Dunhill Partners has big plans for newly bought Design District properties

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Lance Murray

Dunhill Partners has bought a large number of properties in the Design District northwest of downtown Dallas.

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Candace Carlisle

Staff Writer- Dallas Business Journal

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A large portion of Dallas' Design District has been bought by a group of investors led by the Dallas real estate firm Dunhill Partners.

The partnership — which includes oilman Tim Headington and the owners of Highland Park Village — has bought more than 30 acres and roughly 700,000 square feet of buildings along Oak Lawn Avenue, Hi Line Drive and Stemmons Freeway.

The acquisition includes the 7.5-acre Decorative Center complex at Oak Lawn and Hi Line and the 18-acre Dallas Design Center on Stemmons Freeway, as well as a dozen retail and showroom buildings along Oak Lawn Avenue and Hi Line.

Dunhill CEO Bill Hutchinson plans to pick up where the previous owners left off in executing the vision for the neighborhood, which sits northwest of downtown Dallas.

The previous owners, Houston-based Lionstone Investments and Dallas-based PegasusAblon, had been holding the property since purchasing them in 2007 as part of a larger investment strategy.

"It's an excellent example of our investment strategy; identifying the potential of a location through proprietary research and analytics," said Lionstone Chief Investment Officer Glenn Lowenstein.

Lionstone and its Dallas partner, Mike Ablon, transformed the onetime industrial and commercial area into one that has a mix of trendy eateries, retail and high-end apartment.

Plans for future development include adding more apartments to the neighborhood.

Candace covers commercial and residential real estate and sports business.