Bushes buy $3M house in upscale part of Dallas

DALLAS — The White House confirmed Thursday that President and Laura Bush have purchased a North Dallas home, where they will live after the president leaves office in January.

Laura Bush's press secretary, Sally McDonough, said the Bushes purchased a home in the Preston Hollow area, where some of the state's wealthiest residents live in some of its most expensive houses.

The Bushes will continue to spend some time at their ranch in Crawford, McDonough said.

Though the White House declined to confirm the address, the Bushes apparently bought a four-bedroom, ranch-style home on a cul-de-sac at 10141 Daria Place through a private trust Bush established after he was elected governor.

The house was purchased in the name of longtime Bush family accountant Robert McCleskey, of Midland, Texas.

It was purchased with a $3,074,000 loan issued by the Community National Bank in Midland, a note that must be paid in full by October 2012, according to documents signed by McCleskey.

The county appraises the home at nearly $2.1 million, with an estimated annual tax levy for 2008 of some $44,000.

The seller, Dallas developer Dan Boeckman, declined to discuss the transaction Thursday.

Built in 1959, the Daria Place home sits on 1.13 acres, has four bedrooms, 4 ½ baths, a wet bar, a fireplace and 8,501 square feet of living space, including 896 square feet of servant quarters.

A constant parade of reporters, TV news trucks and onlookers drove past the home Thursday.

Christine Tomasides, a mother of two and corporate contract writer who lives a half-block from the home, said she knew something was up about a month ago, when black SUVs began rolling into the neighborhood. Secret Service agents often use such vehicles. "It all makes sense now," Tomasides said.

She described the neighborhood as peaceful, quiet and a place where people stay out of each other's business. She welcomed her new neighbors — and the heightened security they'll bring.

"Laura Bush seems like such a fine person, and I can't imagine anyone not wanting her as a neighbor," Tomasides said. "And him, too, regardless of your political affiliation."

D magazine's real-estate blog reported Wednesday night that the house next door went under contract last week but that the buyer remains a mystery. The house had been listed for sale at $1.6 million.

Both properties, as D noted, back to estates of 14 and 24 acres, the latter owned by investor Tom Hicks, owner of the Texas Rangers, making it a site the Secret Service could approve.

Property records list other neighbors as billionaire T. Boone Pickens and Republican donor Harold Simmons.

"If he moves (in), we'd love it," Hicks said in an e-mail. "The Secret Service would make the neighborhood safer!"

The Bushes lived in Preston Hollow from December 1988 through January 1995, when Bush became governor and moved to Austin.

Dallas Morning News reporter Alan Peppard contributed to this report. Information from The Associated Press and Cox Newspapers is included.