Dallas Real Estate: Lakewood, Lake Highlands and White Rock Lake

Dallas neighborhoods Lakewood and Lake Highlands are both located in Dallas but have different school districts. Both are built around White Rock Lake but one is older and established while the other is young and trendy.

The city of Dallas contains nearly 400 square miles and more than a million residents, and is fortunate to have two strong neighborhoods near its urban core.

Lakewood

The history of Lakewood is directly tied to White Rock Lake itself, which celebrated its centennial birthday recently. The Lakewood Country Club was constructed in 1912, a year before White Rock Lake was filled, and is one of the focal points of the Lakewood community.

White Rock Lake Park is over 1,015 acres, which is larger than Central Park in New York City.  White Rock Lake is the largest urban lake in the entire country, which is something Dallas residents should feel proud about.

Woodrow Wilson High School, first opened its doors in 1928, and is the local high school for the Lakewood community. J.L. Long Middle School opened in 1933.

The Lakewood community is dominated primarily by two locales – the Lower Greenville Avenue district, which goes to Mockingbird Lane to the north and Ross Avenue to the south, and the Lakewood Shopping Center, located at the intersections of Gaston Avenue, Abrams Road and La Vista Drive.

The Lakewood Shopping Center which is filled with multiple neighborhood businesses, and family-owned restaurants is home to the historic Lakewood Theater.

Lower Greenville, is a place where residents can enjoy the nightlife. The street is lined with bars and restaurants, and residents can enjoy live music at the Granada Theater. Lower Greenville was selected as the location of one of the first coveted Trader Joe’s grocery stores to open in Texas.  The hope is that Trader Joe’s, which originated in California, will have the same effect as when In-N-Out Burger (also from California)when it opens at the site of the old Arcadia Theater, which was destroyed by fire in the summer of 1996.

Lake Highlands

Lake Highlands on the other hand, is a much younger neighborhood barely half the age of White Rock Lake. Lake Highlands Elementary School was completed in 1955, and Lake Highlands High School wasn’t completed until the mid-1960s. Despite its youth, the Lake Highlands community is tight knit and connected.

Filled with small shopping centers and home to pockets of local interest and lots of community involvement Lake Highlands, unlike Lakewood, lacks a central focal point that could be defined as the “core” of Lake Highlands.

That could change soon as the Lake Highlands community and the city of Dallas are working hard to bring the Lake Highlands Town Center to life.

The Lake Highlands Town Center is using the largely successful Dallas real estate development Mockingbird Station, located at Mockingbird Lane and Central Expressway, as its primary model. The Dallas real estate development Mockingbird Station was able to successfully combine residential, retail and office spaces in one area while relying on DART light rail and buses to provide easy and convenient transportation to and from the station.

At the Lake Highlands Town Center, only the DART station and infrastructure – the roads, the underground public utilities and a 20-acre, fully landscaped park with hike and bike trail, as well as an amphitheater with stone-tiered seating – have been completed.

The Lake Highlands Town Center is still in search of a grocery store anchor that will become the needed magnet to attract other retailers.

Lake Highlands residents pushed hard for Trader Joe’s which eventually chose Lower Greenville to place it’s first Texas store. Whatever grocery store decides to call Lake Highlands Town Center home, residents want guarantees that it won’t hurt neighborhood-based businesses.

One thing that Lake Highlands can hang its hat on is its school district. Although their schools are located within the borders of Dallas, schools in Lake Highlands belong to the Richardson Independent School District, which is rated as a “Recognized” school district by the Texas Education Agency.

Both Lakewood and Lake Highlands are stable, prosperous neighborhoods each facing different futures. Few businesses may close and some new ones may open in Lakewood, and the neighborhood won’t be changing any time soon.

As for Lake Highlands, it is still a work in progress. Apartments and new homes are under construction all the time and work at the Lake Highlands Town Center could begin anytime.

The one icon both communities share is the local jewel both neighborhoods claim as “theirs”: White Rock Lake. Boasting an average annual attendance rate of about a million users, White Rock Lake is a place where all Dallas residents can leave behind the steel and concrete of the city and enjoy nature at it’s best.

The trails and scenic views at White Rock Lake provide a peaceful landscape where residents can decompress outdoors leaving behind the grind of the city for a brief moment.

If you are considering buying or selling a home in the Lakewood/Lake Highlands communities of Dallas contact your local real estate expert Israel R. Varela at 214-677-7668 or fill out the form below!