Ron Wommack and Client Discover Location

What Ron Wommack and his client realized was this rather dowdy spur of houses on very high ground adjacent to an abandoned railroad track would soon be a site overlooking the Santa Fe Trail, a running, walking, bicycling trail from White Rock Lake to Fair Park. What was a lesser street now became a very desirable hidden street relating to the Santa Fe Trail.

Homes Either Diminish or Enhance a Site

Often locations are overlooked. Just as often a commonplace home is designed and built on beautiful land that diminishes the site. I have seen houses built next to a ravine, creek or a small lake with the master bedroom closet or garage on the water side of the house because that is what the plans called for, anticipating a generic lot, or the architect designed using only the lot dimensions not taking into consideration the surroundings.

The Best Homes Accentuate A Site

The Late Robert James, FAIA, former president of the Dallas Chapter, AIA, found a small irregular lot with difficult terrain rejected by all builders. James designed a modern home configured to the lot and still with vast views of green that gave one the sense that you were on a very large piece of property.

Ron Wommack Designed Home Reinterprets Location

The old traditional homes are classically lined up facing the street, and the ones with balconies or porches are facing away from the railroad tracks at the bottom of the ravine. Now the Santa Fe tracks have been removed and the Santa Fe Trail is being constructed. The orientation of the house still has a front forward facade the street with full length corner window walls providing a view of the Santa Fe Trail and park, but the orientation of the home is towards the trail and surrounding wooded areas.

The front door opens to an exterior corridor paneled with the trail that leads past walls of glass to the front door on the side of the house. A first floor screened porch and balcony porches are also oriented towards the new Santa Fe Park and Trail. A wall for art and with a few windows is on the side of the house towards the residential cut-through street a few houses away.

This modern home will transform this corridor of short streets.

Some successful architect designed modern homes stand alone in a one-off location. Other architect designed contemporary homes have the ability to transform an entire area.

Visually attractive and interesting modern homes attract attention.

People start thinking about architecture in a new way and the people start thinking about the location in a new way.

Dallas AIA Modern Tour

As interest in modern homes increases, an expanded audience drives ever increasing number of home tours emphasizing modern homes. The Dallas Chapter of AIA selects modern homes across the city which allows the public to learn about architecture and about Dallas neighborhoods. Most people did not even know this home existed before the Dallas AIA tour. Those on tour loved the home and loved the location. The word spreads, aspirations grow and we will soon discover many new great modern homes on the Santa Fe Trail.

The sophisticated client whose life has always revolved around art and architecture has accumulated many friends deeply involved in the arts and the city of Dallas. What better way to start the year than a New Year’s Day party in a fabulous modern home surrounded by the homeowner’s appreciative friends reveling in this architectural success and contribution to Dallas.

See additional photographs of this Ron Womack desined modern home on FaceBook.com/modernhomes.

World Architecture

I was pleased to learn that Online Classes recently identified Dallas Architecture Blog as one of the “100 Innovative Blogs for Architecture Students” and one of only twenty within the category of “Architecture Around the World.” Here’s what Online Classes said about the Dallas Architecture Blog: “Arguably the most design-forward city in Texas, Dallas lines its streets and skyline with contemporary architecture and ideas. Check them out here.”

Dallas Architectural Wasteland or Treasure

For years, many dismissed Dallas as an architectural wasteland. I think there are three possible reasons behind that: the images presented in the Dallas television show; the impressions that visitors get as they fly over the neighborhoods near DFW International Airport; and the fact that relocation companies tend to send relocating executives to the most generic suburban neighborhoods. However, the truth is, many homebuyers are choosing to move to Dallas instead of other cities because of the rich reserve of significant architecture.

Architecturally Significant Homes

My real estate firm specializes in architecturally significant homes, modern homes and estate homes for two reasons. One is to identify the finest homes for buyers desiring a home of architectural and aesthetic quality and importance. The other purpose is to bring attention to great architecture and architects in Dallas and to highlight influences from architects across the country that inform Dallas architecture. When people understand their aesthetic environment and the many positive possibilities, better choices are made and the aesthetic landscape continues to improve.

