In September 2025, the estate at 9769 Audubon Place came to market at $22 million. It sits on 3.38 acres and has 14,341 square feet, a 20-seat theater, a 1,000-bottle wine cellar and a 2,500-square-foot pavilion with its own catering kitchen. Robbie Fusch designed it and Randy Hughes built it in 1995, and Cinemark founder Lee Roy Mitchell and his wife lived there for almost 30 years. In January the price dropped by $4 million. On June 22, 2026, it sold for $15 million.
The Advocate's Preston Hollow edition reported the reason given by the sellers' side. Many buyers liked the architecture but weren't ready to take on the renovations, and the buyers who closed plan to update the house.
The $7 million difference between the first ask and the closing price came from the buyers' side of the deal. At the top of Preston Hollow, the asking price usually reflects what the seller has put into the house: the land, the build, decades of ownership. The sale price reflects what the buyer will still have to put in. A listing's price history is where you can see the gap between the two.
What $15 million bought on Audubon Place
Run the numbers on the closing and Audubon Place sold for about $1,046 per square foot. That was about 32% below the September 2025 ask and about 17% below the reduced January ask.
That rate covers the design, the lot, the theater and the pavilion, with the discount priced against the work ahead. A 1995 estate in Old Preston Hollow is close to irreplaceable: a known architect's design on more than three acres. The kitchens, baths and systems inside it are replaceable, and they come with a cost and a timeline. The final price shows where the buyers put that cost.
The broader Dallas market shows a similar pattern. In D Magazine's September 2026 state-of-the-market feature, Douglas Newby, who works in architect-designed homes, said prices for that kind of home in Preston Hollow, Highland Park and Swiss Avenue are not softening and in some cases are setting records. The same article added a condition.
"Homes that haven't had much work done for 15 or 30 years might still be nice. But they're harder to sell."
Audubon Place fits both halves of that. Its architecture brought buyers in. Its update cycle set the price.
New construction gets cut too
You might expect a brand-new house to escape the renovation discount. The 2025 and 2026 record says otherwise.
A spec home at 4527 N. Lindhurst Ave. listed at $12 million in April 2024. It is a low-slung contemporary of more than 8,800 square feet on about 0.8 acres, with a sauna, a pool and a fire pit. Through 2025 the seller lowered the price in steps, taking it off the market and relisting it, and settled on an $8.3 million ask in January 2026. According to The Real Deal's report, it closed on Feb. 12 at a price that was not disclosed. The final ask was about 31% below the first one, close to the same share Audubon Place gave up.
Lindhurst needed no renovation. What it shares with Audubon Place is a gap between the seller's number and what the buyer would pay, which took months of relisting to close. Across both homes, what decided the price was how closely the house already matched what the buyer wanted.
That same January, The Real Deal noted that many of Texas's most expensive listings were relistings, often with big reductions. Audubon Place, then asking $18 million, was second on that month's list.
How a spec price gets built
On a spec home, you can often trace the asking price back to the builder's costs. 10010 Strait Lane is the clearest recent case.
Hadley & Bess, a family-owned builder based in University Park, bought the 2.2-acre lot on Bachman Creek in 2021. Co-owner Abby Simpton told The Real Deal that "once the 2.2 acres went on the market for $3 million, we grabbed it up." The firm listed the house at $18.5 million in 2023, while it was still under construction. The finished house, 16,684 square feet with a 10-car garage, a golf simulator room and a three-tier theater, was offered at $24,999,990 in September 2025. It came off the market in January and relisted at the same price on March 1, 2026. That works out to about $1,500 per square foot, and The Real Deal called it the most expensive newly built home in Dallas at the time.
Over three years, the ask went up instead of down. It followed the construction. The Dallas Morning News also reported that the Dallas Central Appraisal District valued the home at about $7 million for tax purposes. That figure is the county's assessment, separate from the asking price and from any eventual sale. Coverage through April 2026 didn't report a sale.
Compare Strait Lane with Audubon Place. One price was built up from the cost of land and construction. The other came down to what the buyers would pay after accounting for the work ahead. Both houses had a standout lot, but what the seller had invested set one price and what the buyer would still have to spend set the other.
