Townhouses to replace Oak Lawn units

09:15 AM CST on Thursday, March 16, 2006

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

Developers have bought up several Oak Lawn apartment complexes with plans to replace the rental units with townhouses.

Prescott Realty Group – the same company that's building high-rise condos at the Stoneleigh Hotel – plans to construct more than 100 townhouses on Newton, Gilbert and Bowser streets just south of Highland Park.

The first phase of the project is being built in partnership with CityView.

The California-based company was started by former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros to build urban housing. Mr. Cisneros is also a former secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

"Prescott Realty Group started on Prescott Street owning and redeveloping duplexes and apartments from the late 1990s," said president Jud Pankey.

"We have now found opportunities to go back into the neighborhood and begin a redevelopment process."

The first 58 townhouses on Newton Street near Douglas Avenue will replace about 84 apartments built in the 1960s.

"The first units should be available in January," said Prescott Realty director Louis Rothermell.

Designed by architect Good Fulton & Farrell of Dallas, the three-story units will be built starting this month.

The condominiums will range from 1,600 to 2,600 square feet and will cost between $375,000 and $550,000.

"It's all masonry for the most part on the exterior," said architect David Farrell. "Modernism is taking a fresh start in Dallas, and that's what we wanted here."

After the Newton Street project is done, Prescott will move on to another location on nearby Gilbert and construct 30 more units.

"We think there is a niche in the marketplace for higher-end townhomes," said Prescott Realty managing director Vance Detwiler.

David Griffin Realtors has been hired to market the Oak Lawn project.

Most of the condo and townhouse projects in that neighborhood are smaller, Mr. Griffin said.

"Since they have been able to acquire so much land, they are able to make an architectural statement," he said. "And there is not a better Oak Lawn location."

Builder's retro units are hot sellers

Dallas townhomes are patterned after old fire stations

07:48 AM CST on Thursday, February 23, 2006

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

Builder Terry Gaston has a thing for old fire stations.

He's spent hours poring over pictures of historic firehouses and visiting the landmarks around town.

And residents in his Dallas townhouse projects get to share in his love. At least on the outside, the central city projects are patterned after the early 20th-century fire stations.

"Inside there is everything you'd expect to find in a new home," said Mr. Gaston, whose Brandenburg Homes sells the retro units for between $250,000 and $500,000.

He's just finished the seven-unit Fire Station Lofts project on Cedar Springs Road in Oak Lawn. The 1,600- to 2,100-square-foot units were inspired by the nearby historic firehouse.

"We sold those out before they were done," said Mr. Gaston, who has other projects in the works in Oak Lawn and East Dallas.

Originally, Brandenburg Homes was building traditional houses in northern Oak Lawn.

"We had never done townhomes," Mr. Gaston said. "My partner, Jeff Blackwell, and I were fascinated by old designs.

"I was taken with firehouse designs in particular," he said.

To get some styling clues, Mr. Gaston looked at vintage photos and plans at the Dallas Fire Fighters Museum near Fair Park.

"We are trying to build something that looks historic and fits in with old neighborhoods," he said.

"We don't want to build something you'd see in Plano."

Mr. Gaston worked for high-tech firms – including Texas Instruments and E-Systems – before forming the homebuilding company in 2000. Since then, Brandenburg Homes has built more than three dozen homes.

David Lovelace, who purchased one of the Cedar Springs units, said he was initially attracted by the interior design and quality of the townhouse.

"I appreciate the fact that it was different, and I liked the way it looked from the street," Mr. Lovelace said.

Mr. Gaston is a stickler for details. Brandenburg Homes was even nominated for a Preservation Dallas award for one of its projects on Mission Avenue that mimics a historic East Dallas fire station.

The builder's latest FireHouse Lofts project is under construction in the Lower Greenville neighborhood.

Each of the six units will have three bedrooms and two baths and a rooftop deck. They range from about $360,000 to almost $430,000.

"They are unique, and people seem to like them," Mr. Gaston said.