Dallas Has Greatest Collection of 20th Century Architecture in the Country

Dallas has the greatest collection of 20th century architecture and a great start in the 21st century. Thanks to the abundance of good architecture in Dallas, my Web site, ArchitecturallySignificantHomes.com and my Dallas Architecture Blog typically come up first when architectural enthusiasts conduct an internet search of terms such as “architecturally significant homes,” “historically significant homes,” “modern homes,” “mid-century homes.” As a result, I have received correspondence from around the world. Authors, professors, students, architects, homeowners and homebuyers have contacted me to discuss Dallas architecture.

The City Benefits, My Clients Benefit

My clients benefit because they know I will understand what they like, what they want and how to get it. As people become more aware of good architecture and are able to find homes featuring significant architecture, the demand for good homes increases and demand for generic builder homes decreases. The more this happens, the more the city of Dallas benefits.

Advocates of good architecture have been great advocates of my business. Clients and friends recognize the role they play as champions for good architecture, beautiful neighborhoods and a vibrant city.

Even if you can’t hire an architect or design a spectacular estate home, you can help promote high-quality architecture in your community. Everyone does know someone who is considering buying or building a home. Join me in recommending your family or friends to use an architect or to buy a home with enduring architectural value. And when you know a person who is considering selling a historic or period modern home, urge them to put measures in place to preserve that home. In my experience, almost every property will sell for more if buyers are made aware of the home’s architectural features – as opposed to simply selling a property as a” teardown” sold for lot value. I am always delighted to discuss with property owners the best way to preserve and perpetuate their property and obtain the best price when the time comes.

The Interest in Architecture and Architect Designed Homes Keeps Increasing – The Dallas Architecture Blog Will Keep Discussing

When OnlineClasses.org discussed the types of blogs they selected, they explained, “The 100 blogs selected encompass the array of fields and specialties within the world of architecture.” OnlineClasses.com asks the viewer “to research and enjoy the art behind landscaping and green buildings; take a step into the future with modernism, or look into the past at classical European design. Whatever you do, be inspired.”

This is exactly the intent of the Dallas Architecture Blog – to research, discover, enjoy and be inspired. Hosting this blog and Web site has been fun, because so many people are passionate about architecture.

We will continue our efforts and thank you for your interest and support.

Remember, architecture is our public art.

I often see the same families purchase, renovate or build a succession of increasingly architecturally significant homes. While a person cannot collect homes in the same way that a collector can acquire paintings or sculpture, the instinct is the same. The curiosity, passion and desire to live in and around extraordinary beauty and profound design is the same whether for a collector of art or a patron of architecture. In future blog articles I will discuss some of the great family lineages of owners of significant architect designed homes, both modern and eclectic.

International Style Home

Here we see an International Style home designed for a young couple with five children. The couple hired James Nagle, a graduate of Stanford with an architecture degree from MIT and a co-founder of the Chicago architecture firm Nagle Hartray. Built in 1976, this home in Bent Tree was the finest example of International Style architecture since Stanley Marcus had Roscoe Dewitt design his International Style home in 1937. Set on two acres along a greenbelt, this modern home is sleek, stark and yet comfortable for a family. Some think that clean-lined and hard-edged modern is only appropriate for highrises, urban couples or fastidious style makers. This modern home in Far North Dallas shows that a home can have a compelling design, a pastoral setting, bedrooms for multiple children, expansive yards, gardens, pools and courts to accommodate activities of families and friends. The result is a home dramatic for entertaining, utilitarian for a family and aesthetically attractive through the decades.

