Shopping Center Purchase Brings Together Many Cultures

Dallas, Texas - August 20, 2001--In a deal that merged an unusual mix of 
multicultural interests, Walnut Hill Venture, Ltd. has purchased a 4-building 
shopping center at 2900 Walnut Hill Lane in Dallas, Texas. Wilemon Property 
Co., Ltd. sold the property, dubbed a ‘leisure retail center’ by the brokers 
involved. The buildings, totaling 37,100 square feet, contain a restaurant, 
clubs and bars, a coin-op laundry, a liquor store, and other retail 
businesses. 

Bob Lamm, a senior vice president of Henry S. Miller Commercial’s retail 
commercial division and Al Shannon, a vice president of Henry S. Miller 
Commercial’s office and industrial division, joined forces to turn the 
property for the seller, based out of Georgetown, Texas. “I learned a lesson 
on this deal,” said Lamm. “Usually I deal with ‘A’ properties and 
institutional buyers, so I was reluctant to take on this ‘C’ shopping 
center. But, we stuck a sign in the front, hit the Internet and the streets 
and witnessed an overwhelming response that I’ve never experienced before.” 

Al Shannon reported that the transaction was exciting because of its 
multicultural aspects. “This deal brought together just about every 
ethnicity and culture represented in our country today,” he said. The 
shopping center has a diverse representation with business owners who are 
Korean, Asian, Hispanic and Caucasian. Anson Chan, president of Global Star 
Mortgage provided the financing from a minority-owned bank. The buyer, Maria 
Masaki, is a Peruvian-American, businesswoman who owns Taqueria Lupita, a 
successful 6,000 square foot Tex-Mex restaurant in the Knox-Henderson area, 
as well as several other substantial properties. “The diversity lent a 
metropolitan feel that you just don’t get with any deal in Dallas.”

Henry S. Miller Commercial, founded in 1914, is Texas’ largest independent commercial real estate firm and a member of The Commercial Network, one of the largest affiliations of commercial real estate firms in the nation.