The fall listings, by price history
Several Preston Hollow listings have come to market since late summer. Here is each one with the record that existed when it was reported.
| Property | Age and type | Price history as reported | Last reported status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9769 Audubon Place | 1995, Robbie Fusch design, 3.38 acres | $22M in Sept. 2025, then $18M in Jan. 2026 | Sold June 22, 2026, for $15M |
| 4527 N. Lindhurst Ave. | New spec, about 0.8 acres | $12M in April 2024, then $8.3M in Jan. 2026 | Closed Feb. 12, 2026, price undisclosed |
| 10010 Strait Lane | 2026 Hadley & Bess build, 2.2 acres | $18.5M in 2023, then $24,999,990 in Sept. 2025 and again March 2026 | Listed as of April 2026 |
| 10011 Lennox Lane | 2026 new build, 1.52 acres | $12.895M | New listing as of late Sept. 2026 |
| 5547 Walnut Hill Lane, Crespi Estates | SAOTA-designed, about 14,000 sq ft, 2.03 acres | $45M | New listing as of Sept. 2026 |
| 5310 Park Lane | 1939 Charles Dilbeck, described as in great shape | $6.5M | New listing as of late Sept. 2026 |
The bottom three rows have no price history yet, so they can't show where they'll land. The newer Lennox Lane listing asks about $1,125 per square foot across 11,460 square feet. That puts it between Audubon Place's closing rate and Strait Lane's ask. CandysDirt placed it in Old Preston Hollow.
The Park Lane Dilbeck tests the other side of the idea. It is an architect-designed house that is more than 80 years old, and it was reported to be in great shape. That is the combination Newby described as scarce: a known design with the work already done.
How far apart the county market and this tier are
The North Texas Real Estate Information Systems September 2026 MLS summary, released Oct. 7, shows this for single-family homes in Dallas County in September 2026:
- 1,316 sales, down 4% from September 2025
- A median price of $360,000, flat year over year
- A median of 50 days on market
- Sales closing at 93.9% of list price
- 4.1 months of inventory
Across the county, a typical September sale closed about 6% under list. Audubon Place closed about 17% under its final ask and about 32% under its first ask. The NTREIS report also excludes sales by builders who aren't MLS members, and it covers counties and the metro area, not individual neighborhoods. Its averages don't capture new spec homes or nine-figure estates well.
D Magazine described the wider market as fragmented, with buyers gaining leverage and showing more selectivity, and with demand going to homes that stand out for neighborhood, lot, age or condition. In Preston Hollow above $8 million, that selectivity shows up as a long gap between the first ask and the closing.
What this means at the showing
When you tour a top-tier Preston Hollow home, start with three questions about the house itself:
- When did the price history start? A home first listed a year ago or more, with relistings in between, has already had its price tested. A new listing hasn't.
- Which way has the ask moved, and why? If it has risen with construction, the price reflects the builder's costs. If it has fallen in steps, buyers have been setting the price.
- What work comes with the house? Kitchens, baths, systems and finish choices you would change are the costs that set the Audubon Place price. Price that work before you make an offer.
Sellers face the same math from the other side. Our guide to selling a luxury home in Preston Hollow covers timing. Comparing a house's current condition against the asking price you want often matters more than the timing.
FAQ
Does a large price cut mean something is wrong with the house? Not according to these records. Audubon Place's cut came from renovation scope on a highly regarded design. Lindhurst was new and still went through several reductions before closing.
Is the appraisal district value a guide to market value? DCAD's roughly $7 million figure for 10010 Strait Lane was a value for tax purposes. It sat far below the $24,999,990 ask. The two numbers serve different purposes and shouldn't be read as the same thing.
Do older Preston Hollow homes always sell at a discount? A home's age matters less than its condition. A 1939 Dilbeck described as in great shape went to market in September at $6.5 million, and Newby's comments point to architect-designed homes in good condition holding their value.
The space between a first ask and a closing price is where we spend most of our time with clients. If you'd like a Preston Hollow listing history read with you before you make an offer, or a candid pricing view on your own home, Wiebe Real Estate can walk through the record and the house with you. Start with a home valuation or explore our Preston Hollow neighborhood page.