The same couple, when the children were grown, again hired architect James Nagle in collaboration with Robert Neylan to design another modern home. This home combined the latest technology, building materials and construction techniques with timeless and more accessible materials and fixtures. Where modern houses are often associated with isolated locations, modern residential parks, or clusters in urban locations, this modern home is right at home in the leafy and traditional suburb of Highland Park.

While the architect was sensitive to the setbacks and scale of the homes designed in a European tradition around them, this home exudes modernity. As you approach the front door you begin to experience a subtle and sublime transformation, a different environment, one that is familiar, but expressed in such a new way. A compilation of stainless steel, teak and granite and Belgian glass continues that aura as you enter. A visitor in the home feels exhilaration and tranquility at the same time. At 10,000 square feet, the size of this Highland Park Translucens House is somewhat larger than the Bent Tree home, but occupies a much smaller parcel of land. As a result, the Highland Park house does not look outward in the same way that the Bent Tree house does, but looks inward into a courtyard. The view of the street is restrained by translucent glass that can be darkened for more privacy Extra bedrooms were eliminated, and additional space was allowed for returning family members in the form of vertically and horizontal open galleries, courtyards, and public spaces bridged by glass and connected by stairs.

Here is an example of two homes created for the same family: same architect, different needs and different settings, but both modern homes that continue to earn appreciation, credibility and applause.

See Bent Tree modern home Future Offering

Highland Park and Dallas Preservation Plans

I’m excited to report that residents of Dallas and Highland Park have two new avenues for historic preservation of their homes. One is a proposed new initiative in Highland Park that should be in place by early 2010; the other is an effort to expand the presence of an existing national program to the entire Dallas area. Together, these important preservation tools will give property owners additional protections for the exterior of their homes, in ways that protect their home into the future.

Property Owners Have Sole Right to Add Preservation Protection

With most preservation tools – such as local ordinances, preservation districts, etc. – restrictions or requirements are imposed on individual property owners by the neighborhood, community or government. However, the preservation tools coming to Dallas are different because homeowners can initiate restrictions on their own property.

Park Cities Historic and Preservation Society, and Trust for Architectural Easements

By coincidence, I had two appointments fall on the same Monday – breakfast with Dan Reardon of the Trust for Architectural Easements, who was in Dallas for a two-day exploratory visit, and lunch with Marian Ann Montgomery of the Park Cities Historic and Preservation Society to discuss preservation in the Park Cities.

Park Cities Historic and Preservation Society

Marian Ann Montgomery and the Park Cities Historic and Preservation Society are working with the town of Highland Park on a historic preservation ordinance that would allow individual homeowners to submit their property for designation as a protected structure. The town of Highland Park will participate by managing and enforcing the ordinance of the properties accepted for protected status.

This approach is really quite brilliant because no districts or ordinances – historic, conservation or teardown – are crammed down the throats unwilling homeowners. This preservation ordinance will only apply to properties put into place at the request of the property owner. Architecturally significant Highland Park homes will be preserved, architectural prestige enhanced, and momentum generated for maintaining the architectural landscape of Highland Park. Highland Park township resources will be better employed on preserving significant structures rather than imposing unwanted restrictions on non-receptive property owners.

Trust for Architectural Easements

Don Reardon was in town as part of an exploratory visit for the Trust for Historical Easements, which is looking to make Dallas a major part of its efforts. This trust has been very successful this decade in receiving façade easements and protecting the future of these buildings, both residential and commercial. Here again, this preservation measure is deployed by the property owner, assisted by the Trust and acknowledged by the Department of the Interior, which grants a 3% – 17% tax deduction for the donated façade. Characteristically a property owner donates the façade easement to the Trust for Architectural Easements after the Trust helps the property owner place the property on the National Register of Historic Places. The Trust then owns and controls the façade and the property owner receives a tax deduction in the 3% – 17% of the building’s value, most often around 10% of the home’s value.

Members of the Trust for Historical Easements have identified Dallas as an area with great houses and great architecture, with people interested in preserving it. I think that’s exciting.

