Introducing Hall Arts

Dallas Arts District new skyscraper to house Stephan Pyles' namesake restaurant

Dallas Arts District is buzzing with news of a new real estate development in the neighborhood. An 18-story skyscraper from Hall Financial Group is moving into 2323 Ross Ave., with construction beginning September 23.

The multi-use Hall Arts building hasn't broken ground yet, but it already has a big coup: Stephan Pyles is moving his namesake restaurant to the development, which is slated to open fall 2015.

Craig Hall said the project will span five acres and two city blocks. Hall also announced five lease agreements — three of which are companies with 100-plus-year-old pedigrees. Future tenants KPMG LLP, Jackson Walker LLP, UMB Bank, Stephan Pyles, and Hall Financial Group were all present at Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center on September 18 for the development's unveiling.

Most businesses are just moving a few block downtown, but Hall Financial is making the trek from Frisco to Dallas. KPMG’s lease included the right to name the building. Manny Fernandez, managing partner of the firm’s Dallas office, revealed the new name as KPMG Plaza.

The 18‐story office building will contain 450,000 square feet with additional restaurant space on its lower levels. Outside, a half-acre landscaped park with outdoor seating areas, passageways and water features will provide a respite for downtown workers. Hall Financial Group secured a pre-certified LEED Gold rating for the space. The elite environmental designation is granted by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Hall Arts will also include the Texas Sculpture Walk with work from artists living and working in Texas. Hall Arts hopes to one day include sculpture and art from all over the world.

Hall Arts is a five-acre, mixed-use real estate project that will be built out in three phases on two full city blocks in downtown Dallas.

Photo courtesy of Hall Arts

Hall Arts is a five-acre, mixed-use real estate project that will be built out in three phases on two full city blocks in downtown Dallas.

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affordability news

Texans need to make nearly 6 figures to buy a home in 2025, per report

Photo by Kostiantyn Li on Unsplash

Texans that aren't making about $99,000 a year may have a tough time buying a home this year, the report discovered.

A recent report analyzing the minimum income it takes to buy a home across America has revealed Texans have it easier than residents of other states, but the dream may still feel unattainable for many.

Potential homebuyers need to make at least $99,000 to buy a home in Texas in 2025, according to the analysis from Realtor.com.

To determine the minimum income a local resident would need to make to buy a home in their own state, Realtor.com calculated each state's "affordability gap" by finding the difference in the actual annual income from the minimum recommended income to afford a median-priced home as of July 2025. The report also determined the percentage difference between the affordability gap figure and state's median actual income.

Texas joined 18 other states where the minimum income required to purchase a home is just under the six-figure range.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income in Texas is $75,780, which means the affordability gap for a potential Texas homebuyer adds up to more than $23,000. That also means that the minimum income required to buy a Texas home this year is roughly 30 percent higher than the state's actual median income.

Though the report didn't give any data on the median list price of a Texas home in July, Realtor.com said the median list price of a home in Dallas-Fort Worth was $439,900 last month. July's median list price was 2.2 percent lower year-over-year from July 2024.

"Even as the summer housing market is gradually turning more buyer-friendly, the typical American still does not earn enough to keep up with monthly mortgage payments without becoming house-poor," the report's author wrote. "However, the degree of unaffordability varies widely across states. Overall, it has moderately edged down compared with the end of last year."

Elsewhere in the U.S., Iowa is the No. 1 most affordable state for homebuyers in 2025, Realtor.com says, with residents needing to make at least $76,422 to afford a median-priced home in the state. The median list price for an Iowa home in July came out to $289,938, and the median income of an Iowa household is just under $76,000, making Iowa's affordability gap the smallest out of all 50 states at only $431.

"In other words, investing in a median-priced home in Iowa would require spending just a little over the target 30 percent on housing, still leaving plenty of cash in the bank to cover other necessities," the report said.

Realtor.com's top 10 most affordable states for homebuyers in 2025, plus the minimum income needed to afford a median-priced home, are:

No. 1 – Iowa ($76,422)
No. 2 – Illinois ($85,196)
No. 3 – Kansas ($74,030)
No. 4 – Ohio ($76,425)
No. 5 – Indiana ($81,565)
No. 6 – Pennsylvania ($85,662)
No. 7 – Missouri ($81,973)
No. 8 – West Virginia ($71,167)
No. 9 – Minnesota ($105,169)
No. 10 – Michigan ($83,542)

On the opposite end, Montana is the No. 1 least affordable state for homebuyers with an affordability gap surpassing $99,000. The median income of a Montana household is only $72,066 a year, and the median list price of a home in the state was $649,900 in July. The report then determined that a Montana resident would need to make more than $171,000 to afford that median-priced home.

"To put it differently, a would-be homebuyer in Montana would require a 138 percent raise to comfortably afford a home in the state at the current mortgage interest rate of 6.72 percent," the report said.

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