Living Large on Phil Romano’s Legendary Estate

Settle in with a big beverage, because this is a good story about a legendary estate. It also has a very happy ending that includes Mehrdad Moayedi and Robert Elliott. If you are reading us from afar, moving to Dallas, crave privacy and security, and money is no object, you’re in luck.

Uber-Personalized Luxury Estate

Let’s step back a few years. I’ve lived in Dallas for a long time, so the story of Phil Romano’s legendary estate is etched in my brain. It was a frustrating story because when Phil bought almost five acres on Strait Lane, he proceeded to build the most personalized property I’ve ever seen.

That’s OK. When you are a mogul and responsible for creating a string of well-known restaurants, you can damn well do what you want.

But when it comes to selling that property, you have a Herculean challenge. This legendary estate was not just the talk of the town when Romano decided to sell a few years after he built this mega-mansion in 2001. It was also national news. Making the pages of Variety, the most respected publication for the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, means you have hit the big time.

Think About When You Will Sell, Not If

Years ago, Candy and I were devotees of a blogger in Los Angeles that went by the moniker of “Mama.” When I say this home was highly personalized, “Mama” put it best in his brilliant blog, “The Real Estalker,” which was sadly sold to the highest bidder and gutted of all personality.

Here is what he said about this legendary estate when it first hit the market:

Your Mama is going to bring y’all one more house of scratch out your eyes upsetting interior decor before we begin the New Year. Now, puppies, this one is a doozy, so hurry and gitchyer nerve medication or your big bottle of booze or whatever else will prop you up as we wade through this decorating disaster deep in the heart of Texas.

Now, children, Your Mama has looked hard at the photos of the interiors of this house. In fact, we have looked really, damn HARD. We have tired and we have endeavored, but alas, and with all due respect to the Romano’s, we simply have nothing nice to say about what we see. Not. One. Thing.

I think you get the picture. If not, I’ve included a few of the old photos and a link to show Romano went to town on this house, and every ceiling had a different crazy-quilt motif. Of course, when it went on the market, it sat. and sat, and sat.

Remember, we are talking about almost five acres in the heart of Dallas —sitting for years. Note to every single billionaire homeowner in the country: THINK about when you will sell, because you WILL, eventually sell. Either fix your home before you sell or lower the price dramatically because “Ain’t nobody got your LACK of taste honey,” as Mama would say.

The Savior of Iconic Dallas Properties

Let’s move forward. Mehrdad Moayedi has turned into the savior of iconic Dallas properties, both residential and commercial. Large legendary estates are his jam. He’s brought the Statler hotel back to life and is rescuing the absurd water park property down the road. He put in a winning bid for the Crespi Estate. He and Candy think alike. When she wrote about Phil’s property years ago, she said:

“I always thought Romano’s was a sleeper property, nothing a good contractor cannot change, and apparently, that is exactly what Mehrdad plans to do.”

Bingo. OMG, has this property been transformed. Honestly, it’s down to paint and common sense. When this legendary estate popped up a couple of days ago, I had to do the proverbial double-take. I texted Candy and said, “This is Phil’s place, but LOOK AT IT!”

Mehrdad had every square inch of this 15,043-square-foot, eight-bedroom, seven-bathroom, four-powder-bath, legendary estate updated. Gone are the absurdly personalized ceilings. The cafeteria-style commercial kitchen had a much-needed refresh.

A Truly Legendary Estate

This gated legendary estate has an enormous, fully stocked lake with fountains and waterfalls flowing down to a creek. There is a jogging trail, a par-three golf hole, a two-lane professional AMF bowling alley, a state-of-the-art gym with a sauna, tanning bed and massage table, a tennis court, basketball court, resort-style pool with cabanas (yes that’s plural), a salon, and cool stuff like a hidden cave and a fantastic kid’s treehouse.

The bowling alley and gym were added for the present owners and can easily be converted to guest quarters, but why would you do that? Seriously, you have almost five acres. you can use part of that for a rockin’ guest house and move mom, dad, and the college kids home because that is exactly what everyone is doing right now.

Let me clue you in. There is nothing available this centrally located that offers a ton of acreage and a home with all the bells and whistles. To give you an idea of how ideal this property is, when Mehrdad’s renovation was complete it was SNAPPED up immediately.

As usual, were it not for business opportunities, the present owners would not be selling. They love this legendary estate. Now you can, too, because it’s no longer a hot damn mess — it’s gorgeous!

Ty Vaughn of the Vaughn Group at Robert Elliott and Associates has this jaw-dropping legendary estate at 10660 Strait Lane on offer for $14.5 million, and believe me, my darlings, that is a deal.

Large estates are in high demand right now, and they are moving in mere days. Don’t be surprised if this one is gone by the time we post, because we have it on good authority that a very interested party saw it yesterday, so I hope your banker is on speed dial!