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| photography by Graham Hobart |
Established: June 2, 1927. Lake Highlands has a distinctive country feel. Bettina Barn, circa 1900, still stands. While most homes were built in the late 1950s, Moss Farm Estates, developed in the ’70s, offers updated amenities and generous square footage.
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Location: North of Northwest Highway, south of I-635, east of Greenville Avenue (including Hamilton Park off Forest Lane, west of Jupiter Road)
Population: 85,000
Average Home Price: $247,000 and rising. New construction prices are as high as $800,000.
Average Home Size: 2,319 square feet
Lot Value: $170,000 to $250,000
Lot Size: 75 feet by 130 feet
Why Lake Highlands? It’s close-in, wooded, two miles from White Rock Lake, family-friendly (just say “blue ribbon Richardson schools”), and enjoying a $400 million shot in the arm from Prescott Realty Group’s new Lake Highlands Town Center development. LHTC is 70 acres total, 20 acres of parks and open spaces, 2 million square feet of structures including 300,000 square feet of retail, 100,000 square feet of office, and 1,600 new residential units. DART has agreed to put in a light rail station; a planned hike and bike trail extension from LHTC to the White Rock Lake trail system will enable bikers to pedal from American Airlines Center to Lake Highlands by 2010.
While the commercial guys are scraping the apartments, home- builders are bulldozing older properties throughout Lake Highlands, yielding an attractive mix of tasteful new construction with immaculately-tended or remodeled mid-century modern brick ranches. “L Street” sales (Larchwood, Lakemere, Liptonshire, Lanshire, Lynbrook) are almost as hot as those in the “M Streets” and cheaper.
Who’s Buying? Families, investors, young professionals, but interest comes from all around—Plano, Frisco, McKinney, even folks in Preston Hollow and Park Cities seeking better value or to downsize.
“I have half a dozen buyers right now who are ready to go if I could find the teardown lots,” Mark Dann of Highland Classic Homes says.
Local haunts: Highlands Cafe, ST Cafe/Sweet Temptations Bakery, White Rock Coffee, Picasso’s Pizza, Mi Cocina, and LA Fitness.
