Your Expert Guide

Caruth Hills: A family-friendly University Park enclave near SMU

There are so many great places to live in Dallas that it helps to have an expert on your side. The Neighborhood Guide presented by Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty gives you insider access from the agents who live and work there, providing in-the-know info about your possible new community.

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Who better to know about buying and selling in a neighborhood than those who live there? Malinda and David Arvesen "live and sell the Park Cities," raising their family in Caruth Hills. Malinda is even on the board of the Caruth Hills & Homeplace Neighborhood Association.

This neighborhood is where the pioneering William Barr Caruth family established its homestead in Dallas in 1848 — eventually the family owned 30,000 acres of land from downtown Dallas to Forest Lane.

"We love Caruth Hills," Malinda says. "David and I have lived here since 2006. We enjoy being so close to NorthPark Center with all its fine shopping and dining, as well as being minutes from the SMU campus and charming Snider Plaza."

Malinda, who has an MBA in finance from SMU, worked in sales and then escrow at a title company before forming the Arvesen Group with her husband, David. With a finance degree from Baylor University, David was a residential and commercial real estate appraisal manager for a major bank before joining his wife in real estate sales.

Their broad backgrounds in appraisal, finance, and sales provide additional expertise for their clients.

The Arvesens offered up a few of their personal favorites about life in Caruth Hills. Here's their guide to the area:

Where to eat & drink
Snider Plaza is brimming with mouthwatering options, including Penne Pomodoro and Amore for Italian food, Bubba's for the best fried chicken, Festive Kitchen for catering and parties, Half Shells Oyster Bar & Grill for seafood, and Bandito's Tex-Mex Cantina for terrific margaritas.

Where to play
You can visit the SMU campus for the George W. Bush Presidential Center or the acclaimed Spanish art collection at the Meadows Museum, or just to simply stroll the beautiful grounds. "David is an avid cyclist, and we both swim and work out on the SMU campus as master swimmers," says Malinda.

NorthPark Center is another destination, with more than 200 retailers and the Nasher family's world-renowned art on display. Enjoy upscale shopping, delicious dining, and movies at the AMC theater.

Located at 2900 Hanover St., Elena's Children's Park was inspired by the life of Mary Elena Franklin, a 3-year-old who died tragically in an automobile accident on August 2, 1997. Neighbors and local leaders joined friends of the Franklin family and other University Park residents to create a city park dedicated to all Park Cities families who have lost a child. More than 500 families, corporations, and foundations contributed to the creation of this park, making it a true community effort.

Where to live
"Caruth Hills is a nice mix of traditional and transitional homes at a variety of price points," says Malinda. "This makes our neighborhood both affordable and desirable."

Sited in both University Park and the City of Dallas, Caruth Hills is just minutes from downtown Dallas via Central Expressway or the Tollway.

"The neighborhood’s central location allows for easy, quick access to the Arts District, American Airlines Center, and virtually any part of the Dallas-Fort Worth area," says David.

"It's a wonderful, friendly neighborhood," Malinda reiterates. "We live across the street from the acclaimed Boone Elementary in Highland Park ISD, and every morning we love seeing the kids walk or bike to school. It's the best!"

Their recent sale in the Boone Elementary district was 2724 Daniel Ave. This distinctive residence's design was inspired by gracious living in the Coastal South (think Sea Island, Georgia). The home features a cedar-siding exterior, a charming white picket fence, maple floors, large covered porches, and a beautiful backyard with a pool.

"It was fun to market this home, and we quickly had multiple offers," says Malinda.

"Malinda and David stayed on top of all the details," says a recent client. "They did an excellent job communicating with us and all parties involved, including the buyer of the house, the seller of the house we purchased, our lender, and both title companies."

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Malinda and David Arvesen live, work, and play in Caruth Hills in University Park. For more information on buying and selling a home in the area, click here, email marvesen@briggsfreeman.com and darvesen@briggsfreeman.com, or call 214-354-7029 (Malinda) or 214-354-6142 (David).

