Good one, Alan Peppard: this morning Alan helped me figure out a major piece of the Battle Behind the Pink Wall. I was pretty sure that Lisa Blue Baron, Dallas attorney extraordinaire and widow of Fred Baron, was the generous individual who hired attorney Michael Jung to represent the homeowners of the Preston Hollow East HOA and the Preston Hollow South. It just made sense.
But then Alan reports today that Lisa is moving to Washington, D.C. and selling her estate. It will be listed with Erin Mathews at Allie Beth Allman, a huge coup for that group. HUGE!
Asking price: what do you think? This is a home that has been published in Architectural Digest. Not yet posted in the MLS. DCAD has the home valued at $14,950,000. The 15,254 square foot home has five bedrooms, six full baths and five half baths (Lisa has multiple powder rooms to accommodate her frequent and abundant home guests) six bars and six fireplaces. There is a tennis court and an indoor and outdoor pool. The home is happily occupied by Lisa and her young daughters. But I bet that every day she wakes up, she is probably missing her beloved husband, Fred, with whom she built the house in 1997.
“This home, all of it, was a labor of love for my husband,” she told me. “Fred loved and appreciated architecture and good art. I rely on others for good taste. Me, I could live anywhere, even in a trailer!”
The home is on a private lake, and was designed by Robert A.M. Stern, the same architect as the George W. Bush Presidential Center. On this property once stood the home of the Pollock family, whose home had a large swimming pool that was one of the first in Dallas. For years, the Pollock home was a vital social center for the local Jewish community. In light of that, Baron and Blue gave their home a tradition of loanig the house nearly every week for charitable events. It is also often loaded with national and local Democratic candidates and fundraisers. When Bill Clinton was president, he would jettison right to the Baron estate directly after landing in Dallas.
“I am moving to Washington, D.C. to do politics,” Baron says. She reports that she will head the American Association for Justice (formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America). “In July, I will be sworn in as president,” she says. “I haven’t decided whether I will come back to Dallas, but it is very open and likely that I will.”
And this makes total sense because Lisa told LeeAnne Locken a few months ago that she needed some fun in her life. (Though Lisa is such a generous spirit, just being around her is fun.) And the last time I was at her beautiful home, the piano was covered with photos of her Washington friends, including a lot of photos of Bill and Hilary Clinton. I think Ms. Blue is also gearing up for a Hilary run to the White House and wants to be there to pitch in.
Back to the Battle Behind the Pink Wall: what generous neighbor is funding Michael Wing to represent all those homeowners? According to my source, that would be Howard Rachofsky, another generous Preston Hollow neighbor a little closer to the “No” action.