Architectural Patrons and Philanthropists

These preservation incentives will resonate with architectural patrons, philanthropists and those people who love the aesthetic landscape of Highland Park and the Dallas area. Donating a façade easement to protect the architecture in perpetuity is much the same as donating a piece of art to a museum – except the donor doesn’t have to worry about the architecturally significant home being put in storage. Architecture is our public art. Often, more people will see the front of an architecturally significant house than will see a painting or sculpture in a museum. Dallas is a city of patrons and philanthropists that astound the rest of the world with their giving. These preservation tools provide yet another avenue to improve our community through giving.

Owners Who Are Already Protecting and Preserving Their Homes

We know that there is an audience for these types of voluntary preservation tools because we are already seeing great citizens protect their homes. Whether these homeowners elect to participate in one of these programs or elect to take a tax deduction is irrelevant because measures are already in place to preserve the architecture.

Stanley Marcus Home

Years ago, the Lovvorn family of Dallas initiated historic designation for their home, which was formerly owned by Stanley Marcus. They have accepted landmark status and are in the process of doing further renovation.

Edward Durell Stone Designed Home

Owners of one of the great American modern homes of the 20th century, Jennifer and John Eagle, retained architect Russell Buchanan for a masterful renovation of this Edward Durell Stone designed home. They are making plans to preserve the home for future generations.

John Allen Boyle Designed Home on Overhill

Few eclectic homes have a façade as distinctive as this home designed by John Allen Boyle, who was also the architect for The Mansion on Turtle Creek. Denny and Connie Carreker have been relentless about renovating and protecting this home, including putting the original parcels of land back together.

Scott Lyons Designed Home

This Highland Park home, one of the most important homes designed by Scott Lyons (and one much loved by the community) will be given to an important foundation so that it may be preserved and used in much the same way it has been over the last 50 years.

Fooshee and Cheek Designed Home

Jack Knox has made one of the most dramatic revisions on a home on Armstrong Parkway people now love.

Many Successful Preservation Efforts in Dallas

There have been many successful preservation efforts in Dallas. The nation’s most successful neighborhood revitalization occurred in what are now Dallas’ historic districts. The city possesses an abundance of conservation districts. We’ve had mixed success with a teardown ordinance – that may have created more acrimony than value. But most importantly, I’m seeing increasing interest in architecture and preservation. And I’m heartened by these two new preservation tools, with their potential to further protect architecturally significant homes and to assist homeowners in preserving great properties into the future.

Austin stone house becomes available in the same 125-home neighborhood of Mayflower Estates

A spectacular home designed by Highland Park and Preston Hollow architect Hal Yoakum just came on the market, only one estate home away from the Bushes. 

While President Bush bought a good home, if only he could have waited.  This Austin stone home has a similar configuration but with more square footage, and is better sited on more land and is offered at a much lower price than where the Bush home traded.

The home has an informal and rugged feel, with stone or wide plank wood floors.  The 750-square foot informal living room with pecked cypress wood walls and a fireplace as tall as a person, expresses warmth and distinction.

Despite its informality, the home’s proportions and quality of finishes are stately. The 27-foot long dining room can seat 50 for a formal dinner. A master bedroom suite boasts a presidential sized office and equally lavish executive bathroom. The master bathroom has been recently renovated. A wall of windows and door look out to a totally private courtyard framed in green.   

On the second floor are two guest bedrooms and an enormous informal living area, a perfect recreation area.  Like the President’s house, this home has a minimally attached two-story guesthouse.  This one, however, looks over the large swimming pool with a diving rock and extensive gardens.  

This Preston Hollow Home is Larger and on More Land Than President Bush’s Home

The home is somewhat larger than the Bush home, and sits on a considerably larger lot – 1.288 acres – with phenomenal views of the ascending 50 acres of treetops of the two adjacent estates. Offered at $2,695,000, it’s remarkably less expensive than the home the President purchased a few months ago.

