Texas Top Real Estate Stories This Week

Spring buying season is in the air, as temperatures moved into the 70s this week, which should come as a relief to Texas luxury agents, since the recent cold spell resulted in slowed sales in Austin.

Elsewhere in the realm of luxury real estate, Dallas’ most opulent home, the Crespi Estate, hit the market this week as Texas’ most-expensive listing. The historic home in Preston Hollow is asking $64 million, and the sellers are throwing in three adjacent lots spanning 3.74 acres.

The Trump administration shocked the real estate industry this week with his plan to kill EB-5 visas, an immigration path for foreign real estate investors. And Elon Musk’s plan to slash federal office space won’t be so easy. But what is going on in the Texas Legislature?

Lawmakers want to make commercial-to-residential conversions easier for developers while wresting more control away from local municipalities. A proposal by Sen. Bryan Hughes would remove rezoning requirements for residential conversions in major cities and counties across the state.

Meanwhile, some developers are bracing for tariffs which could take effect Monday. Ross Perot Jr. said Hillwood is considering adding a clause in development contracts to account for the possibility of rising construction costs related to Trump’s proposed tariffs.

In Dallas, it turned out that a pesky ground lease might not be the reason Hudson Bay Company wants to close the Neiman Marcus flagship store downtown after all. And Ray Washburne’s plans to sell the former Dallas Morning News building to a data center owner left city leaders on the back foot.

In Houston, TV personality Washington Ho is making his commercial real estate goals reality by hiring Victoria Luo’s team away from Nan & Company Properties. The eight-person team is experienced in retail leasing, which vibes with Ho’s plans to develop an “eater-tainment” district in Katy as well as White House Global Properties’ partnership with Huynh Investment Group to invest $100 million in Asian retail across the country.

Speaking of retail, Georgetown Companies has been on a grocery-anchored retail buying spree, and Texas is the queen of that asset class. The firm snapped up a Whole Foods-anchored shopping center in a trendy part of Fort Worth recently.

—Rachel Stone