Moving On
Bidding his mentor and broker of 15 years adieu, Ralph Randall has left Ebby Halliday to join Ebby alums J.L. Forke and Ken Martin at David Griffin & Company. Randall says he chose David Griffin because he likes the types of properties it handles—anything from original Dallas homes to today’s leading architecture. Of course, what everyone really wants to know is if Randall got to keep his Old Preston Hollow estate listing? All $45 million of it.
“Leaving Ebby Halliday, whom I adore, was like leaving home,” Randall says. “But great things happened to me when I left the nest back then. I’m sure they will again.”
Behind the Pink Wall
Ebby Halliday called it “Behind The Pink Wall” almost half a century ago; today Della Lively calls it the best kept secret in town. Behind The Pink Wall is a half-mile area east of Preston Road directly north of Northwest Highway—three blocks of ’50s era condominiums on Averill Way, Bandera Avenue, and Pickwick Lane, north of Preston Towers. Originally apartments, the units became condominiums in the ’70s and ’80s and have been quiet intermediate housing for well-heeled divorcees, newlyweds, and, most recently, retirees, many clustered in the Imperial House. (Full disclosure: Through an inheritance, I have an association with a property here.)
But now, here come the kids.
When she moved back to Dallas from LA, Lively’s daughter Anna was amazed at the asking price per square footage for many of the newer Uptown condos. Comparing size and price (approximately $150-200 a square foot), she bought a 1,700 to 1,900-square-foot unit and an efficiency to serve as her studio on Bandera Avenue.
“It’s the best bargain in town,” Lively says.