Tag: Dallas real estate

Uptown

Residential And Office Towers With Ground-Floor Retail Planned for Bank Site Next to Klyde Warren Park

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The Park District is a new development planned for a 3-acre tract just north of Klyde Warren Park between Pearl and Olive streets.

The Park District is a new development planned for a 3-acre tract just north of Klyde Warren Park between Pearl and Olive streets.

Trammell Crow Company announced plans today for two separate towers on the land occupied by a Chase motor bank next to Klyde Warren Park. The development, a joint venture with MetLife, will form the self-described Park District, with structures designed by Dallas’ own HKS Architects. The Park District will include 916,000 square feet of space, including a Class A office tower, a luxury residential tower, ground-floor retail, below-grade parking, and a plaza designed by the same landscape architect that dreamed up Klyde Warren Park. All of this will sit on three acres between Pearl and Olive Streets just north of the park, and construction should start this year.

It’s a development that’s been in the works for a few years, according to MetLife’s Dallas real estate director Kurt Day.

“This project began almost ten years ago when we bought a small well-located parcel of land in Uptown,” Day said. “Uptown’s evolution and the effects of Klyde Warren Park over the last few years have been exciting, and we think Park District will raise the bar to the benefit of Uptown residents and workers.”

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Inwood House of Week -Sponsored

An Un-Ranch House Near Hockaday Makes 1973 Look Like a Million Bucks

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4445 College Park

I don’t know if I have ever seen such an “un-ranch” ranch in North Dallas before, but this smooth, clean, contemporary home aka 4445 College Park  is a far cry from the Waltons or even the Bob Newhart Show, both of which were purring away on TV the year she was built. Which was 1973. Good Lord, I was in high school trying to keep my hair straight and coaxing Barbara Hershey bangs. “Live and Let Die” was one of the most popular James Bond movies that year. So though it may have been built 42 years ago, this home started life as The Electric Light Orchestra: sleekness is part of her DNA.4445 College Park patio (more…)
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North Texas Market Trends

2014 Real Estate Year in Review, CandysDirt.com Style

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Real estate market news
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Toyota logo

Happy New Year! Steve Brown posted his year end wrap of Dallas real estate, residential and commercial, calling it one for the history books. Tis true: Dallas Real estate values are at their highest EVER, exceeding where we were even before the bubble. And he is right — this boom is fueled by the right stuff: jobs and population. We did not overbuild in Dallas during the boom. We did not over extend, thanks mostly to state laws that limit how much you can borrow against your homestead. So when the economy turned on — it was just about two years ago January when agents told me that  “a lightbulb had turned on”  — there was no stopping us except for one little bugaboo: inventory.

Steve says : “Construction cranes stretch from Uptown to Frisco.”

I would say even further north — Prosper is the new hot spot you will be hearing more of here on CandysDirt because we are in love and cannot wait to see what they do with Deion’s place. (If that house ever sells…) And then there’s Celina, just north, and it’s rocking. Spent a day at Light Farms which you will soon be hearing about as we are blown away: 3200 homes on the site of an old family farm that has become a veritable condo farm: tractors, gardens, mini farm plots, Saturday morning Farmer’s Market, a holistic food consultant and even a beekeeper! Here’s the way they describe it: ten minutes from downtown FRISCO.  Whoa, now that’s interesting. Oh the public schools — amazing! Here we go with Steve’s biggies and mine:  (more…)
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Dallas real estate news

Nice Way To End 2014: October Dallas Home Prices Up 7.6% Over Last Year

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Real estate market news
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CaseShiller Oct 2014

Graphic: The Dallas Morning News

So here’s the reason why a lot of Realtors, I do mean a lot, will be drinking Veuve Cliquot tonight: Dallas is one of the top five markets in the country for home price increases, according to the folks at Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller.

The numbers from October home sales are in, and Dallas home prices rose 7.6 percent in October from the same month in 2013. Makes me kind of proud we are right up there with Miami, San Francisco and Las Vegas — the only cities with higher price appreciation than us.

The October appreciation was almost identical to the annual increase we saw in September,  7.4 percent.

“We are seeing hints that prices could end 2014 on a strong note and accelerate into 2015,” S&P’s David M. Blitzer said in the report. “Two months ago, all 20 cities were experiencing weakening annual price increases.

“This time, 12 cities had weaker annual price growth, but eight saw the pace of price gains pick up,” he said. “Seasonally adjusted, all 20 cities had higher prices than a month ago.”

And you may need a sip or two of bubbly to comprehend this fact : Dallas-area home prices are 13 percent higher NOW than they were before the recession hit. That’s right, we have out-bubbled the bubble.

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Downtown Dallas

Downtown Dallas: What Can We Do To Make It Better?

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Bad traffic signal downtown

Leah has committed to tracking more of what’s happening in downtown Dallas Real Estate this year, and that’s great because there is a lot to track!

