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Keeping up with the Thakkars, the embattled Dallas developer family

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Keeping up with the Thakkars, the embattled Dallas developer family


It’s been a month of extremes for Poorvesh Thakkar. 

The India-born, Dallas-based developer was slapped with a lawsuit trying to eject him from a Midtown Manhattan office building he bought in 2024. 

The legal challenge comes amid unseasonably sunny days for Thakkar, who recently reached a milestone in his Mustang Square development. That’s notable, because, despite launching his real estate development company in 2016, his development chops are still largely untested, as his pitched projects have mostly been delayed or aborted. 

Thakkar recently sold a 3.5-acre slice of the mixed-use project in Plano to an entity tied to Carrollton-based Madewell Spaces. The buyer said its plans to build 13 “standalone luxury office condominiums. D.R. Horton bought a swath of homesites at the project. 

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Thakkar claims the project is “almost fully sold out and developed.”

It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the project, because Thakkar’s legal trouble in New York seems more indicative of his success as a developer than this Plano project. 

The saga of the Midtown Manhattan office tower starts with an almost incomprehensible bet on the part of Thakkar:The largely untested developer struggling to get projects off the ground in his hometown of Dallas bought an office building in New York City with plans to turn it into a residential property, a tricky maneuver even for a seasoned developer. 

The only thing that can explain the move is the price tag. Thakkar bought the 23-story building at 135 West 50th Street on auction site Ten-X for $8.5 million, a 97 percent discount to its 2006 sale price. 

Safehold, which owns the land beneath the building, claims Thakkar’s firm failed to pay $9 million in property taxes that were due Jan. 1, 2025, and has since racked up almost $28 million in unpaid taxes, interest and other penalties.

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After Thakkar failed to meet repeated extension deadlines and forbearance agreements, Safehold notified the firm that it was terminating the ground lease and demanded it surrender the building, according to the lawsuit. Thakkar refused to vacate the property, and the land owner is now seeking their immediate ejection, according to the complaint. He dug his heels in further with a countersuit in which he claims the ground landlord iced him out of his planned conversion project. 

Thakkar could win his case in New York and completely sell out Mustang Square and he’ll still face question marks as a developer, thanks to the litany of lawsuits he’s faced, with allegations ranging from loan defaults to EB-5 fraud. The legal trouble appears to have peaked with real estate offering fraud charges filed by the SEC in February. 

Austin’s Ayn Rand Museum

In case you missed Elon Musk’s recent embrace of Austin, the summer isn’t the only thing that’s hot in Austin. So is libertarianism. As war-tech startups set up camp in nearby Proto-Town, libertarian icon Ayn Rand is getting a museum built in her honor. The foundation dedicated to preserving the manuscripts of the Russia-born philosopher famous for her “Objectivism” theory is building a $30 million monument to Rand in the form of a library, exhibition room, office and “higher education classroom spaces.”

Fifth Third ditches Downtown Dallas

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Dallas’ beleaguered downtown is still smarting from the news that anchor tenant AT&T is moving to Plano. To add insult to injury, Fifth Third Bank is ditching downtown, too, after its merger with Comerica Bank. Fifth Third is leaving a 200,000-square-foot vacancy in Comerica Tower. While the Ohio-based bank won’t settle into the still-under-construction site at 8300 Douglas Avenue until late 2028, it will leave its 200,000-square-foot lease at the 60-story Comerica Bank Tower at 1717 Main Street before the end of the summer.

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Meet Poorvesh Thakkar, the Dallas owner Safehold is trying to eject from a Manhattan tower

Fifth Third’s North Texas region president Brian Enzler with 8300 Douglas and Comerica Bank Tower

It’s official: Fifth Third Bank will exit Downtown Dallas Comerica Tower after Comerica merger

Ayn Rand Institute’s Tal Tsfany and Ayn Rand

Austin in line for $30M of libertarian development devoted to Ayn Rand

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Dallas, TX

Viral East Dallas coffee shop fears major sales drop amid six-week road closure

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Viral East Dallas coffee shop fears major sales drop amid six-week road closure


Construction plans disrupt business in East Dallas. Just a few days ago, the owners of Juju’s Coffee off La Vista Drive in Dallas were informed by Oncor that the street on which their shop is located will be closed.

One of the owners, Nick Rocha, said the closure will last six weeks, but if there are any delays, it could be extended until October.

The coffee shop, which opened in 2023, has recently gained a lot of popularity. One of their drinks, called the “do-si-dos,” has gone viral, and now they have lines out the door on a regular basis.

“It’s a peanut butter milk latte… We probably doubled our sales or more if I had to be honest,” said Rocha.

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Since the drink’s release in April, the flow of customers has been nonstop.

