Don't block their window on Dallas

As more high-rises go up, more condo owners fight to save views

12:00 AM CST on Friday, November 11, 2005

How's the view out your window?

About all I can see out the front of my house is a 30-foot holly bush that keeps the summer sun at bay. It also blocks the sight of the McMansion across the street – not a bad thing – and gives me a lot of privacy.

Of course, if I'm paying $300 or $400 a foot to buy in one of those fancy Uptown high-rises, I probably don't want to stare at a holly bush. The residential towers going up on Dallas' near north side brag about their views of the skyline.

But what happens when there are so many high-rises that the million-dollar view is looking at the building next door?

It's already a worry for folks who want to live the high life along Turtle Creek and McKinney Avenue.

Each time a new tower is announced, the neighbors get antsy about losing their view.

This fight has been going on for decades in Manhattan and Southern California. With the high-rise condo craze that's swept the nation, the battle has spread to places as disparate as Minneapolis and Las Vegas.

So are you surprised that plans for a McKinney Avenue high-rise have stirred up the view police in Uptown?

Houston developer Hanover Co. plans to erect a spiffy apartment tower on the vacant lot at McKinney and St. Paul Street. That's riled some of the owners of nearby buildings who worry that their vantage of downtown will be obscured. They are opposing the developer at City Hall in hopes of quashing the deal. Good luck.

A few years ago, we couldn't beg, borrow or pay people to come back to the downtown area. Now residents are fighting to preserve their view of the town.

I guess that's progress. And the Uptown building boom ensures that such dust-ups will become more common in the years ahead.

Court rulings have been pretty consistent in allowing landowners to build even if it blocks their neighbors' view. Don't believe it when your project's developer "promises" nothing will ever be built next door – ever is a long time, so you'd better get it in writing.

And unlike my holly bush, you can't lop the top off the tower across the street just because it's in the way.

Texas is tops

When it comes to business investment, you can't top Texas.

A new report by Ernst & Young found that Texas topped the nation in business facilities investment last year with a total of $13 billion.

That's more than double second-place Michigan. Ohio, California and New York also trail the Lone Star state.

The biggest project on Ernst & Young's report is the new Texas Instruments plant in Richardson. And Countrywide Financial Group's new Telecom Corridor regional office also made the list.

"It's my business not to be surprised by this kind of thing," said Bruce Rutherford, who heads real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle's Texas regional office. "But most people who don't follow this would be surprised.

"Texas is attracting a lot of larger industrial installations," he said.

The new business facilities in North Texas created about 11,500 jobs.

Townhouse project

Marketing for a new Richardson townhouse project gets under way next week.

The Lake Park Estate, an 18-acre development at 1250 Jonsson Blvd., will have 253 townhouses built around jogging paths and water elements.

Developer and architect Mark Humphreys planned the project of two- and three-story homes that will cost $190,000 to $400,000.

The project is being touted as one of the biggest townhouse developments built in Richardson.

Shops at McCreary

A Plano developer is planning a shopping center in Wylie.

Kinsman Ventures LLC has purchased the northeast corner of FM 544 and McCreary Road and plans to build the Shops at McCreary retail center.

Construction is to begin in December on the 12,000-square-foot project. An adjoining tract will contain office and retail space.