Dallas, TX
Commercial Property Tax Appraisals Soar by 21% in Dallas County
Add sky-high assessments to the list of challenges facing commercial property landlords in the Dallas area.
Commercial valuations in Dallas County have risen by 21 percent since last year, despite evidence of a sluggish market, Bisnow reported, citing the Dallas Central Appraisal District.
There were double digit increases across all commercial sectors, although some asset classes were hit harder than others. The soaring valuations, unveiled in preliminary assessments, marks a stark contrast to the actual market conditions perceived by property owners.
“I’m not shocked by the fact that notice values were higher because the appraisal district tends to be aggressive,” Meritax Advisors partner Ryan Chismark told the outlet. “However, I’m disappointed that they’re higher because of where we actually are in the market.”
Commercial property sales plummeted by 58 percent last year amid rising interest rates, tight lending standards and widending buyer-seller discrepancies. The lack of recent comparable transactions has led appraisers to rely on outdated cap rates, drawing criticism from property owners and consultants.
Industrial properties have seen the largest increase over the past year, estimated at over 50 percent on average, with some lower-tier properties doubling in value year-over-year. Chismark suggests that the surge in industrial values may stem from historical undervaluation, prompting the district to recalibrate assessments.
Multifamily and retail properties also experienced hikes of 20 percent and 10 percent, respectively. Even for the struggling office sector, which is still grappling with soaring vacancies amid the remote-work era, valuations are 5 to 10 percent higher than they were a year ago.
Jon Redmond, manager of the U.S. real property tax division at Altus Group, was surprised by the relatively modest rise in retail values, given the sector’s steady recovery from the pandemic.
“Even in a terrible market, we are always going to protest,” he said. “But I don’t think [retail owners] will have the sticker shock that office or industrial clients will.”
The protest and litigation process routinely results in lowered assessments, with over $9 billion shaved off preliminary assessments last year alone. Chismark is optimistic that despite the anticipated contention, most owners will eventually find acceptable resolutions with the central appraisal district.
—Quinn Donoghue
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Dallas, TX
Dallas weather: June 28 morning forecast
Temperatures are expected to climb into the upper-90s and triple digits over the next week, with no real sign of relief! Sunshine dominates the forecast, with only a very slim chance of rain by the end of next week.
Dallas, TX
Dallas shooting injures 2 as police search for suspect
Dallas police are searching for a shooting suspect after two people were shot early Saturday morning.
The shooting incident happened around 6:30 a.m. when Dallas officers responded to a shooting call in the 7600 block of South Central Expressway, where two people had been shot.
Officials said one victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition by Dallas Fire-Rescue. The other was transported by private vehicle in stable condition.
No arrests have been made as of Saturday afternoon, according to Dallas Police.
The shooting investigation is ongoing and this story will be updated as we learn more.
Dallas, TX
All-day restaurant and patio coming to Dallas’ Knox and more top stories
UPDATE 6-26-2026: Gracie has been found about four miles south of the Cedar Hollow Ranch, according to a Facebook update from Real County Animal Rescue. Ranch manager Vic Jones has assembled a team to safely bring the wandering giraffe home.
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A giraffe named Gracie is missing in Texas, and the search for her has become a tall order.
Gracie, who is about 3 years old, has been missing for nearly two weeks after escaping her enclosure at Cedar Hollow Ranch in the Texas Hill Country, said Vic Jones, who owns the remote property about 100 miles west of San Antonio. He said Wednesday, June 24 that Gracie had wandered into a part of the privately owned preserve that other giraffes previously avoided.
Jones said he has sent up helicopters to look for Gracie, a few sightings have trickled in, and a $5,000 reward is on the table.
But the giraffe, which stands roughly the height of a tree, hasn’t turned up.
“She wound up going up and feeding in an area on the hillside and the rocky ledges that none of the other giraffes had ever gone on before,” Jones said. “And when she came down off of there, she came down on the wrong side of the gate.”
The ranch is in rural Real County, where its roughly 2,700 residents were put on alert to be on the lookout for a missing giraffe. Jones said the search area is extremely remote, and the likelihood of Gracie encountering any humans is low.
“People are not in danger of her because she’s not around people,” Jones said. ‘She’s out in very, very rough, heavily wooded lands.”
The Texas Hill Country has one of the largest concentrations of exotic captive animals in the country. Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson said the mild climate and rugged terrain seems to serve as a good stand-in for most of the animals’ native African environments.
He rattled off a list of animals that have gone missing over the years, especially after floods, but said this was his first giraffe.
“I’ve had wildebeests, I’ve had water buffalo, I’ve had monkeys, I’ve had zebras, all go missing,” Johnson said. “Sometimes we recover them, and sometimes we don’t.”
While the middle of Texas is not a giraffe’s native environment, Jones said Gracie should be able to find plenty of leaves and other vegetation to eat. He said other animals were not likely to bother her.
Jones said he initially had helicopters searching an area of about 7,500 acres (3,000 hectares) with no luck. A few days later, there was a report that Gracie was spotted to the south.
But by the time they could search the area, Jones said, she was already gone.
“We’re always two three days late for where the information is coming from, so that makes it tough,” Jones said.
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