Luxury homes planned in tiny DFW suburb

One of the smallest cities in the metroplex is getting one of the biggest new luxury developments. Highwater Development plans to build 11 new luxury homes in the town of Dalworthington Gardens just outside of Arlington.

The development will be located at 2611 Pleasant Ridge Road with custom home prices starting at $1.5 million, the Dallas Business Journal reported. Dalworthington Gardens, population just over 2,000, has had little residential development within its borders, despite a post-pandemic housing boom across the metroplex.

Construction on the new homes will begin in March and should be ready for move-in sometime in late summer, according to Highwater. Due to several acres of flood plain, the vacant development property sat on the market for several years before Highwater acquired the land.

“If you look at the map, and you look at the MLS, you’d think I was nuts when I told you what we’re selling lots for,” said Cannon Clark, president of Highwater Development. “But then you look at the neighboring properties and DWG as a whole. The submarket here is very unique, the buyer is unique and so we wanted to develop a very unique product.”

The average home value in Dalworthington Gardens is about $509,000, significantly higher than the $310,000 average in nearby Arlington, according to the Zillow Home Value Index. Still these numbers are far below the average home price in typical DFW luxury markets like Southlake or Highland Park.

The Highwater Development will nearly triple the average asking cost of a Dalworthington Garden home. Clark wanted to fill in the property with many more homes, but city officials convinced the firm to go for a luxury-style project, he told the DBJ.

“I’ve driven by that property since I was born, and I’m pretty sure it’s been for sale since I was born,” Clark said. “It was way overpriced, and it took us about six months to negotiate with the seller to a price we still thought was outrageous. It’s adequately positioned, and we dug further into the concept of going super high-end, with really expensive lots and really nice homes.”

The Dallas luxury home market held strong last year despite concerns of slow down. The DFW area saw the most big-ticket home sales in Texas with 4,689, representing $7.6 billion in sales. That’s a 23 percent increase over the previous year and represents almost 16 percent of the market.

The single-family market in North Texas did start to slow down this winter. In December, the area housing supply reached its highest level of the year with a three-month supply — a nearly 280 percent increase from year-end 2021, according to the latest Re/Max National Housing Report. Conversely, home sales dropped almost 32 percent compared to 2021.

—Erick Pirayesh