Before the Bulldozer, Former Tenants Goodbye to Lake Highlands Village

Lake Highlands residents are sentimental about their beloved landmarks.

When the proprietors of the old White Rock Skate Center on Shoreview Road decided to retire in 2006, old Wildcats came out of the woodwork to say goodbye to the last place they ever couples-skated to “Dreamweaver” by Gary Wright. And when Penny Whistle Park at Northwest Highway and Plano Road, one of Dallas’ first amusement parks, shut down in 1995, reminiscent East Dallasites eagerly gobbled up the park’s old hats, t-shirts, and even old games and rides sold at auction later that year.

But sentimental about a long-vacant office and retail center at the crux of Skillman and Audelia? You’d be surprised.

When veteran Realtor and Broker Barbara Reeves got word that part of Lake Highlands Village — former home to her RE/MAX About Dallas office — would be torn down soon to make way for a new development of townhomes, she called up a few friends and former co-workers for a quick group photo in front of their old digs.

She hasn’t gotten off the phone since.

“I’ve spent the last two days talking to people non-stop. Last night my mind was still going so much that I couldn’t concentrate on the Mavs game,” Reeves says with a bubbly twang. “Shelby, I’m the reason why they lost!”

Agents, title officers, and mortgage company executives are just some of the former tenants that’ll gather this afternoon at the two-story stucco center they once called home. A five-acre section will come down to make way for a proposed development of approximately 90 single-family townhomes by Dallas-based JAH Realty LP, who purchased the center in January 2020.

But long before the terracotta roof tiles began to show their age and the Oak and Hackberry trees grew bare from neglect, Lake Highlands Village was a vibrant center of Northeast Dallas business. Plaza National Bank (later Compass), Sweet Temptations bakery, and El Fenix were just a few of the dozens of businesses over the years that occupied the trio of Mediterranean two-story buildings totaling 100,000 square feet.

When Reeves moved into RE/MAX About Dallas’s 4,500-square-foot, first-floor office, she and her fellow brokers Missy Vanderbilt and Elaine Mitchell unknowingly created a powerful little real estate block — RE/MAX, Bankers Financial Mortgage, and American Title, all in one spot. While home buyers didn’t always choose this trifecta in Lake Highlands Village for closing, the respective real estate professionals did often find themselves in the same place — the second-floor meeting space of Kokopelli’s Mexican Restaurant for monthly, sometimes weekly networking events. The space later became El Fenix.

Gerry Taylor launched Bankers Financial Mortgage in 1988 there in Lake Highlands Village with just three team members. “By the time we moved, we had 20 people,” Taylor says. “We kept hiring and just finding a place for them in that small office.

“One day, the Dallas Fire Marshall walked in and saw how many people we had packed in the office. He shook his head and walked out,” Taylor says. “I later reassured him we were moving soon.”

Taylor sold the mortgage bank to Legacy Bank Texas in 2007 and is now executive vice president at Legacy Bank Texas Mortgage.

One of Lake Highlands Village’s most prominent tenants was the late Bill Waugh. He was founder and senior chair of the board for Plaza National Bank, which occupied the landmark dome at the center of Lake Highlands Village. He launched Plaza Bank the same year he sold his successful multi-brand restaurant business, Casa Bonita, to a British conglomerate for $32.5 million in 1981.

If Casa Bonita doesn’t ring a bell since its locations were out of state, you might recognize the other two restaurants that were part of the fold: Crystal’s Pizza and Taco Bueno. Yep, that Crystal’s and that Taco Bueno.

Waugh was interviewed on NPR years later and said as soon as he sold the restaurants, he immediately regretted it. He even tried to buy it right back, but England-based Unigate refused. He went on to build a new restaurant chain from scratch, Burger Street, whose first location was in Lewisville. Coincidentally, both Burger Street and Taco Bueno were once walking distance from Lake Highlands Village.

Taylor, the mortgage banker, was friends with Waugh, who was known throughout Dallas and the South as the consummate yet caring businessman. His office was located below Waugh’s.

Flush with cash, Waugh came across two cumbersome objects he wanted to purchase in England.

“He found a fireplace and a wooden library, and had it dissembled there in England,” Taylor recalls. “He had it shipped over and brought the guys who dissembled it for him to the United States to re-assemble it in his second-story office. I can’t even imagine how much that cost.”

Stories like that no doubt bring a smile to Taylor’s and Reeves’ faces. They’ll have a chance to catch up and share more stories when they descend on Lake Highlands Village one last time this afternoon.

“The office center was like a subdivision. A hometown sort of thing,” Taylor says. “My business grew and flourished there, and all of my time there was special.”