Lancaster Town Square Revival Earns Michaella Ramler Preservation Dallas Honor
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Combine vision, passion, entrepreneurship, enthusiasm, and a talent for connecting people, and you have Michaella Ramler.
Michaella is a dynamo developer who was learning about profit margins at nine while reselling Hello Kitty merchandise in the corner of her mom’s shop in the historic Lancaster town square. She is not your average developer by any stretch. Her ingenuity and persistence to reinvigorate her hometown square have resulted in a revitalization I doubt many would have thought possible. It’s only fitting that she is being recognized in May by Preservation Dallas with the coveted Community Revitalizer Award.
How It Started
Building on her early exposure to entrepreneurship, Ramler is not new to development or historic preservation. She and her husband A.J began their real estate and development journey right out of college. While most kids in their early 20s are hitting the bars, the Ramlers were figuring out how to invest in real estate. It began in a practical sense. A.J had studied real estate at UNT and knew they did not want to rent, so they found a place they could afford to buy. With the seed money from selling Michaella’s competition dressage horse, they bought a fourplex across from what is now Cenzos in Oak Cliff.
“We were hooked on investing,” Michaella said. “I taught middle school, A.J worked sales, and we lived in the basement to rent all four units. By 25, we had 30 units before entering partnerships. That’s when AJ started Proxy Properties and focused on development.”
Their renovation experience grew quickly: the couple began with a rescue of the historic 1890s Struck house as their family home. From there, they turned their focus to reviving blighted, generally historic, vacant buildings. A.J. continues to concentrate on Oak Cliff properties, like the Oak Cliff Assembly, the Madison Hotel, and, most recently, the East Dock. Michaella’s interests expanded further afield into frontier markets.
How It’s Going: Stewarding Space
This evolution led Michaella, in 2022, to found her own development company, Stewarding Space, LLC, focused on local-scale commercial assets—preferably historic—in markets surrounding Dallas.
Turning her attention homeward, Michaella focused her efforts on Lancaster. The town square had extremely low pedestrian traffic and was underutilized, dotted with multiple vacant storefronts. For over thirty years, the city had faced economic decline, limited private reinvestment, and reduced access to neighborhood-serving commercial uses.
“I thought it was a great place to start,” Michaella said. “I called Suzi Rawlins, who owned most of the properties in the town square, to see if she would sell them to me, and she said no.”
Suzi Rawlins is a descendant of the first pioneers of Lancaster in the 1820s, and the town square meant a lot to her. However, after talking to her daughter and husband, she decided it was actually the right time to sell. She called back and said yes to Michaella and her investment partners. This transfer of ownership marked a significant transition from generational stewardship to active reinvestment in the historic core, setting the stage for Michaella’s next steps.
Michaella started talking, connecting, and convincing. With her charismatic nature, doors started opening. When they didn’t, she carefully pried them open because she was on a mission. Her focus was on attracting stable, experienced, long-term businesses willing to enter into 5-year lease agreements. This approach required each space to be restored in a manner that matched the operational needs and quality standards of the tenants being recruited.
“I had a vision and a good pulse on existing regional retailers. I also had a dear friend, Holly Breeland, a broker with Venture right now. She came out with me with her broker’s creative eyes to help me think through where things should be. She helped me project manage my pitch book, which was a broad site plan in watercolor of what the Lancaster town square could be. I could also not have done this project without our architect, Alicia Quintans, and general contractor, Elyse Build, who were integral to our success here.”
In January of 2023, Stewarding Space received a generous pay-for-performance grant to revitalize the historic town square and redevelop the 17,000 square feet into mixed-use space, the shot in the arm this project needed.
One of the first big wins was when Michaella convinced Lauren and Silka Sanchez, the mother-daughter duo that owns La Calle Doce, to open in the town square. “I know Michaella because our kids went to school together,” Silka said. “She has a unique vision and has invited owners into the investment portfolio. That’s rare for a commercial tenant.”
As of today, 13 businesses are active, and interest in the district continues. Legacy businesses such as the Lovin’ Oven and John’s Bikes and Trikes remain, while more recent additions—including Curio Kitchen + Market, The Local Exchange, Bobalicious, Gelu Italian Ice, Just Juice, HUG BBQ, The Office Loft, and Kyoto Brew—have opened within the past few years, showing that the town square is thriving.
“I think what truly saved the Downtown Lancaster Square is that we made the district relevant again,” Michaella said. “We now have restaurants, retail, and services relevant to the consumer, driving traffic to our buildings every day. This is what made us come back to life and will preserve us for many decades to come.”
The 2026 Preservation Dallas Achievement Awards will be held May 7 at the Longhorn Ballroom.