Agents Malinda and David Arvesen.

Photo courtesy of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty

Agents Malinda and David Arvesen.

qa promoted home-for-sale interview hidedate

Coffee News

Black Sheep Coffee from the U.K. comes to U.S. with debut in Dallas

Black Sheep Coffee

Black Sheep Coffee, coming from the U.K.

A coffee shop from the U.K. with celebrity ties is opening its first U.S. location in Dallas. Called Black Sheep Coffee, it's a growing chain based in London with a renegade stance: to champion the robusta coffee bean, one overlooked by most coffee snobs.

Black Sheep was founded in London in 2013 by friends Gabriel Shohet and Eirik Holth, who loved coffee and wanted to start their own business. They've built it into a chain with 60-plus locations including cafés and take-out shops across England, Scotland, Wales, France, and the Philippines.

The Dallas shop will open at 6240 E. Mockingbird Ln., in a shopping center in the Lakewood neighborhood. Shohet says it'll open in late spring.

Dallas came onto their radar after they formed a partnership for the U.S. expansion with Kristaps Porzingis, a professional basketball player who was playing for the Dallas Mavericks. He's since been traded to the Washington Wizards, but Shohet says Dallas still seemed like the perfect place to launch.

"I love Texas, it's a great state and a lot of people are moving there," Shohet says. "There's so much growth and Dallas has a good vibe. Kristaps became a good friend and ended up investing. He moved to Washington but we'd gotten this great location on Mockingbird and we're building a local team."

They'll make Dallas their headquarters, with a plan to open another half dozen locations, plus franchise opportunities as well (email franchising@leavetheherdbehind.com).

One of the non-coffee drinks at Black Sheep Coffee is a peanut-butter hot chocolate.Black Sheep Coffee

Shohet and Holth built the company brick by brick, starting out doing pop-ups before moving into brick-and-mortar locations. Their goal is to break the wall between specialty coffee and the mass market.

"We've always been about the coffee," he says. "We source the beans from plantations in southern India, Papua New Guinea, Brazil. We get the best beans in the world: specialty-grade, shade-grown, and hand-picked."

"But our premise was also, How can we bring great quality coffee to the mass market, by providing the best coffee but not making people feel like they're disturbing the coffee sacks?" he says. "Our baristas know their coffee, but if you just want to get your drink quickly and want caramel syrup, then go for it. We make it inclusive."

Their most radical act is their use exclusively of the robusta bean, whose stronger, less delicate flavor profile has seen it relegated to uses such as instant coffee and pre-ground cans, while arabica has been the bean favored by the discerning coffee crowd. But some roasters have begun to reject the narrative that robusta is inferior to arabica.

"We're the only coffee company in the world to focus 100 percent on specialty robusta," he says. "Everybody is always touting arabica, but if you can find a great robusta that’s not commercial grade, you have a cool product."

Robusta has twice the amount of caffeine, and he says the growers they work with are more enviro-friendly, requiring less water with more cherries per bush.

"Robusta is thicker and richer, and has an amazing crema when you brew it as espresso," he says. "It's also less acidic, so it's easier to digest on an empty stomach and has more body. It might have less flavor notes than arabica, but that extra body punches through the milk. Robusta is a great bean for drinks made with milk. It's unfair that it has a bad reputation."

Their championing of a bean that others forsake goes with their entire ethos. They also eschew plastic.

"When everybody’s doing something, we do something different," he says. "That’s what our slogan is about: 'Leave the herd behind.'"

In addition to coffee, their shops have exotic lattes, smoothies, and a signature peanut-butter hot chocolate. They do a small selection of food including bagels, "toasties," and Norwegian waffles, a signature.

"But we don't want to be a restaurant — we'll offer the pastries and items that go with coffee, but we just want to focus on making the best coffee."

openings celebrities coffee

Your Expert Guide

Caruth Hills: A family-friendly University Park enclave near SMU

Agents Malinda and David Arvesen.

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