One of Original Grand Preston Hollow Houses Designed by Highland Park Architect Hal Yoakum

This Austin stone home designed by Highland Park architect Hal Yoakum is one of the one of the early grand houses built in the Preston Hollow estate area, located right in the heart of Mayflower Estates.  The home’s style and elegance complements the country lane feel of this neighborhood. 

Home Surrounded by Neighboring Lakes, Greenbelts, and Estate Properties

Estate Property buffers view of nearby homes.  Only over a rear garden wall will you see a glimpse of a roof top of a nearby home nested down on a lower perch above the creek and a three acre private greenbelt accessed by a foot bridge. 

Across Hollow Way, there’s a stunning view of a small private lake, with swans and ducks, surrounded by expansive lawns and extensive acreage filled with private gardens.  On the other side of the home is one of architect Cole Smith’s favorite homes that he designed. Within this small neighborhood, you have some of the most prominent Dallas families in both large and very subtle homes.

Mayflower Estates Home Exudes Value

This home represents such an excellent example of Mayflower Estates. The place is large, graceful and subtle, with glass windows and doors looking out over what seems like endless pathways, courtyards and small gardens.  For more information on this early estate home with real value go to Featured Listings.

While it has always been counterintuitive, when the economy is down, the best residential real estate projects get better. Homeowners and homebuyers turn from quick, speculative investments to properties with solid, long-term aesthetic and architectural value. Historically the finest architect-designed homes are often built or renovated when the real estate market is depressed. The finest architects, designers, builders, artisans, and materials are available.  Bids are now coming in as much as 20 percent less than last year on architect designed homes. Also, as the demand from speculative builders evaporates, land becomes more available for architect designed homes, and architecturally significant period homes become attractive to renovate, not tear down.

Great houses coming out of the last downturn

We saw this in the mid 1990s.  Nationally recognized residences were built including the Antoine Predock designed home in Highland Park on Willowood, the Steven Holl designed home in Preston Hollow on Rockbrook Drive, and the Richard Meier designed home on Preston Road.  Architecturally Significant homes of national importance were also renovated during this period: the former Owsley estate, now the Marcus estate, on Turtle Creek Boulevard in Volk Estates, originally designed by architect John Scudder Adkins, with Bill Booziotis and Peter Marino as the renovation architects; and the former Crespi estate, now the Hicks estate, on Hollow Way in Mayflower Estates, designed by architect Maurice Fatio and with Peter Marino serving as the renovation architect.

Great houses available now

Now, many architecturally significant homes are available at the price of the land. Currently, the best example of this is one of Dallas’ most important modern homes, on Gaywood Road in Mayflower Estates, designed by Scott Lyons on 2.63 acres. Exquisitely built, incorporating the finest materials and craftsmanship, it reflects a Texas modern style with many walls of glass and balconies overlooking the garden, small lake and the private park land of the 15 acre estate property seen across the creek. Reflecting the market, this 9,900 square foot home and 3,800 square foot guesthouse is being offered for sale at approximately the value of the land in this Preston Hollow neighborhood.

Preston Hollow Midcentury Modern

The best and last remaining original owner midcentury modern home on Colhurst in Preston Hollow is another example of a home that can easily be renovated and is being offered at the price of the lot.  This house has an extraordinary pedigree, with Louise Kahn as the interior designer, Richard Benson as the architect and Richard Myrick as the landscape designer.

University Park Midcentury Modern Home

On Wentwood in University Park, we find the home that midcentury modern architect Max Sandfield designed for his own family and will be available at lot value. 

The finest period homes have always been in the greatest jeopardy because of the demands from speculative homebuilders.  Homeowners, in the past, often never had a chance to purchase these architecturally significant homes they loved because homebuilders only needed to know the lot size to quickly buy a home to tear down.

