far worse traffic misery so that Mr. Kennedy and his allies can play utopian games while enriching some property owners.

Some of Mr. Kennedy’s allies have very explicity cast this issue as a conflict between the city of Dallas and its suburbs, and we have little doubt that additional traffic on such routes is immaterial to them at best. But even if Dallas wanted to turn its back on its suburbs, everyone should recognize that the city of Dallas is more than its urban core. Many of the negatively affected suburbs, and the alternate routes which would aborb through traffic, are either wholely or partially within the city of Dallas!

As for public transportation, we’re all for it if someone wants to use it and pay their way. But it strikes us as totalitian and cynical to intentionally damage existing driving conditions to force people to use public transportation. As one Twitter follower of Wick Allison noted, while bemoaning the width of I-35E, “we wonder why mass transit doesn’t get utilized by the masses. They don’t have to.” Indeed, so we guess Mr. Kennedy should make them.

Lets all take a deep breath.

We like urban living. Both of us live inside I-635 and enjoy the city’s amenities. Ed lived downtown for a few years and thoroughly enjoyed it. More high-density development in the DFW area, if supported by adequate demand, sounds like a great idea. But urban planning on a blank slate is categorically different from urban re-planning in the midst of a metropolitan area of 5 million people, where billions of dollars have already been invested in infrastructure supporting the city as it exists today. So we do have an issue with tearing down I-345 when a cursory review of Dallas traffic patterns suggests catastrophic effects of a teardown. Perhaps our concerns would be ameliorated by a traffic study, but we won’t know if the teardown occurs before a traffic study is completed. We have a major issue arguing that we should tear down I-345 and, in the words of Mr. Simek, follow “the example set by cities around the country”, on the basis of Mr.Kennedy’s wildly optimistic, deceptive case studies. The proposed removal of I-345 is unprecedented, both in terms of raw traffic flow and I-345’s critical function.

So let’s take a deep breath before we do something stupid that we will regret later. Let’s determine what the traffic flow actually is comprised of. Let’s see if other alternatives exist. Perhaps we could also determine what the citizens of Dallas actually want, which is probably not more traffic misery.

The State Thomas Home Tour was just last weekend, so we are bringing you a brand new listing (just hit MLS) in the State Thomas District at 2411 Hall Street, No. 1. This is an end unit three story that proves how affordable great brownstone living is in Uptown, especially in the State Thomas ‘hood which is so rich with history.

The way back machine: In 1868, James and Elizabeth Routh Thomas bought 40 acres in State Thomas. Of course, it wasn’t called State Thomas just yet, it was farm and prairie. The hopping part of town we call Uptown was known as The Vineyard, called such because there were actual vineyards and fruit trees raised and cultivated on the land between Cedar Springs and McKinney. The Vineyard was west of McKinney Ave. East of McKinney was the Thomas Colby District until 1976, when it was just shortened to State Thomas. Did the “Thomas” part of the name come from Elizabeth? Or was it from Dallas businessman Thomas Lardner who, in the mid-1980s, cleared more than 30 acres along Thomas, State, Allen and Hall streets with the investor Lehndorff Group.

Lardner was actually one of the first developers to call the area Uptown, and he planned for a high-rise district. But then came the 1980s, real estate crashed, and the neighborhood grew organically into a community of low- and midrise residential buildings. The McKinney Avenue Trolley stopped running in 1956, to start back up in 1989.

Today, Uptown is one of the most walkable communities in Dallas. Weekends and even on many Weekday evenings, hundreds of people walk the well-lit, tree-lined sidewalks from restaurant to restaurant, from home to the gym, from work and home to shops and public transit via the McKinney Avenue Trolley. That and the nearby Katy Trail could be why so many young professionals want to live here.

No. 1 is 2187 square feet with three bedrooms, three full and one half bath, on different levels all accessible by stairs. “It’s not your typical townhouse with one small bedroom downstairs and one master on the third,” says agent broker Rustin Smith. “All three bedrooms are very large, well sized and all have full baths.”

The home has a lot of sunny natural light with large windows and patios throughout. Just wait until you see the fourth floor roof terrace —  an entertainers dream! It is at least 800 square feet with a 60-inch built in media center with control access, exterior speakers and views of Downtown, Uptown and North Dallas. The Seller is leaving that puppy right there. The walkability factor in this area is very high: there’s a cleaners across the street, a grocery 100 feet away, and all the uptown bars are a brisk walk away.               

