Maverick’s Legend Dirk Nowitzki Markets Storied Preston Hollow Estate

Dallas Maverick all-time leading scorer Dirk Nowitzki is a legend in Dallas. And now, apparently so are his real estate deals.

The basketball great is the Mavs’ all-time leading scorer, helping the team win the NBA Championship in 2011. He and his wife, Jessica, are pillars of the community when it comes to fund-raising, charity support and raising a great family. In fact, Dirk met his wife at a charity event for the Sports for Education and Economic Development (SEED) Project. Recently, the Nowitzki’s raised more than $50 million as co-chairs for North Texas Giving Day. Their large home is often open for events and parties.

Dallas loves Dirk so much, they named a street after him!

Nowitzki retired from the Mavs last April, and the city of Dallas named part of a street near American Airlines Center, where the Dallas Mavericks play, after him.

The Dallas City Council vote was unanimous, 15-0.

The Nowitzki’s live on a pretty amazing street of their own in a North Dallas neighborhood where many a Dallas legend resides in gigantic, gated estates, from the late H. Ross Perot to Excel Communications founder Kenny Troutt. Although it’s often referred to as “Preston Hollow”, the Strait Lane area is a neighborhood of estate living all unto itself. Most properties ramble on for several acres, almost all with pools, tennis courts, even some riding rings.

An Historical Estate Deep in the Heart of Preston Hollow

But last October, it appeared that Dirk and his wife were trading their 1.99 acre spread for the heart of Old Preston Hollow, maybe a smidge closer to his former boss, Mark Cuban. The Nowitzki’s purchased a 2.44 acre, 11,394 square foot historical estate at 5906 Deloache Avenue. Very quiet about the transaction, it was well known in Dallas real estate circles that the Nowitzki’s were planning on moving from Strait Lane, remodeling or building a new home on the Preston Hollow property, the former estate of the late Dallas billionaire Charles Wyly.

The 11,394 square foot Wyly compound first hit the market in 2018, when federal courts ordered the property sold to satisfy court judgements. It was first listed for $8.25 million. The home, built in 1939, has four bedrooms with en suite baths, two of which qualify as Master bedrooms, five living areas, nine bathrooms, a commercial sized kitchen, a huge glass-enclosed garden room pavillion where many a party was held, an elevator, indoor lap pool and and outdoor pools, pool house, tennis court, guest quarters and five car garage.

The grounds are wooded, well-manicured and expansive, a world unto itself.

And talk about convenience: Old Preston Hollow is a hilly, heavily wooded nook right off Preston Road, running through the center of Dallas, one of the main arteries of the city. Old Preston Road was created by the Republic of Texas in 1841, leading from Preston, Texas on the Red River south to Austin, following an existing cattle trail that had been used for centuries. 

Deloache Avenue is named for one of the area’s developers, Ira P. DeLoache, who crafted Preston Hollow with Al Joyce out of 56 acres of farmland DeLoache bought in 1924. Much of the development happened in the 1930s, and the area was proliferated by the prominent seeking country-style estates that housed horses and stables literally steps away from the city.

“It was great,” Jimmy DeLoache, Ira’s son, who grew up in a house on the corner of Northwest Highway and Preston Road, told one local publication. “All my friends wanted to come over from East Dallas and play. We could hunt, fish, ride horses, play in a hay loft, all that stuff. When my mother wanted quails’ eggs for breakfast, she’d say, ‘Jimmy, go get me some quail eggs,’ and I’d go out to the yard and gather them. I had a 56-acre backyard.”

On August 7, 5906 DeLoache, part of Jimmy’s old back-yard, went back on the market, asking a cool $6 million, slightly more than what the Dallas Morning News reported Nowitzki paid for it last fall during a quieter market: $5.75 million.

This post first appeared on Forbes.com. To see the original, click here.