Architecturally Significant Homes Coming on Markets

Housing prices have plummeted – as much as 40% in some U.S. cities – but low tax rates in Texas and strong employment rates are keeping Dallas’ property values surprising strong.  While the Dallas real estate market was shut down for a few months this fall, much like it was for a few months after September 11, 2001, the real estate market started to come back in December with several good properties selling and many exceptional properties coming on the market.

Daria and Daria Place, the streets that will be gated off from the public, for the George and Laura Bush home, have long been the forgotten streets of the Preston Hollow estate area.  The value of the land on Daria and Daria Place as indicated fairly accurately by the Dallas County Appraisal District is approximately one million dollars an acre.  This is considerably lower than the $2.5 million to $3 million an acre that Preston Hollow lots have recently sold for in Preston Hollow.

Reasons Why Land Prices on President Bush’s Street Have Been So Low

There are several reasons the prices are so much lower on the “Darias” – short dead end streets – than on the other streets of the very desirable neighborhood of Mayflower Estates or in the general Preston Hollow estate area.

Daria Close to Tollway

Daria and Daria Place are right next to the Tollway which historically is a less desirable place to live than next to a meadow, forest or lake or in areas that are not associated with noise and pollution.

Public School at Entrance of Daria

Schools within walking distance of a home can be an asset to a neighborhood, especially if the school is in Highland Park.  However, in the estate area, where a large number of children attend elite Dallas private schools, a public school is mostly associated with the cars, buses, and noise, it contributes to the immediate neighbors.

Daria Place Not Intended for Mansions

The Daria lots were carved out of the back of the adjacent estate property over 50 years ago.  Large lots accommodated substantial houses but this development was never intended for significant estate homes or architect-designed homes that are so often found in the other parts of Mayflower Estates and Preston Hollow. 

Why the President Bush Gates Change the Dynamic, Focus, and Desirability of the Neighborhood

No matter where President and Mrs. Bush might have purchased a home, the value of the homes around it would have gone up.  The President Bush gates on Daria compound the escalation in land prices the Bushes would normally bring to a street.  The Bush gates on Daria change the impression of the street and force people to re-evaluate their previous impressions of Daria and Daria Place.

Why Neighborhood Gates Create So Much Value

Homebuyers like the privacy, security, and exclusivity gated communities provide.  Gated neighborhoods are rare in older established neighborhoods because gated neighborhoods require developers to acquire enough land to create private streets that are owned by the homeowners association.  As a result, there are only a few gated neighborhoods in Preston Hollow.

Los Arboles is Most Prestigious Gated Neighborhood in Preston Hollow

The most prestigious gated neighborhood in Preston Hollow is Los Arboles, shown above, which enjoys magnificent estate homes on one-acre lots, small lakes and winding streets. Glen Lakes is another prestigious gated community with lakes and smaller lots.

 There is little opportunity for new gated neighborhoods because golf courses and all the other low hanging fruit for developers has already been bought up for development.  Now it almost takes a presidential decree to obtain permission to put up gates on a public street.  This limited supply of gated neighborhoods is the reason for the sales success of one-acre lots in the new gated development at the intersection of Royal Lane and Inwood Roads.  This 30 acres of land had originally been assembled at $1,000,000 an acre as an estate property for Kenny Troutt.  He sold it to developers who then gated the neighborhood and sold $3 million one-acre lots to spec builders who are offering homes for sale up to $11,500,000.

Real Estate Community Slow to Recognize Positive Change in Neighborhoods

One reason that the land prices on President Bush’s street and neighborhood will go up so rapidly is that the real estate community is usually behind buyers in recognizing the real value of a neighborhood that has had positive change.  After years of dismissing or ignoring a neighborhood, it is hard for real estate agents to then look at the neighborhood objectively or recommend it to clients.  As a result, it often takes years for the real estate community to change their perception of a neighborhood. 

University Park Neighborhood Close to Central Expressway

This was true on the University Park blocks close to Central Expressway.  These blocks suffered from the perception of Central Expressway noise, pollution and one-story from rent houses.  The prices on these blocks remained low for a long time after Central Expressway had been lowered, a sound wall constructed, small linear parks installed along the wall and many of the rent houses replaced by very nice two-story homes.  Eventually the homes in this new lovely environment gained parity with other University Park locations. 

