This $479K Townhome Has Had a Front-Row Seat to Old East Dallas’ Evolution

When this townhome overlooking Exall Park was new, buyers were being sold on a neighborhood that was still becoming what it is today.

The early marketing for La Vista on Live Oak townhomes touted its rooftop decks with downtown skyline views, its location across from the roughly 11-acre Exall Park, and the grander promise of City Lights, a proposed $175 million mixed-use development near Live Oak Street and Good-Latimer Expressway. Plans at the time called for a grocery-anchored shopping center, residential buildings, and a hotel — part of a broader push to remake the blocks east of Downtown.

City Lights never materialized as originally envisioned. Two decades later, the big development promises have come and gone through various iterations, but the broader transformation in this neighborhood has clearly taken hold. Apartments, townhomes, and new retail and restaurants have steadily filled in the blocks around the park, while Downtown, Uptown, Deep Ellum, and Baylor University Medical Center have all helped pull energy and momentum toward this corner of Old East Dallas.

And the feature those original builders foresaw still makes the best case for the house: from the rooftop terrace, there are views toward the downtown skyline in one direction and Exall Park in the other.

Now listed for $479,000 with James Fairchild of Ebby Halliday Realtors, the two-bedroom, 2½-bath townhome has 1,947 square feet spread across three stories, plus the rooftop terrace and an attached two-car garage.

The first floor includes a bedroom, a full bath, and a built-in workstation, giving the level enough flexibility to serve as guest quarters, office space, or some combination of the two.

Most of the daily living happens one floor up, where the kitchen, dining area, and living room flow together in an open, light-filled space anchored by large black-framed panes that pull in the trees outside and add some architectural definition to an otherwise clean-lined interior.

The kitchen features white Shaker cabinetry, open shelving, butcher block counters, a quartz-topped island, and an exposed brick wall that gives the contemporary space a slightly more urban edge.

The third floor belongs to the primary suite, with a sitting area, large walk-in closet, dual vanities, soaking tub, separate shower, and laundry all on the same level.

Giving the primary suite an entire floor may be the clearest example of what works with townhome living. The home is organized as a vertical sequence, so rather than dividing bedrooms, living spaces, and work areas across one floor, each level has a fairly distinct job.

Then comes the roof.

The private terrace with downtown views was part of the sales pitch from the beginning, but the park nearby is also part of the story of how this pocket developed. By the early 2000s, Dallas planners were already crediting the park with helping attract residential development to the surrounding blocks.

Today, Exall Park has trails, a playground, recreation center, basketball court, public art, and workout stations. It also hosts neighborhood events, including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s free Parks Concert series.

The trees have matured and the neighborhood around it has filled in. But the features that mattered most when this Carmel Street townhome was new — the park, the skyline, and the location between them — are still doing most of the work.

James Fairchild of Ebby Halliday Realtors has listed 3124 Carmel Street for $479,000.