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What Do The 10 Most Beautiful Women In Dallas Have To Do With Real Estate?

Plenty. One of them built the mansion that tycoon Mark Cuban now calls home. That would be the lovely Merlene Phillips, mother of three and a nutritionist. To vote for the 10 Most Beautiful Women in Dallas, just go here and vote your heart away once a day for three weeks.

We ought to have a contest for the 10 Most Beautiful Homes in Dallas… but you’ll see our latest take in the upcoming issue of D Home.

The Fearing’s New Bluffview Digs

As promised, here is where Dean and Lynae Fearing are moving, from their precious Devonshire cottage on Purdue to Bluffview’s Pomona. This Hill Country-esque beauty has four bedrooms, three and a half baths, a half-acre yard lot and pool, and just feast your eyes on the kitchen! Listed at $1,095,000, it didn’t take the Fearings long to sell Purdue even in this market. We are staying tuned for any cosmetic changes they make to Pomona, but we think she looks terrific without a stitch of makeup.

Highland Park Village Theatre Will Re-Open in May…

Highland Park Village partner and leasing director Stephen Summers wants to dispel a few rumors…

Good Reading: Real Estate Entrepreneur Ray Washburne

I had totally forgotten that Ray Washburne helped found Phil’s Natural Food Market until I read the business profile of him in Sunday’s DMN. (Missing: I would have liked to know more about his personal life. Who was his inspiration?) I totally recall shopping at Phils on Lovers Lane and thinking it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and I was very surprised when it did not grow. A few years prior, there was another “natural foods market” at Preston and Forest. Guess those stores were just ahead of their time. The article also sported great quotes from Henry S. Miller III on Washburne’s recent acquisition of Highland Park Village:

“During the worst recession since the Depression, Washburne had the tenacity to seek out financing so his family could buy Highland Park Village for a hefty $170 million. The Wall Street Journal said no single U.S. retail property had sold for more this year, and the price per square foot of $680 may be the most paid for Dallas area retail this decade, or maybe ever.”

Of course, recessions are when smart investors pick up property for (hopefully) pennies on the dollar. HPV was not a fire sale, but Washburne was undaunted in his hunt for financing. He’s already making changes. The Regent Theatres’ lease has ended, but Washburne says it will re-open in the spring after a major remodel that will include dining. My guess is that the plans will include a very family-friendly, Studio Movie Grill-type idea to continue what Washburne called a “Beaver Cleaver” existence he enjoyed as a child in the Park Cities. The article also details how he worked his way through SMU, acquired rental properties and started a dorm “Ray The Carpet Man” carpet company while an undergraduate at SMU. The story of his college and pre-college entrepreneurship brought to mind another biz magnate from the 1970’s who went on to change life as we know it: Bill Gates.