Turtle Creek Park

Another example of the real estate community hanging on to old impressions is the Turtle Creek Park neighborhood.  The prices of this Turtle Creek neighborhood were low because the real estate community associated the neighborhood with trains running along the Katy Trail instead of joggers on the Katy Trail that replaced the railroad tracks.

Cochran Chapel

Estate homes and estate lots that were also discounted on Cochran Chapel because this street was on the west side of Midway even thought it was just as convenient to downtown, the private schools and as beautiful as Bluffview found on the east side of Midway.

Highland Park Acreage Addition

Even the prices of the Acreage Addition in Highland Park lagged behind the rest of Highland Park because it was on the northern boundary of Dallas.  Eventually these beautiful homes on elevated lots commanded as much or more than the rest of Highland Park as buyers recognized the beauty of the land, and became more aware of the spectacular homes and neighborhoods in Dallas that had become so popular adjacent to the Acreage Addition.  A whole new perception of Dallas benefitted all of Highland Park, especially the Acreage Addition. 

President Bush Gates Will Accelerate Change in Perception of Daria Place

For years the real estate community has dismissed Daria Place as being too far north, not in Preston Hollow, too close to the Tollway, having out of date houses, too close to a public school and difficult to find.  All of these perceptions will change as people will take a fresh look at the gated neighborhood for the home of President and Mrs. Bush.

President Bush Gates Will Change Perception of Tollway

While the homes on Daria and Daria Place will still be close to the Tollway, once the gates are installed the neighborhood will be seen in a new and more favorable light.  All of a sudden it will occur to people that large Tollway sound walls have been installed, reflecting noise away from the homes on Daria.  Current emission standards have eliminated much of the previous haze that hung over the street and nearby homes.  Neighborhood gates also have a way of making people forget about traffic.  The gated development, The Creeks of Preston Hollow,  at Inwood and Royal is a good example.  The traffic at this busy intersection of Royal and Inwood is still just as close, but somehow a gated neighborhood makes a person feel removed from any unpleasantness of the world around them and are willing to buy a $10, 000,000 home.

Modest Houses on Daria Will Help Accelerate Increase of Land Prices on President Bush’s Street

Land prices go up more rapidly in neighborhoods where there are low contributing values to the existing structures.  This allows for the rapid turnover of the modest houses that are replaced by expensive estate homes.  Homeowners much prefer building or buying an estate home in a neighborhood that already has estate homes or where there is an expectation that the original modest neighborhood homes will soon be replaced with expensive estate homes.

President and Mrs. Bush Moving to Daria Place Will Accelerate Objective Look At Real Land Values on this Gated Street in Preston Hollow

An objective look reveals Daria and Daria Place are located in Mayflower Estates, the most prestigious neighborhood in Preston Hollow; the one-acre lots on these short streets are adjacent to the 15 acre Phillips estate and the 25 acre Hicks estate, the most expensive and important estate home in Dallas; the existing Daria houses valued at $1 million are way under the current price of $2.5 million – $3 million that the  Preston Hollow one-acre estate lots are currently selling for, making it relatively easy to purchase and tear them down for new estate homes; and the neighborhood benefits from President George Bush and Laura Bush being a Daria Place neighbor.  Sure, there are some people who have an aversion to Republicans, but there are still several million people in the Dallas area who would enjoy being neighbors of George and Laura Bush.

With the Gates, Lots on President Bush’s Gated Street Will be Worth $2,500,000 to $3,000,000

In the last month, estate lots in Preston Hollow have sold for $2.5 million to $3 million.  The location, exclusivity and prestige associated with Mayflower Estates and President Bush will bring lot values up to at least the lot values found in the other prime Preston Hollow neighborhoods.