On the negative side, we have many problems: education, high percentage of un-insured (stemming from illegal immigration), more Medicaid babies born in Texas than anywhere else.

“Texas spends less on each of its citizens than does any other state. Being a low-tax, low-spend state has not made Texans rich, though they are not dirt-poor either; their median income ranks 37th among the 50 states.”

To which I chirp in: spending money is not the answer — look at the Dallas public schools, look at California. It’s how you spend it— smart spending where it pops. (Sorry, I get so weary of the “let’s throw money at it” response.) Another great take-away from this piece: we need to watch it bigtime.

“Get it wrong, and Texas could follow California (which “flipped” from Republican to Democratic control in part thanks to rapid immigration) down the road of high taxes and excessive regulation. This route has bankrupted California and is prompting a net 100,000 people to leave each year.”

We like it that the U-Hauls to Houston cost three times as much as a U-Haul to LA, despite the glam.

Margaret Crow thought that cows stank. Margaret was the elegant wife of Trammell Crow, Jr., a  Dallas property developer who created the Dallas Design District, Dallas Market Center, Atlanta’s Peachtree Center and San Francisco’s Embarcadero Center.

The problem was that without any cows, Mr. Crow would not be able to obtain an agricultural exemption on his extensive properties and would instead pay full Texas property taxes. How the hell, he asked, can you get an ag exemption without any cows? He posed the question to a young CPA at Arthur Young, Crow’s accounting firm, who shot back a memo to Crow saying sir, you can have your agricultural exemption: plant a tree farm.

 That CPA was young Philip Williams.

 ”By 1988,” says Williams, “Every major real estate developer in Texas had a tree farm.”

(Thanks to Ebby Southlake Realtor Patti Moore for sending me the photo).

Update: Steve Brown ran this story on Jan. 15, the day I left for Cabo.  

If Ragland’s point was to give a thumb-nail sketch of Preston Hollow, then I suggest you find a copy of Eva Potter Morgan’s “Preston Hollow”. Preston Hollow was briefly incorporated as a town after an election on November 18, 1939, the voting taking place in the real estate office of Mr. Ira P. DeLoach, also the man who hired Ebby Halliday. Her name and company now occupy what was the town hall of Preston Hollow, the “little white house” at the corner of Northwest Highway and Preston Road. Initially the notion of incorporating PH into a town was controversial, the heart of the discussion being fiscal concerns and higher taxes with annexation. But it was one of humanity’s most basic dilemmas — sanitation — that united Preston Hollow with Dallas while the Park Cities would remain the Golden Bubble in-between:

“Proponents argued that “we need only the simplest, least expensive set-up” and went on to point out that the mayor and members of the town council were to serve without pay.”

For the first few years, writes Eva Morgan, no taxes were imposed on the residents of Preston Hollow. “Income was derived from building permits for new structures and septic tanks, fines imposed by the town traffic court, and from a remarkable “subscription” system for police protection. Under this system, payment of the fee for police service was voluntary.”

Then came World War II and a need for money to support services. In October of 1942, writes Mrs. Morgan, the town council imposed an ad valorem tax. The council and the Mayor, Joe Lawther, disagreed over it — Mr. Lawther resigned, Mart W. Reeves was elected mayor — the last mayor of Preston Hollow.
Two and a half years later a tax was imposed, and a spot designated for a fire station — fire protection had been outsourced to Dallas and University Park. Meantime, the city of Dallas was pushing to unify Preston Hollow, the Park Cities and Dallas all into a single city government. It almost happened, writes Mrs. Morgan.

“But it was sewage that sounded the death knell for this remarkable town government. All the homes had septic tanks. Under the existing drainage patterns, there was apparently no feasible way that the town could install a sewage system to replace the septic tanks… in parts of town, after each rain the problem became painfully obvious. Finally, on April 3, 1945, the voters approved consolidation with the City of Dallas.”

DD: What are you going to do with the shell?
Jud Pankey: The shell is going to stay as is. It will be ready to go again once we close a loan. The garage will be ready next week, so we have made some progress. We will then turn our attention to the courtyard.
DD: The parking garage is completed for the hotel, so will you let the shell sit?
Jud Pankey: Not sure what else we would do. Do you have any creative ideas, as I am all ears?
DD: Was the crane really costing $30K a month?
Jud Pankey: Yes—close enough.
DD: Will you build a smaller, scaled back condo perhaps?
Jud Pankey: No—does not make sense.
DD: Do you have any financing promises at this point?
Jud Pankey: We are working with a couple of lenders. They do exist!!
DD: Is this why Paulson (last week) said he is aiming the bail out funds at the banks?
Jud Pankey: Not sure what he said but the banks are trying to figure out risk between banks and customers. I think it is confusing for everyone, hence there is no confidence. The banks are trying to price risk and they have plenty of capital, but they are not being paid to lend money just to lend money just yet. Plus, the regulators need to encourage them to lend versus contract. It is an interesting time.

“We were very excited,” says Greg. When construction seemed to take a little longer, he renewed his lease at Republic Bank Tower, but did not stress. Yesterday, says Greg, he received a call from Jud Pankey, Prescott Realty Group CEO, who told him the crane was coming down to save $30,000 a month. The construction financing had fallen through, but Jud said he hoped to have a new line just after the first of the year. Greg says his deposit of about $60,000 is in an FDIC-insured escrow account and it is earning interest. In fact, Greg is more concerned over the building’s marketing direction than his money:

“I got a little concerned when the marketing center started to look like Las Vegas,” said Greg, who hopes the condo will absorb the traditional design flow of the newly-remodelled hotel and Carlton Varney-designed penthouse. He’s got his fingers crossed for that new financing, and says he’s willing to wait 18 to 24 months to move into his condo. 

“I’m fine where I am,” says Greg.�

His proven track record. Davis, says Allie Beth Allman’s Kyle Crews, has developed two successful condo projects with his partner for Terranova, Hines (as in Dallas Galleria), and is working on a luxury condo tower on South Padre Island. And let’s face it: given the current credit market, if you have any chance at all of obtaining financing, you’d better have a granite-solid track record.

Davis is also quick: the development team purchased the site from Chase Bank (Douglas at Weldon Howell) and will have a bank drive-through on one side of the lobby, which I told you all about in June. My concern: won’t residents have to worry about bank robbers? Davis’ response: no, that means there will be better security!

The building will be nine stories high, but still called a “high rise”. Mediterranean/Tuscan architecture and all this is standard: outdoor kitchens,  private wine room, Viking, Sub Zero, Wolf, roll-out pantries, coffered ceilings, art niches, Origami Air bathtubs, Italian porcelains, marble, granite, 10-foot ceilings, guest pied-a-terre, and private elevator entries. Sizes will range from 1400 to 4400 square feet. And Davis says he already has five deposits!

“I read your blog every day and I was wondering if you might be able to answer a question given your extensive knowledge of the real estate business.  Over on Cedar Hill, just east of Kidd Springs Park, several apartments and older homes have been demolished and the land cleared?  I walk the neighborhood regularly and am very curious as to what is being built: apartments, townhomes, or what have you.  It seems to me they will have a gorgeous and substantial frontage to the park.  They have the opportunity to do something very special.  Also, I am curious because my parents lived in one of the cleared apartments just before I was born.”