I love downtown Dallas, I just don’t like getting there. And I’m no stranger to urban living. I have lived in three different urban environments: Chicago, New York and Boston. While I may be partial to Chicago (pizza and food), living in New York was a time I will never forget and, in fact, often want more of. It was the most intellectually stimulating period of my life, I met the most intelligent and unique personalities ever, and I loved the dynamic 24/7 energy — even the day I watched our groceries rolling down  Amsterdam Avenue because it had started to rain and we were carrying them in paper bags.

That’s why I’m not a huge fan of the new plastic bag ban.

I was in the best shape ever because I didn’t have a car. We walked everywhere. Of course, New York City has busses and the subway — I lived on public transportation. (Note: an earlier draft said “pubic” transportation — typo. Ha! There was lots of that, too!)   On the negative, NYC is cold, then hotter than Dallas in summer.  I got sloshed by a lot of busses and taxis, and cleaned my windowsills daily to keep out the city grime.

Two years ago I spent 10 consecutive days in the city when my son lived there, and I came home to Dallas and kissed my car. (more…)
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Monday Morning Millionaire

The Most Talked About MMM in Dallas in 2014: Big House at Inwood & Royal Still Available

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10770Inwood131L.jpg (1)

Letting you in on an inside secret here at CandysDirt.com. We “nickname” our weekly Monday Morning Millionaire postings the MMM.

When I created CandysDirt, I wanted to post homes on humdrum Mondays that would REALLY  wake readers up. Because, you know, it’s Monday, and you deserve to be blown away. (Come to think of it, we need a Hump Day house, too.) I’ll never forget the reader who told me that when he gets antsy at work he reads my MMM’s or wanders over to SecondShelters.com to check out vacation homes. That’s enough inspiration to make him go back to work, full force, and KILL IT so he can buy his own MMM someday.

Well, according to our analytics, 10770 Inwood Road was the most well-read MMM in 2014. Had we made Deion Sanders place a MMM, that might have beaten it. The Downton Abbey-esque estate at the corner of Inwood Road and Royal Lane in Dallas went on the market but not into MLS last spring. It officially hit MLS in October. Not only did our story on this house get thousands of hits, it had 200,000 shares on Facebook. And oh yes, it’s still available for a mere $6,399,000 reduced for quick sale from $7 million. Which was reduced from $7.7. Get it?

If you have lived in Preston Hollow or the Hockaday Royal/Inwood area for any length of time, you know this house. It is at the southeast corner of Royal Lane and Inwood Road. Kind of looks like Downton Abbey.  Built in 1991 by a physician (Ophthalmologist) and his attorney wife, the home is known for having been completed in stages because the owners said, at the time, (in a Dallas Morning News article I cannot locate) they incurred no debt in buying or building this house. Which is pretty amazing considering that most folks in 1991 wanted it all RIGHT NOW if not a second ago.
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CandysDirt.com

Merry Christmas and Happiest Holidays From All of Us at CandysDirt.com

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Merry Xmas

Merry Christmas and the happiest of holidays to you, from our homes to yours. It’s been a blessed year in Dallas Real Estate. But this season is really what Real Estate is all about. All of us at CandysDirt.com and SecondShelters.com wish you a wonderful holiday. Cook, eat, laugh, relax, rest. Enjoy your homes!
East Dallas

All I Want for Christmas is an East Dallas Midcentury with Original Hardwoods

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Here's my map to help guide Santa's sleigh. And his real estate agent.

Here’s my map to help guide Santa’s sleigh. And his real estate agent.

I grew up in North Dallas and have lived all over Dallas and the ‘burbs, but when I finally landed in East Dallas in 2007, I knew I had found my happy place.

East Dallas has a culture unlike anywhere else in the city (although North Oak Cliff feels like its cousin). I could spend hours walking or biking through neighborhoods like Little Forest Hills, Buckner Terrace, and the Peninsula. So many beautiful houses! So many trees! And friendly neighbors everywhere!

Circumstances and a new baby moved me to Plano this year, and I have pined over my favorite neighborhoods in East Dallas ever since. I go out of my way to get back to East Dallas as often as possible, and because I’ve been very good this year, I’m asking Santa for a token of his appreciation for Christmas: A midcentury house east of White Rock Lake. With original hardwoods. And mature trees.

That’s not too much, is it?

I’ve got a few ideas for Santa, in case he’s stumped. This Casa Linda cottage has just the kind of curb appeal I love: big trees, tranquil setting, and an expansive yard. Located at 1422 Tranquilla Dr., it’s listed at $348,500 and is a 3-2 with 1,857 feet. That’s not quite large enough for my family of four, so we might have to sell the teenager before we move. But I’m OK with that.

1422 Tranquilla Dr

Looks at those gorgeous original hardwoods! And the built-ins! And a wood-burning fireplace! So much character from when it was built in 1945.  (more…)
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