Has the Ceiling Been Lifted on Double Digit Million Dollar Sales in Preston Hollow?

5505 Chatham Hill: under contract

No sooner than some writer says “Nobody one wants to buy someone else’s ex-wive” (quoting an unnamed Realtor) do we see a flurry of double digit million dollar sales in Preston Hollow including one that is making my head spin. I’m talking about 9806 Inwood Road which was listed for $12,999,000 after having been reduced from a high of $19 million. Just got word there was a BIDDING WAR between two buyers and it sold for $15 million on April 10. And another $12,750,000 listing with a Versailles hall of mirrors is under contract.

Don’t know about you, but I’ve seen some pretty damn hot ex-wives — and we’ve got the world’s best plastic surgeons in this town.

Dans Bois Crete is the home that finally made me realize million dollar listings are as common here as the peanuts handed out on Southwest Air Lines flights.

Good Lord, I wrote that story TWO YEARS AGO!

Dallas is quickly becoming home to multi-multi million dollars listings and sales. It all started with Julie Piland’s sale of 10245 Strait Lane to one of the bigwhigs from U.S. Airways after the AA/US Air merger. (Talk about a story that gave me ulcers. Note to AA execs — I’m still only Gold but my husband is Platinum– my silence CAN be bought!)  And then 6601 Hunters Glen, the $19 million dollar home of Tracy and Richard Cheatham listed for $19.5 million sold on Good Friday in 2013 for just under $16.4. Listed with Erin Mathews at Allie Beth Allman. Richard Cheatham was with Hunt Oil — energy sector — and they bought Hunters Glen from Jimmy and Carl Westcott in 2008.  It sits on 1.8 acres in the honeypot of University Park, with a tennis court, putting green and two-story cabana.

Back to Preston Hollow. “Dans Bois Crete”, means “in wood ridge”. In a wood ridge this manse is, indeed, located on that elegant stretch of Inwood Road just south of Walnut Hill, not too far from the heart-throbbing estates of Kelcy Warren, Roger Staubach, and Windle and Shirley Turley. My friends built the home with every detail imaginable then settled back and enjoyed it, from the wonderful gourmet chef’s kitchen to the downstairs movie theater with a full-service ticket booth plus candy and popcorn concession stand. Then the new owners embellished the already embellished. At 14,139-square-feet, the very, very French mansion sits on 5.3-acres tucked inside formidable black iron gates. The home has six glorious bedrooms, seven bathrooms and three half baths. Very dramatic: the Spangenbergs applied gold leaf, which is on the ceilings of the entry hall and dining rooms. I am talking 24 karat gold leaf. You have never seen anything like it! There is a Baccarat chandelier, and that private theater is paneled in blue velvet. (Yep, just like the movie, Blue Velvet.) There are Venetian plastered hallways, and in fact I think every wall is Venetian plaster, coffered ceilings, marble and wood floors with, of course security cameras throughout the home. The main part of the mansion includes arched glass French doors, a gaming room with an adjacent bar, a cherry wood-paneled library of imported Honduras Mahogany, a master retreat with attached screened-in porch, the first I had ever seen in Dallas. I do recall those screens were retractable, I believe. There are numerous sitting rooms and studies. The outdoors, designed by renown landscape designer Harold Leidner, includes an outdoor kitchen with a full fryer. You could live in this outside oasis. There is also a guest suite and a beautiful home office for the Mistress of the Manor.

The mansion has a long, winding drive up with a creek that runs through the lot. Atop the ridge is the home featuring a pool, incredible terrace and sweeping lawns on the vast acreage. There is even a maze garden designed by Harold Leidner. The circular drive in front of the home features a cascading Italian fountain flanked by four small fire pits studded with fire torches, all created by the current owner..

Perhaps the most amazing thing about “Dans Bois Crete” is the dramatic westward view from the home come sunset. The torches are ablaze and the Texas sun is setting, spinning off marvelous glints of orange and yellow as the sun descends. Looking westward over the flickering torches, this home evokes images of a Bavarian castle.

Audrey and Erich Spangenberg bought the estate in 2007, they being owners of Dallas-based IPNav, a company that specializes in patent infringement law. When 9806 Inwood hit the market, the Spangenberg’s were reluctant to reveal their name and their agent, Briggs-Freeman’s Christy Berry, was totally mum. And we, of course, respected that until The Wall Street Journal spilled the beans that revealed ownership. (Reporters!)

From this fantastic New York Times story, we know that Erich Spangenberg once owned  “…16 cars and a mansion with a gold leaf ceiling and a Baccarat chandelier.” Yep, that’s it. Then, the Times says, he “snapped out of it a few years ago, after he bought so much wine at a Christie’s auction that it was delivered in an 18-wheel truck. His son said he’d need to live to 200 to consume all of it.”

Well, he snapped out it to the tune of $15 million in April.

Now comes word that another double digit Preston Hollow estate is under an option contract: I am talking about the $12,750,000 spread at 5505 Chatham Hill Road, listed with Ann Henry at Briggs Freeman, that is right now being very seriously circled. Heard the buyers were going to pounce on the Trevino property over on Park Lane, but like this better. I might have to agree (but I LOVE the Trevino property) only because we used to live down the street.

Ask me anything about the neighborhood, anything. 5505 Chatham Hill Road is a stunning 8506 square foot Tudor estate on 3.4 acres with a large lake, stunning pool, cabana, island gazebo, multiple bridges and fountains. The great room has a most beautiful coffered ceiling and French doors leading to all the goodies on the grounds. There is a downstairs master that views the grounds with a knock-out to-die-for master bath and a virtual hall of mirrors — a closet the size of Versailles! Upstairs are four more huge bedrooms, three baths and a large game room. There is also a 12 car garage and I’m telling you, my builders tell me the garage size these is getting to be super vital in buying these older estates — the divorcees. Three to four cars just isn’t enough for a serious car collection.

Well we all know size certainly counts!

So there you have it, proof that you can teach even an old divorcee new tricks.

…buyers with the means to buy a $30 million house—unlimited resources, more or less—can also afford to build something new, completely customized. Finally, in the small local community of the ultra-wealthy, there’s some concern about moving into a house that has already hosted big social events—a home that might be associated with fundraisers for President Obama, for example. As one agent put it, “Nobody wants to buy someone else’s ex-wife.”

I laughed when I read the article. Nothing could wipe the stigma left from a fundraiser for President Obama faster than a Trevor Rees-Jones barbecue for Jeb Bush! Smell that brisket!

Sure, the Hicks Estate, Walnut Place, is pricey at $100 million, as is Lisa Blue’s estate and Trammell Crow’s place on Preston Road. But ten years ago, if you would have told me that 5505 Chatham Hill would go on the market in the $12 million range, I might have choked. Similarly, the Spangenbergs paid about $7.68 million (according to the WSJ, I think it was more, ask Doug Newby) for a property they more than doubled (minus what they sunk into it, of course). So yesterday’s $5 million is today’s $10 to $12 million plus. Which means today’s $20 million is tomorrow’s $40 million.

The young broads may be built with a gadzillion square feet and loaded with new, shiny parts, but the old broads have something money simply cannot buy: location and a very rich history.

Something maybe Dallas is starting to appreciate.