I had to make this home our Monday Morning Millionaire for several reasons. Everything about the home blows me away — its style, interiors, just enough smooth contemporary design, even two owner’s suites!
Everything about it is great but it absolutely epitomizes the way our very first neighborhood has changed and mirrors the way Dallas has changed in the last 40 years. To see a Monday Morning Millionaire in this part of town kind of makes me feel like a proud parent whose kid is graduating from med school. Gentrification at its best.
Which reminds me …
Moving In, Moving Up
We moved to Dallas from New York City in 1980 — the olden days. There was no internet or cell phones. We had to look for an apartment. I used the library at Columbia University where, once upon a time, libraries would have copies of every city’s major daily hanging on big wooden rods. Of course, they were a bit delayed — maybe by a week — but it served my purpose to not only read about Dallas but check the apartment classifieds. Remember those?
That is how we came to live on Cedar Springs near Denton Drive.
I made a list of apartments near the Medical Center where my husband would be, called them (on a push-button phone — I’m not THAT old), and then set up a trip to Dallas to look. And lease. We ended up with an apartment one mile from Parkland, where my future husband would do his OB/GYN residency for the four years we would be “camping out” in Dallas.
We came here with one car.
Determined to be a one-car family years before the Patrick Kennedys of this world were even conceived, my husband thought we lived close enough he could bicycle to Parkland. When his first rotation was at the VA Hospital down on South Lancaster, we bought a second car real fast. Public transit was not what it had been in NYC. As a resident, all he needed was an old but reliable car to basically sit in the Parkland parking lot while he lived over there, which he did — three nights on, one night off. That’s how you learn to deliver babies.
Every time I went to visit my husband at Parkland, I drove from our home at The Hub to Parkland, and I would drive right down Denton Drive, likely past this home’s lot.
Fun fact: We lived across from Harvey’s Racquet apartments, which I am told was developed by Jeff Beck, now the developer of Valley View/Midtown.
Back then, Denton Drive was a bit seedy but had some great little bars. I was always curious about the small, tidy homes in this neighborhood just south of us, and we seriously considered buying one so I think I saw them all.
So when Dave Perry-Miller agent Tricia Weiner reached out to me with this listing, I almost gasped.
Brand New With The Views
The home was built in 2017 with four bedrooms, all with en suite baths. There are two owner’s suites, one up and one down. The first floor boasts beautiful polished concrete flooring and a stunning dual wood-wrapped floating staircase that is quite the focal point. The kitchen is light years ahead of whatever was here in the little bungalow I used to drive by with crisp quartz countertops, a built-in stainless steel refrigerator, and a large eat-in bar area.
The exteriors are also far, far beyond this home’s predecessor: Two covered patios, one with a beautiful stone wood-burning fireplace, plus two covered balconies upstairs that yield tree-line views of what is a very mature, verdant neighborhood.
The upstairs offers a secondary living space with a wet bar, built-in wine fridge and storage, a large primary suite with full decked-out bath, dual vanities, stand-up shower, garden tub, and walk-in closets.
Even the garage is a showplace, finished out with a sexy frosted glass door and epoxy floor. At 3,577 square feet, the home is perfect for a budding family, a fun couple, an un-fun couple, or a downsizing couple. I hear it’s pending, proving again that our market is still on fire. Problem is, this one actually took three whole weeks to sell, not three whole days. Also, the savvy agents lowered the price from $1.249 million to $1.149 million.
And then, she got snagged.