Asking price is $525,000, listed with boutique broker Rustin James Smith, who tells me the media center and rooftop patio are pretty sweet. So are the folks at Inwood Mortgage who can help you get the financing you need to buy this baby, without so much as a snag, peep or whimper. Because shocker: Inwood actually LIKES to lend ! 

Don’t think the only hot market in North Texas exists south of LBJ. Agents everywhere are going to unconventional extremes to find their clients’ homes.  June Graham recently moved into what she calls the “home of her dreams” in Castle Hills, where the market is also extremely competitive.

In fact, June’s agent, Sunny Chaparala of DFW Realties, had to scour Castle Hills for a home she found off market, off MLS. But June claims Sunny, who is a computer programmer, actually wrote a computer program to find their home, because it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

“In this market, oh my God you need a sharp Realtor. Sunny wrote a computer program to find houses that matched what we were looking for,” says June. “We’ve been here a month and we love it. Love the community. Love letting the kids go off to the parks. Our friends are here, and we’re close to everything”.

June and her husband finally decided to sell their Carrollton ranch home and make the move north to Castle Hills. Their $230,000 home was in an older, quiet neighborhood near I 35 and George W. Bush.

“We thought we’d get $230K and be happy,” says June.

But Sunny got them more. June had met Sunny over a year ago, but Sunny kept up with her. Finally, when they were ready to pull that sell trigger, she was right there.

“We were looking on line in Castle Hills, but it was so competitive!” says June. “Houses would come on and they were just GONE.”

If they found one Thursday,  by Saturday it already a contract.

We needed to get our house together to sell, says June, which was a huge project, but Sunny pretty much managed it for them. She paid for a home stager to give June a consultation, and she paid for a professional photographer to photograph the home, things June had not experienced before with an agent. They put their home on the market Saturday, by Sunday they had it under contract: three multiple offers.

“Sunny said, I think you could get more,” says June. She was touched by the second couple, who wrote her family a letter saying how brutal the market was, how much they loved the house.  Then a third couple put their money where they mouth was — $15,000, and the deal was on.

But after contract, as they often do, the buyers started in on their their repair wish list: pool resurfaced, foundation fixed. June was ready to cave but Sunny held fast. She got a foundation engineer to inspect and found no problem, she said no way to pool resurfacing. Sunny split the foundation inspection cost of $350 with her sellers.

“We sold seamlessly and she handled all of that,” says June.

Next, they needed a home to buy. That’s where Sunny used her computer program skills to scour the MLS — even old listings — using her clients’ criteria. She also sent out letters to homeowners to see if they were interested in selling.

“We had found a home,” says June, ” but it wasn’t our dream house.”We were about to settle for a home we were not that crazy about.”

Sunny found 4 homes off market through her computer query. They approached one homeowner who said yes, they were interested in selling, but were actually too busy to put their home on the market.

“It wasn’t staged, it wasn’t ready to be a showhouse,” says June, ” but we loved it. And they probably saved $15,000 in staging and other prep fees. We just loved the house.”

The homeowners wanted to stain some doors and cabinets, but June said no, don’t worry, we’ll do it, take it as is.

They paid $350,000 to live in castle Hills where they love the schools, safety and sense of community.

“This has worked out so well for us,” says June. “Hopefully, we will be in this house forever, and I won’t need Sunny again, but I will certainly recommend her.”

This home is so very Easter Monday, and also such a beautiful example of Highland Park neoclassical architectural history that defines Dallas real estate. Built in 1922 by the renown Hal Thompson, it sits on one of the most prestigious corners in the city (Eton and Beverly) with stately columns, slate and metal roof, perfectly manicured gardens, huge towering trees, a front porch (remember those?) and circular driveway that must have inspired a million more. The home is situated on .845 acres in Highland Park! You get 8,938 square feet of space that has been brought into the 21st century artfully and thoughtfully, all the while maintaining and respecting the architectural integrity of the home.

If this home looks familiar, it was on the Park Cities Learning Disabilities Association home tour in 2012. It is owned by Alisha and Joseph Sinacola.

