House Porn

Troy Aikman's place, Strait Lane estate and Mount Vernon: The 5 most significantDallas homes on the market right now

Troy Aikman's Highland Drive home is rumored to be under contract.
Photo courtesy of Allie Beth Allman
Mount Vernon is the most expensive home for sale in Dallas right now.
9008 Briarwood Ln. is affectionately known as the River Rock House, because thewhole home is built from handpicked river rock imported from Montana, Californiaand Wyoming.
If you've been angling to move to Billionaire's Row, you better act quickly toacquire Phil Romano's Strait Lane estate.
Photo courtesy of Doris Jacobs
Tim Headington's place at 2525 North Pearl, units 2100 and 2101, is the mostover-the-top-condo in Dallas.

UPDATE: I told y’all something was up with Troy Aikman’s house over on Highland Drive. It’s been taken down from Allie Beth Allman’s website, and MLS now shows the listing is canceled. Naturally, I’m all over this, so stay tuned. It could mean the home is sold, but that’s not what MLA is saying. Or it could mean Aikman has decided to take it off the market. Then I wonder if this has anything to do with the upcoming ban on Z sales.

And the Amends must be getting serious about selling Mount Vernon: They just lowered the price to $24.9 million. Now that’s a blue light special.

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When I was asked to put together a list of the most important homes for sale in Dallas right now, I was torn. Which should be no. 1? Troy Aikman's house on Highland Drive? Or the classic, tranquil estate of Teresa and John Amend that once belonged to H.L. Hunt?

I cannot choose. Oh but I have to. So I will.

4425 Highland Dr., a.k.a. Troy Aikman's Place
I have heard that Aikman's home may be under contract as I type. A couple from Mexico fell in love with it and started negotiations, I'm told. He sold the lot next door to Barbara and Brian Pratt this spring, and they plan to build.

Aikman's home, listed with Allie Beth Allman, was built in 2005. The 10,200-square-feet manse has five bedrooms, six full baths, two half baths, two dining areas and three living areas (at least), and it sits on more than half an acre in the yummiest part of Highland Park. At $14 million, it's nearly $1,400 a square foot.

4009 W. Lawther Dr., a.k.a. Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon, also listed with Allie Beth, is still on the market for $29.5 million. For that you get a 10,511-square-foot estate with five bedrooms, nine full and two half baths, and about five living areas on the banks of White Rock Lake. Plus 10 acres, the first swimming pool ever built in Dallas, a four-lane bowling alley, 2,400-square-foot guesthouse, 16-car classic car facility, lighted tennis courts, putting green, wine cellar and pizza oven.

Right now, Mount Vernon is the most expensive listing in Dallas.

9008 Briarwood Ln., a.k.a. River Rock House
OMG. Have you seen the River Rock House over at 9008 Briarwood? The owners spent five years laboring over this masterpiece, designed by Wilson Fuqua and built by Cy Barcus Jr.

It has more than 16,265 square feet, six bedrooms, seven full baths and three half baths, study, enormous media room the size of Cinemark 17, wine cellar and tasting room with kitchen, lagoon pool, and the biggest crafts room I have ever seen. (It doubles as a tornado room.)

The craft room has two giant Corian tables on wheels conveniently located next to the wine cellar — so, yes, I'd stay here in a storm too. This pup is on about 1.8 acres with a creek running right through the lot, and the whole home is built from handpicked river rock imported from Montana, California and Wyoming. The owners bought the rock from wherever they could buy it and ship it to Texas.

Asking price is $12.995 million, and the home was completed in 2007.

10660 Strait Ln., a.k.a. Phil Romano's House
Phil Romano lives on Strait Lane, otherwise known as Billionaire's Row. At least until The Creeks at Preston Hollow is sold out.

Romano's brightly colored home is loaded with art — and, of course, it has a completely commercial kitchen. Originally listed for $17 million, Doris Jacobs over at Allie Beth Allman has it listed for only $10 million — highway robbery, I tell you!

You get 4.6 acres, a private lake stocked with bass and a fountain, resort-sized pool, pavilion, jogging trail, tennis court and guesthouse. The 16,000-square-foot home is brimming with eight bedrooms, seven full and four half baths, and nine living areas.

Oh, it is also across the street from what is soon to be the only private water park in Dallas: the home of Medicaid pediatric dentist Richard Malouf.

