North Texas Home Prices See Slight Uptick
DFW: Single-family home prices in North Texas showed a small uptick in one of the latest industry reports. S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller says that DFW home prices increased about 2% in February from the same period in 2022. Although it is higher, it is a smaller year-to-year increase in single-family home prices in the area in the past ten years because of higher borrowing costs, among other challenges. Across the country, home prices also were up 2% from a year earlier. Home prices in North Texas peaked toward the end of Q2 last year and have been falling. Even so, real estate analysts and agents report that the diversity of the North Texas economy continues to bode well for many home sellers, especially those in desirable zip codes and neighborhoods and with homes priced appropriately. To that point, the Case-Shiller index reports that eight of 20 cities it analyzed in the latest report experienced annual declines, particularly metro areas on the West Coast. In contrast, the Southeast led the country in gains, with Miami coming in at nearly 11% higher than last February.
DFW: A downtown Dallas office tower dating back to the 1950s, with a façade to prove it, will soon go the way of other downtown office buildings—apartments. The high-rise, known as 211 North Ervay, has about 180,000 square feet. The 18-story tower was built in 1958, complete with a turquoise-colored exterior, which was popular during that era. It served numerous companies as an office tower for decades before all its tenants moved out, leaving it silent and empty between 1995 and 2014. That’s when new owners gave it a $14 million interior renovation and makeover and it attracted various start-up companies, among others. Now, the latest owner—Wolfe Investments, a Plano-based real estate investor and developer with projects throughout the Metroplex—plans to develop 238 rental units in the building located at the corner of Ervay and Elm. Two years ago, Wolfe acquired the old U.S. Post Office and Courthouse building in downtown Dallas. That building’s four floors have been converted into 78 luxury apartment units. Wolfe’s redevelopment plans align with similar office building acquisitions and projects in downtown Dallas. Over the past several years, several downtown office buildings have been repurposed or are in the process of being retrofitted as residential spaces, which developers believe are more attractive and lucrative as living spaces than trying to seek new office tenants.
DFW: A North Dallas office tower along LBJ Freeway is on the market. The stone and glass Crossings I tower was built in the mid-1980s. The high-rise has more than 230,000 square feet of space and is more than 90% leased. The listing follows the sale of an adjacent sister tower sold last year by the owner of the two buildings, Goddard Investment Group of Atlanta. Goddard Investment acquired the buildings in 2004 and renovated and upgraded them in 2018. The Dallas Independent School District bought The Crossings II last year and plans to convert the 280,000-square-foot, 12-story high-rise into a magnet for science, math, engineering, technology and the arts.
DFW: More rental homes are being planned in a new development in a northern Dallas suburb. Core Spaces, a Chicago-based residential developer, has broken ground in the Collin County town of Princeton with its first residential rental community. The development will be called Oxenfree and will have over 400 single-family homes and townhomes. They will be built on a 50- acre tract on FM982 and Myrick Lane. The company’s construction arm, Treehouse Builders, will lead the project development. The first homes are expected to be completed by next year. Core Spaces plans to build similar rental community projects in other parts of the country, including North Texas.
DFW: Crow Holdings is expanding its industrial footprint in southern Dallas County. The Dallas-based investor and developer plans to start construction this summer on an 800,000-square-foot warehouse south of Interstate 20 in Lancaster. The distribution center will cost approximately $53 million to build and should open sometime next year. Crow Holdings previously developed a warehouse project in southern Dallas County off Spur 408 and Interstate 20. The developer also has plans for another two- building warehouse project east of Dallas and a three-building development northwest of downtown Dallas. North Texas remains the country’s leading industrial market, with more than 70 million square feet of projects under development.
BIG APPLE: The apartment with “The View” is on the market. Barbara Walters’ Upper East Side abode has been listed for $19.75 million. The legendary journalist, who died last year at the age of 93, owned and lived in the five-bedroom, five-bath apartment for 30 years. The unit is in a 14-story building that is almost 100 years old and limits one apartment per floor. The Walters space includes numerous large rooms, including a living room with a 10-foot ceiling. Many of the rooms have oversized windows, perfect for views of Central Park. The apartment also has a wood-burning fireplace, a dining room, a library, seating areas, a reading space, and other amenities. Whoever ends up owning the place will also have to shell out another $20,000 monthly maintenance fee. Walters was a pioneer for women in the broadcast industry over a 60-year period on various networks, including the popular talk show “The View,” which she created, co-hosted and produced before retiring in 2015.