Where to begin? The property includes the expansive home, a sport court and carriage house with guest apartment, and exercise room and a pair of double-car garages. There are five fireplaces, gorgeous original crown moldings, a finished basement, curved doorways and hand-crafted millwork. The floors are hardwood and marble and as you would imagine, every molecule of this home is in perfect condition and maintained like a Ritz property.

You have the usual formals, but note how each room is so unique, elegant and soft on the eyes. Because this home was built at a time when entertaining was more formal (and children were not included, often tended by the nanny, I think we need to go back to those days) there are two dining rooms, one formal, one informal. There is a proper butlers pantry because there were butlers in 1922. There is a large formal living room with adjacent study, plus a ginormous family room that opens to the terrace and backyard and overlooks the pool and fountain. At the center of the home is something Hal Thompson could not have envisioned in his wildest dreams: a huge kitchen fit for the cast of Top Chef: Viking, Miele, two ovens, warming drawers, two dishwashers, rare granite slabs, two islands (THIS IS THE NEWEST HOME TREND, BTW), walk-in pantry, breakfast nook, wet bar with wine closet and wine room. Yes, I said wine ROOM.

Adjoining this center of culinary decadence is a house managers office and a mudroom with sink and bench.

Upstairs, a knock-out master suite with fireplace, his and her closets and bathrooms, plus three bedrooms with en suite baths. On the third level, a crafts room, game room and another bath.

Did I mention the exterior carriage house behind the pool, fountain and spa? The The backyard cabana with a shower, outdoor kitchen and pizza oven? There is a reason why this home is listed at $14,500,000 with Erin Mathews at Allie Beth Allman… now, you can see why this home is setting a new standard for Highland Park pricing at $1622.29 per square foot!

It’s showtime: the case to rezone a critical portion of Preston Hollow to accommodate 220 luxury apartments at Preston & Northwest Highway heads to the Dallas Plan Commission and the City Council this week. Here is a video from the developer, Transwestern, narrated by Sarah Dodd, describing the development, the neighborhood, and all the stuff we have been reporting to you the last few weeks.

Of course, once the case is filed with the city, it could take weeks to have it scheduled at a City Council meeting, where supporters and opponents can speak. Homeowners have hired seasoned land use and infrastructure attorney P. Michael Jung to represent the neighborhood united behind the “No” signs. Mr. Jung declined to tell me who is paying his fee, but a recent memo circulating behind the Pink Wall indicated that homeowners were asked to contribute if they liked. I have been told that Howard Rachofsky was covering most of it.

Preston Hollow homeowners who have single family homes north of the area say they will fight to keep anything built on the property within current zoning. That is, three stories.

Their concerns: the project’s density will compound traffic woes at what is already one of the busiest intersections in North Dallas. And neighbors who live in close proximity to the proposed development say they do not want six stories, or a high rise, in their backyard.

The developer, Transwestern, says it’s addressing neighbors’ traffic and height concerns. As we have reported here for several weeks, the developer originally proposed an eight-story complex of 300 apartments. Then they scaled it back to six stories and 220 units.

Transwestern also now says it’s willing to provide land for a new right-turn lane from westbound Northwest Highway onto northbound Preston. The land value for that tiny space is $300,000, they say. (Yikes!) It has pledged $150,000 to $200,000 for a left turn lane off southbound Preston onto Averill Way, the street that connects to Pickwick and dead ends at Preston Tower.

Finances are usually why developers ask for more height.

Developers have certain formulas they need to meet in order to please investors, who supply the investment dollars and expect returns. Current zoning would allow apartment buildings or condos of up to three stories. The city makes no distinction between apartments or condominiums, it only sees multi-family.

In fact, many of the condos behind the Pink Wall started as rental apartments built in 1955 that were converted to condominiums in the 1970′s and ’80′s. The corner of the 80 acres was owned by Hugh E.Prather, Jr. (who died in 2010) and was zoned retail, according to Ebby Halliday agent Pete Livingston, who knows the area better than just about anyone and who lives there. Prather also leased the now-demolished Lochwood shopping center in northeast Dallas and was one of the founders of the old Park Cities Bank and the Northwood Club. He developed everything from resort properties on Padre Island to high-rises on Turtle Creek in Dallas. He was the son of Hugh Prather Sr., who along with John Armstrong developed  Highland Park. After the city annexed Preston Hollow in 1946, Preston Hollow wanted no retail zoning north of Northwest Highway PERIOD. The City of Dallas promised Preston Hollow they would not change any existing zoning. In exchange, Prather got 80 acres of multi-family to give up that one corner of retail.

