Downsizing in Dallas

T. Boone Pickens sells Preston Hollow mansion listed at $6 million

In his effort to downsize, 89-year-old Dallas energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens has sold his Preston Hollow mansion at 9434 Alva Ct.

Dallas energy investment firm executive John Calvert and his wife bought the Preston Hollow property, according to The Dallas Morning News. The home had been listed for $6 million; however, the purchase price wasn’t disclosed.

The 8,906-square-foot, Mediterranean-style estate was built by Jim Shaw in 1996 and designed by noted architect Wilson Fuqua. The mansion features two bedrooms, guest quarters with one bedroom, three bathrooms, three half-bathrooms, a three-car garage, antique French Quarter limestone floors, walnut and cherry patterned flooring, a swimming pool, gardens, fountains, and statuaries. The home sits on a wooded one-acre lot.

Ryan Streiff of Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate represented Pickens. The home had been on the market for 98 days, the agent says.

“It was an honor to represent such a fine estate home,” says Streiff in a release, “but an even greater honor to represent one of Dallas’ treasured icons in Mr. Pickens.

One down, one to go. Pickens is still trying to find a buyer for his massive ranch in the Texas Panhandle.

Pickens, who turns 90 in May, is shedding his mansion and his ranch after shutting down his energy hedge fund, BP Capital, and as he slows down after suffering a series of strokes in 2017 as well as a serious fall. He now lives in a Dallas condo.

Pickens’ Mesa Vista Ranch is about 85 miles northeast of Amarillo. The ranch, which encompasses 64,809 acres, is on the market for $250 million.

"People who haven’t been here might say, ‘Well, I’m not going to pay $250 million,’” Pickens told CNBC. “I say to them, ‘Just come look at it.’ And then see what you think.”

When the ranch went up for sale in November, Pickens said he was ready to put Mesa Vista in someone else’s hands.

“Selling the ranch is the prudent thing for an 89-year-old man to do. It’s time to get my life and my affairs in order,” Pickens wrote on LinkedIn. “There are many reasons why the time is right to sell the ranch now, not the least of them ensuring that what I truly believe is one of the most magnificent properties in the world winds up with an individual or entity that shares my conservation ethic.”

Built in 1996, the three-bedroom home was listed at $5,999,000.

Photo courtesy of Dave Perry-Miller

Built in 1996, the three-bedroom home was listed at $5,999,000.

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Million-dollar homes

Multi-million-dollar gated home community The Preserve rises in Frisco

Preserve

A palace on the prairie of The Preserve in Frisco

Construction has begun on a multi-million-dollar custom home community in Frisco. Called The Preserve, it's situated among PGA Frisco’s championship golf courses and near the Omni PGA Frisco Resort, with multiple phases that will roll out over the next few years.

The Preserve is part of Fields, a 2,500-acre development in North Frisco off the Dallas North Tollway. Fields is co-developed and owned in partnership with The Karahan Companies, Hunt Realty Investments alongside investors Chief Partners and Cross Tie Capital.

The development will feature retail, dining, entertainment, hotels, corporate offices, native Texas plants, flowers, trees, and 250 acres of park space. It's designed by the same team responsible for Plano’s Legacy West, led by Fehmi Karahan.

Phase 1 of The Preserve will feature 233 homes crafted by 10 North Texas luxury homebuilders: Alford Homes, Coats Homes, and Starside Builders have all begun home construction. The other seven are The Preserve Bella Custom Homes, Endurance Homes, Faulkner Perrin Custom Homes, Hawkins-Welwood Homes, Shaddock Custom Builders & Developers, Sharif & Munir Custom Homes, and Ventura Custom Homes, for whom construction will start soon.

The Preserve Frisco The Preserve in Frisco, soon to be covered with homes.The Preserve

Lot sizes range from 6,800 square feet to more than an acre. Home design options will incorporate high ceilings, open floor plans, glass walls, and seamless transitions between indoor and outdoor such as patios, infinity pools, and landscaped exteriors.

The surrounding area will have more than 2,000 new trees plus views delivered via design elements such as floor-to-ceiling windows and expansive outdoor living areas.

Many of the homes will address sustainability, health, and wellness with green architecture, energy efficiency, water conservation, and recycled building materials.

It will combine the privacy of a gated community with resort-style living, featuring amenities such as the PGA golf courses, 20+ miles of hike and bike trails, and the exclusive Brookside Club with an expansive swimming pool, state-of-the-art fitness center, tennis and pickleball courts and a playground.

Prices will start at $3,500,000.

Hunt Realty SVP Todd Watson calls it one of the most anticipated mixed-use projects in the area -- æa perfect location for discerning buyers seeking their forever home or a secondary residence" — although he's involved with the project so he's probably biased.

“As part of the Fields development, with prominent neighbors like PGA of America and the Omni PGA Frisco Resort, we know The Preserve will be one of the most sought-after addresses in North Texas," Watson says.

According to the Frisco Economic Development Corporation, Frisco’s population has increased by 500 percent in two decades and was recently recognized as the fastest growing city in Texas and third across the U.S.

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