2525 North Pearl, Units 2100 and 2101
Okay. So this is not a house, but it's definitely the most over-the-top condo in Dallas. I'm talking about Tim Headington's place at 2525 North Pearl, listed with Pogir at Briggs Freeman Sotheby's.

The SoJo Design Team of Miami combined the two original penthouses, creating a more functional layout. The 8,400-square-foot interior has two kitchens, two bars, four bedrooms (each with a full bath), two powder rooms, billiard room with purple pool table, theater, library and office. There are three wine refrigerators — one for sparkling, one for red and one for white. The condo takes up the entire 21st floor, and it has two elevators.

Three unique outdoor terraces and entertaining spaces were custom-made to withstand 70 mph winds. Epay wood decking houses all of the special lighting. Everything is bolted down to the deck: the furniture, sculpture — even the bar stools! Exterior square footage totals 5,500.

The whole place affords 360-degree views of the city, and it's loaded down with museum-quality art and sculpture. The asking price is $14 mil, and that doesn't include the art — but, hey, it never hurts to ask.

Oh, and, remember Super Bowl XLV? This is where the stars planted themselves.

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Downtown News

Historic West End Dallas mixed-use complex gets familiar new owner

Courtesy

Market Ross Place

A historic building in Dallas' historic West End has a familiar new owner: Five Smooth Stones, a real estate company that specializes in renovation, just acquired Market Ross Place, a mixed-used combination of three buildings located at 1701 N. Market St.

Five Smooth Stones is led by Owen Hannay, Dallas native and West End enthusiast who first began investing in the neighborhood in 2000, and is now making a return to the historic area to breathe in new life.

“We have had a lot of success in the West End over the past 25 years but, like many other districts, it tends to be cyclical, so we find ourselves with a lot of opportunity to improve the West End — again," Hannay says in a statement.

Market Ross Place consists of three buildings connected by a five-story atrium, comprising four restaurants and office space totaling approximately 142,000 square feet. It was built in 1905 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Hannay also bought three retail buildings across from Market Ross, a parcel that includes the Museum of Illusions; the former Gators restaurant; and a building containing Mas Tacos and Cannon Bakery. He also bought the West End Parking Garage, which includes 35,000 square feet of retail and more than 650 parking spaces on six levels.

These acquisitions closed in March 2026.

Hannay, who also owns Dallas ad agency Slingshot LLC, first began investing in the West End when he acquired the Awalt Building at 208 N. Market St. in 2000. He went on to buy other West End properties such as a three-building portfolio at Elm and North Record streets, giving him one of the largest stakes in the neighborhood, with ownership of nearly one quarter of the 1 million square feet of office space in the area.

Over the years, Five Smooth Stones has purchased and renovated almost 1,000,000 square feet of historic office and retail space in The West End.

One of their most high-profile purchases was the Landmark Center, the six-story building at 1801 N. Lamar St. that was formerly a regional center for the FBI and also served as the first office HQ for CultureMap Dallas when the site launched in 2012. Five Smooth Stones bought it in 2004, renovated it, sold to Argus Realty Investors LP in 2006 — then bought it back again in 2023.

The Landmark Center is one of many properties in the West End that has undergone multiple ownership changes, bouncing from local companies like Five Smooth Stones to institutional companies — often with less than ideal results.

“When we sold our holdings in the West End in 2015, office occupancy in the district was probably over 90 percent," Hannay says. "We intend to get there again by proving that businesses want high-quality, well priced, centrally located historic space that exists in a genuine neighborhood that provides a human scale to live in, work in, and play in."

To that end, Five Smooth Stones has signed several new lease agreements in the Landmark Center, as well as facilitating the comeback of Ellen's Restaurant into its old space at Market Ross.

The new office tenants at Landmark include:

The Law Offices of Dean Omar Branham Shirley, LLP, a leading law firm, leasing almost 16,000 sq ft
HighLevel Inc., a marketing technology company with 15,700 sq ft on the fifth and sixth floors
Benchmark Group Architects, with 7,500 sq ft on the first floor
The Houston Room, an event venue occupying 6,000 sq ft on the fourth floor

… along with several smaller tenants including Corgan Architects Model Studio, Wildcat Investments, Cravens Brothers, JF Depetris, Jr., CPA and Collabridge Solutions, Inc.

The new leases bring The Landmark Center to more than 50 percent occupancy, with additional build- to-suit leasing opportunities available ranging from 2,000 to 30,000 sq ft.

"I believe that the leases we have already signed are indicative of demand,” Hannay says.

dallas west end downtown historic building sustainability