“The zoning allowed for hotel and apartment towers,” says Livingston. “They thought even of building a Stoneleigh-type hotel and Maple Terrace.”

At three stories, the developer says it could only build up to 130 apartments. And that would limit green space, probably mean trees mowed down and near complete coverage of the three acres.

The Texas Department of Transportation apparently has plans to improve the intersection of Northwest Highway and Preston. Traffic lights in Dallas, which operates the stop lights, are not synchronized with traffic lights in University Park. That’s why you often have cars backed up on Northwest Highway during high traffic times, when the light turns red. As City Councilman Lee Kleinman pointed out, too, Northwest Highway is currently absorbing a lot of traffic from drivers avoiding LBJ’s construction mess. TXDOT is evaluating the Transwestern offer.

Former Dallas Mayor Laura Miller and former City Council member Mitchell Rasansky, who left his office in 2009 because of term limits, have also become involved in the Transwestern case. Many are wondering why. Laura Miller lives on Dentwood, 1.5 miles away, but her husband owns a unit at the Athena, one of two high-rises in the area that were built in the 1960′s.

In a letter written on March 25 initiated by Rasansky and Miller, and signed by a host of political VIPs, Miller asked council member Lee Kleinman to call (another) public meeting. Then she asked Jennifer Gates to replace Kleinman, who is Gates proxy due to a conflict of interest ( her father and husband are executives with Jones Lang LaSalle, who is representing the property sellers in the deal) asking her to appoint someone who is MORE willing to listen to the homeowners: Kleinman, who says he is way more familiar with the area than Miller, says he has met with home owners 6 times. Jennifer Gates did not respond to Laura Miller’s demands, presumably on the advice of the Dallas city attorney.

Back in 2000, I vaguely remember the proposal to build a proposed toll tunnel under Mockingbird Lane from one end of the city to the other, creating virtually a cross-town expressway underground.

But it got a very a cool reception, mostly from Park Cities residents.

A standing-room-only crowd of about 130 people turned out to hear plans for a six-lane tollway that would connect North Central Expressway and State Highway 183 through portions of University Park, Highland Park and the city of Dallas. Many had concerns. “I don’t want a tunnel built under my house,” said Jane Wigginton, who lives in the 3600 block of Mockingbird Lane. “I don’t know another way to say it. In a lot of places it’s not a big deal to tunnel underground. Here it’s a big deal. Thinking of having people drive under my house at all hours creeps me out.”

Creeped her out, eh? This sounded pretty cool, actually: an $800 million privately funded project. Once again. Laura Miller (then, a city council member) interjected herself and asked why the cities should be involved in the project:

A Highland Park citizens advisory committee requested the presentation, which was open to the public. The committee was recently formed to study the project and its possible effects on the community. Earlier Monday, The Texas Turnpike Corporation, which is proposing the $800 million privately funded project, presented plans to the Dallas City Council transportation committee. John Crew, president of the private toll road development corporation, asked members of the committee to consider joining the two Park Cities to form the Central Dallas Joint Transportation Authority. The authority would oversee construction and operation of the tunnel.

Mr. Crew told the committee that the cities would not assume any risk in the project. Mr. Crew said 63 investors would put up $5 million for a feasibility study. An $800 million tax-exempt revenue bond issue would follow the study. The bonds would mature in 40 years. The investors would receive an $18 million up-front payment and $6 million annually over 40 years.

Dallas council member Laura Miller, though, wondered why the investors and the Turnpike Corporation were needed at all. She suggested that the cities develop the project and keep the profits, if it is feasible. “Why do we need you guys?” Ms. Miller asked. “Why don’t the cities just do it themselves?”

Maybe we should look at this now for Northwest Highway. We could run it from Central to Harry Hines.

This tunnel was a good idea, even though it “creeped out” Jane Wigginton, who still lives at 3635 Mockingbird Lane.