Dallas Cowboys stadium sends value of nearby houses soaring
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Related Content
Most-read stories
- Officers may have eaten LSD-laced goodies, Fort Worth police say
- 2 deaths investigated in Sansom Park
- Grand Prairie police arrest 3 for anhydrous ammonia
- Are the Cowboys great? Jerry’s happy to answer
- Cowboys hitting market to shop for backup QB
Most e-mailed stories
- Police may have eaten cookies laced with drugs
- Who needs expensive wine? We pick six sips for less than $6
- Arlington residents, Texas lawmakers discuss lower property taxes
- Police may have eaten cookies laced with drugs
- Officers may have eaten LSD-laced goodies, Fort Worth police say
A possible parking lot for the Dallas Cowboys stadium has increased property values in an Arlington neighborhood.
Residents on Slaughter and Web streets who have rejected purchase offers from the team because they thought they were too low received notices recently from the Tarrant Appraisal District that their home values had increased substantially, one by 250 percent.
Starting in fall 2006, a Cowboys executive started buying homes in the neighborhood, which is less than a block from the new stadium. The team has said it plans to use the 10 acres purchased, including the former Grace Bethel Church building on Randol Mill Road, for a parking lot.
Neighboring homeowners have been worried that the team, which has made offers to buy their land, will simply build the lot around them.
Increases in tax value
Most of the homes in the neighborhood were built in the 1950s and last year were valued around $70,000 each.
But when Shanna Medrano looked up the value of her 17,772-square-foot lot on Slaughter Street, TAD's appraisal had jumped from $71,500 to $242,500. The Cowboys had offered her $105,000 for her home in late 2006.
"I look back now at the offer of $105,000 ... and I would have been kicking myself if I had taken it," Medrano said.
Chris Cavanaugh, a firefighter who lives on Web Street, purchased his house in 2006. It was valued at $71,000 but TAD has reappraised it at $151,000. Another home at 305 Slaughter St. was valued at $78,400 and is now appraised at $239,400, according to TAD.
Because these are homesteads, the homeowners will not have to pay taxes on the full amount of the new appraisal value. According to state law, valuation increases are capped at 10 percent a year for homesteads.
Why values went up
The significant number of private land sales by the Cowboys in the area prompted TAD appraisers to revalue all of the land in the area between Slaughter Street and Randol Mill Road, said TAD Chief Appraiser John Marshall.
"We saw some large tracts in that area that sold for $6 a square foot, and we have some smaller tracts at $10 a square foot," said Marshall, adding that the area is now valued on TAD's property rolls for $10 per square foot.
The Cowboys declined to comment on the property-value increases but has previously said that they are not in negotiations for any additional parcels.
What's next
The homeowners have until June 2 to appeal the valuation of their homes. But Medrano said she won't appeal TAD's decision because it demonstrates that her property has more value as a commercial property than as a home.
She has already dropped the listing price of her home from $350,000 to $299,000 so it is closer to the appraised value. Even if the Cowboys do not make her a second offer for her land, she believes that someone else, an investor or businessman, may want the property because of its proximity to the stadium.
"I feel like if I do hold out, someone will see the value in this property, even with a parking lot around it," Medrano said.
aahles@star-telegram.com
