Who says property doesn't sell--for a lot, no less--in southern Dallas? According to this story, just a few days after Buckner Plaza South went on the market, it sold to San Francisco buyers for the full asking price of $3.6 million. It's n0thing remarkable to look out--just another generic strip mall sitting at the intersections of Buckner Boulevard and Scyene Road, across the street from a mammoth Fiesta Mart. At the moment it counts among its tenants a Jefferson Dental outlet, a H&R Block store front, a dry cleaners and a chicken joint. The southeast Dallas neighborhood is by no means considered upscale: The average household income within a five-mile radius is some $48,000. Yet the things sold for a small fortune, says one realtor, because of the changing demographics of the neighborhood:
"'The day it hit the market people were calling me and asking, "Do you have 50 more like it?"' Mark Klein, with RE/MAX Premier Commercial in Dallas, who marketed the property, tells GlobeSt.com. Interest in the center told Klein something about the strength of commercial real estate in Dallas' Hispanic community. 'The Hispanic market is just fantastic. If I had a dozen of these centers, I could have sold them all at once.'"
This particular area is one of the keystones of forwardDallas!, whose creators peg it as an area in need of an overhaul, given its rising population and falling income and fading good looks. Who says immigration's bad for business? Not the guys who just sold a shopping center for $3.6 million in Pleasant Grove. And not the guys who will build more strip malls and make more money in a neighborhood that's worth more than it looks. --Robert Wilonsky