Every few years I put together a little thing known as the 100 Most Expensive Homes in Dallas. I don't like the job, but I'm good at looking at property records and finding out who owns what. The last time we published our listings in July, we had an issue with one of our properties. It's the old Jean Phillips Estate in Preston Hollow, adjacent to President George W. Bush's crib and the old Crespi Estate (previously owned by Tom Hicks). The appraisal district pegs the Phillips property at just over 16 acres and values it at $42 million. The outline drawn here is not exact. Please check your DCAD account for actual boundaries.
But forget about property lines. The real mystery is who currently owns the property. According to DCAD, the building is owned by a trust with the initials FGH, which is managed by a Dallas attorney named Raymond Cain, who doesn't want to talk to me, and who in September sold the building to the former Crespi Estate. sued the owner of Moaedi (whose registered agent is Meldado) (a story about drainage issues for another day). A frontburner who follows real estate said this morning that he heard from a neighbor of the Phillips Estate that a Californian bought the property for tax reasons, but his wife is refusing to move to Dallas. Ta. All of this suggests that the estate needs a Cato Kaelin to manage the grounds, etc., and I would be happy to fill that role. I wish the property owner would contact me.
My DMs are open.
Updated (1:32 p.m.) Teamwork makes dreams come true. The owners are Beth Friedman and Josh Friedman. Josh is what Page Six calls “Hedge,” and this is an old report from that outlet about how he pissed off his neighbors in Montecito, California. Here's a more recent look at why he moved his company to Texas.
author
Tim is the editor of D Magazine, has been working since 2001. He won the National Magazine Award.