“We were like, ‘We’ll go viral and then we’ll die out.’ Then we’re like, ‘Well, when is it going to be over, because we’re just getting slammed?’ We were both doing like 60- to 70-hour weeks… And it just kept going, and it turned from like, ‘Okay, we’re scared of it,’ to, ‘Okay, we can do this,’” said Rojas.

Rojas says that just as they were adjusting to the new normal, the notice from Oncor came.

“They were just like, ‘Yeah, so we’re going to close the street, sorry.’ That was tough… because we’re in the middle of dreaming and vision casting for what’s coming and what’s next,” said Rojas.

Starting July 20, La Vista Drive will be closed, sidewalk accessibility will be difficult, and street visibility will be too. Rojas believes the impact could drop their sales by about 50%. He says they’ve had meetings with the city and Oncor, but says there’s nothing they can do, and now their only plea is to their customers.

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“Anybody that comes in and supports, it’s a genuine gratitude from us,” said Rojas.



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3 unanswered questions before training camp: Dallas Cowboys edition

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3 unanswered questions before training camp: Dallas Cowboys edition


For the Dallas Cowboys and their owner, Jerry Jones, the hope is always that the changes made will improve the product on the field. Every team heading into training camp will have questions to answer, and the Dallas Cowboys are first on our list with 3 of the biggest ones. This will be an ongoing series for the next couple of weeks until camp starts, and answers start to reveal themselves in real time.

Another season of change for the Dallas Cowboys. Will it make a difference this time around to end the drought? Jerry Jones sure hopes so. Dallas hasn’t had a title in 30 years, and Jerry Jones promised to look in the mirror and make much-needed dramatic changes. The 34-year-old Christian Parker, who has no defensive coordinator experience, must embody the change upfront. Veterans were added, and Dak Prescott is back and healthy, running a new scheme. We shall see.

I wouldn’t worry about whether CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens can coexist long-term. I’m more concerned about whether you can keep them happy with the culture and get them to commit long-term. They declined to negotiate with Pickens and instead slapped him with the franchise tag. If Dak Prescott continues to spread the ball around, he should be able to keep them happy, but it comes at a cost: winning in the playoffs or a Super Bowl title.

Tight end Jake Ferguson’s role could diminish during the upcoming season. Even after signing a four-year, $52 million extension, former undrafted free agent Brevyn Spann-Ford is a better blocker and could have a major impact on the Cowboys’ offense in 2026.

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Dallas weather: Widespread thunderstorms bring flash flood risks and brief heat relief

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Dallas weather: Widespread thunderstorms bring flash flood risks and brief heat relief


A wave of scattered thunderstorms is expected to bring heavy rain, localized flooding risks, and brief relief from the July heat to North Texas and the Texoma region starting Sunday afternoon.

Severe weather risk

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The Storm Prediction Center has placed the entire region under a low-level risk for severe weather. Forecasters warn that while widespread severe conditions are unlikely, any strong storm cells that develop could produce localized flooding, small hail, frequent lightning, and damaging wind gusts between 50 and 60 mph.

We have a lot of moisture on hand. The atmosphere is primed for highly efficient rainfall. This is where the isolated flash flood threat starts to come in. If these areas get another round of rain through the overnight hours, of course, then that threat starts to elevate.

Timeline:

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The weather system began moving through Sunday morning with an initial cluster of storms focused heavily near Sherman in Grayson County, alongside isolated pop-up showers stretching east toward Delta and Red River counties. The broader Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex remained largely dry early in the day, with temperatures hovering in the late 70s to low 80s.

However, conditions are expected to shift rapidly as daytime heating pushes temperatures into the mid-90s.

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Sunday Afternoon (3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): Storm coverage will become more scattered and widespread across North Texas.

Sunday Evening & Overnight: Pockets of heavy, intense rainfall are projected to stall over parts of the region.

Monday Morning Commute: Lingering showers and light rain are expected to persist through sunrise, threatening to create slick roadways and slow down the Monday morning rush hour.

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Temperature Outlook and Drought Relief

Despite the storm threat, the rain will be welcomed. The rainfall is expected to help alleviate the onset of the typical mid-summer drought conditions North Texas experiences this time of year.

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The accompanying cloud cover and rain will provide a temporary break from intense summer heat. While Sunday’s forecast high of 95 degrees sits exactly at the mid-July average, temperatures will dip slightly below average to 93 degrees on Monday and Tuesday.

A gradual drying and warming trend will begin mid-week as the low-pressure system slowly slides out of the area. Rain chances drop to 30% by Tuesday and will continue to taper off through Thursday. By Friday and next weekend, the typical July weather pattern is expected to return, bringing hot and dry conditions back to the region.

7-Day Forecast

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The Source: Information in this article is from the FOX 4 weather team.

WeatherSevere WeatherDallasFort Worth



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