Katherine Roberts
At Skillman Street, Audelia Road and Royal Lane, the Tom Thumb-anchored Lake Highlands Village shopping center once had a second life on its back acreage. Sweet Temptations and El Fenix operated there, along with other restaurants, services and shops. Over time, as the Lake Highlands Advocate reported in 2021, the "For Lease" signs stayed up and the area around the former Plaza National Bank complex was left mostly vacant.
That land at 9090 Skillman Street is now under construction as Lake Highlands Village, a gated community of 85 townhomes from Mattamy Homes. Few people buying a home in Lake Highlands this fall will ever look at it. Its importance is in what it shows about where this neighborhood's new housing comes from, and why houses and townhomes here sell under very different conditions.
The project took a long time, and the timeline shows how hard it is to add homes to a built-out neighborhood.
Not everyone welcomed the plan. In 2021, a former Dallas City Council member urged neighbors to oppose it, calling it "massive in the number of requested units per acre." The land was cleared in early 2022 and was not sold to a builder until late 2025. Even with zoning approved and the buildings gone, more than four years passed before anyone broke ground.
The townhome format follows from where the land came from. JAH's representative explained the project in market terms when it was proposed. "The pandemic has accelerated many challenging trends for the retail industry," he told the Advocate. "As a result, many retail centers today contain too much square footage and prove difficult to fully lease. These 5 acres represent such a challenge for JAH."
Lake Highlands' older streets have no equivalent source of supply. An agent who covers East Dallas, Lakewood and Lake Highlands told D Magazine this fall that sales in those neighborhoods are stronger than in other areas she sees because "you can't build more in those neighborhoods. The lots are spoken for."
So almost all new housing here has to come from land that was once used for something else. When a developer pays for a five-acre retail parcel, a zoning change, a replat and a demolition, packing 85 homes onto it makes financial sense. A few large lots would not. The Mattamy release describes three-story homes of about 2,000 square feet with private garages. The Advocate's October update gives a preliminary range of 1,800 to 2,100 square feet across at least three floor plans, which are not final yet. The plans include a central park, a dog park and walking trails, next to about 170,000 square feet of shops and restaurants. The shopping center's remaining retail building, home to Brick House Burgers, Zato Thai and the UPS Store, was kept out of the redevelopment.
The detached houses are fixed in number. Nearly all new supply arrives as attached homes, built in batches.
Across Dallas County, townhomes are the weakest part of the resale market right now. The September 2026 NTREIS summary, produced by the Texas Real Estate Research Center and published through MetroTex Association of Realtors, shows the gap:
| Dallas County, September 2026 | Single-family | Townhouse | Condominium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median sale price | $360,000 | $380,000 | $260,000 |
| Median price, year over year | 0% | -14% | +4% |
| Days on market | 50 | 79 | 70 |
| Sold-to-list ratio | 93.9% | 92.5% | 92.1% |
| Months of inventory | 4.1 | 6.7 | 8.8 |
In September 2026, the median Dallas County townhome still sold for more than the median single-family home, even after falling 14% in a year. Many attached homes in Dallas are newer, infill-located and cost more per square foot than an older house on a larger lot. That premium is what is shrinking. Townhomes took about four weeks longer to sell than single-family homes, and the county had more than six and a half months of townhome inventory, close to the roughly six-month level that D Magazine notes economists usually associate with a buyer's market.
These are countywide figures, and they come with two limits. MetroTex says NTREIS no longer provides boundary data for MLS-defined areas, so the current report has no Lake Highlands-level breakdown. The report also counts only MLS-listed sales and excludes sales by builders and non-members. When Mattamy's homes start closing, many of those sales may never show up in the reports buyers and appraisers check most.
The "lots are spoken for" explanation covers only part of the market. In the same D Magazine reporting, agents said no amount of scarcity will rescue a home that hasn't been updated. One agent said homes "that haven't had much work done for 15 or 30 years might still be nice, but they're harder to sell." The article describes a selective market that "concentrates demand into a narrow band of homes that stand out by neighborhood, lot, age, or condition."
For Lake Highlands, that means three different markets, not one:
Here the timeline matters to a buyer this fall. Anyone who buys an existing Lake Highlands townhome in late 2026 and may sell within a few years could be listing while a gated community of 85 new three-story homes is selling a short drive away. Mattamy's March release did not include pricing. Sales are expected to start in June 2027, and the builder will have many similar homes to sell at once. That puts pressure on nearby attached resale prices in a way that never applies to a 1960s ranch house on a lot that can't be duplicated.
The new project also changes the area around it. JAH's chief investment officer has linked its timing to the I-635 expansion and the new Skillman interchange, and says the plan is to create a mixed-use entrance to Lake Highlands. Nearby, the Dallas City Council approved up to $1,188,662 in tax increment financing on September 23, 2026, for a two-story retail and office redevelopment of about 7,200 square feet at 9715 Walnut Hill Road near Audelia. The approval also covers sidewalk, streetscape and utility work. The Advocate reported that construction could start as early as March 2027. That project adds no homes. It does improve retail corridors that currently surround both the new townhomes and the existing houses.
A buyer comparing a townhome and a house in Lake Highlands this fall is choosing between two kinds of price risk. A house rises or falls with its own condition, since no new competitors can be built around it, while a townhome is priced against the similar units for sale nearby, a count that is about to grow.
Where exactly is Lake Highlands Village? It is at 9090 Skillman Street, on the former Plaza National Bank complex inside the Tom Thumb-anchored Lake Highlands Village shopping center at Skillman, Audelia and Royal. The future model home is expected on Magnolia Lake Drive.
When can buyers purchase one? Mattamy expects to start sales in June 2027, with the first closings possible in September 2027. According to the Advocate's October update, floor plans have not been finalized.
Is there current townhome data just for Lake Highlands? Not in the current NTREIS reporting. NTREIS stopped providing boundary data for MLS-defined areas, so the September 2026 figures above are for all of Dallas County. The report also leaves out builder sales. Comparing individual recent sales block by block remains the most reliable way to read this neighborhood.
Could the site have become apartments? According to the 2021 proposal, no. JAH's representative said the requested zoning would allow townhomes and single-family homes but not apartments.
If you are weighing a Lake Highlands townhome against a house and want to know how a specific property compares with recent sales on its own streets, and how the new Skillman inventory could affect it, Katherine Roberts can walk you through the comparable sales and timing before you make an offer. Request an Appointment.
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