Preston Hollow Mansion Finds Buyer, Avoiding Foreclosure

A distressed developer avoided losing his sprawling Dallas mansion to foreclosure with a long-awaited sale after years on the market and millions in price cuts.

Darren Aschaffenburg sold his home at 9520 Hathaway Street on June 2 when it was listed for $9 million. The property once ranked among the most expensive homes on the market in Texas. The buyers are Michelle and David Peck. The final sale price was not disclosed.

The sale comes two months after Aschaffenburg received a foreclosure notice for the home, alleging he defaulted on a $4.7 million loan tied that Busey Bank provided in 2017.

The foreclosure capped nearly five years on the market for the estate. Aschaffenburg first listed it in 2021 for $12.9 million after buying it in 2016 for an undisclosed price, according to Zillow. The property left the market at the end of the summer and returned the following spring, a pattern repeated in 2022 and 2024.

The price peaked in 2022 at $15.5 million. It ranked among the top 10 most expensive residential listings to hit the market in Texas in January 2025 after it relisted for $14.9 million, according to the Houston Association of Realtors. The asking price ultimately dropped to $9 million in February.

Foreclosure on the Preston Hollow estate loomed as Aschaffenburg struggled to maintain control of a development property in New Orleans. Metairie Towers, which Aschaffenburg planned to spend $100 million converting into a luxury apartment complex, was facing foreclosure when he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month. He allegedly defaulted on a $19 million mortgage on the building, which his company, DKA One LLC, purchased in 2024.

“We had planned to sell, and the home was on the market, well before I ever got involved in that development, so one thing had really nothing to do with the other,” Aschaffenburg said.

The Hathaway Street home, designed by Richard Drummond Davis and built in 2004, spans 16,000 square feet on a 1.4-acre lot in Old Preston Hollow. Amenities of the nine-bedroom, 11-bathroom home include a three-story refrigerated wine room, four kitchens, a fitness center and a spa room. The final asking price works out to about $563 per square foot.

Allie Beth Allman & Associates agent Christine McKenny had the listing. Fellow ABA agent Katherine Ballard represented the buyers, according to Zillow.

“We had an appraisal at $16 million, and that was obviously $1,000 a square foot. There were plenty of comps around there, some even north of that, so we felt pretty comfortable with the number, but the buyers just didn’t materialize,” Aschaffenburg said.

Nicknamed “the honeypot,” Old Preston Hollow constitutes the original 56 acres of the township of Preston Hollow, one of the wealthiest residential enclaves in Dallas. The home at 9520 Hathaway is about half a mile from a 15,000-square-foot home on a 1.1-acre lot at 5222 Park Lane, which sold in July after asking $16 million, taking sixth place on The Real Deal’s ranking of the most expensive residential sales in Dallas-Fort Worth last year.