DALLAS — It looks like a normal house.
Until you look at the homes around it.
At nearly 6,000 square feet, a North Dallas house that recently went on the market is about three times bigger than every other house on the street. Oh, and three times more expensive.
Mostly because it’s not at all like any other house on the street.
“It sits on a regular residential street, it looks like a two-story residential property, yet it’s function and usage are anything but,” said listing agent Mark Cain.
Cain says it’s not a home and was never meant to be.
The front door and every window is fake. Strip away the brick exterior, and the structure that’s left is a box built of steel and concrete.
Inside the one door that actually is real, there's a steel door with a sign warning visitors to leave all electronic devices behind. On the side wall, there's a window made of bulletproof glass.
Behind another steel door sits a natural gas generator fitted with backup diesel tanks. Those would really only be necessary if one of the two power grids the building is connected to fails.
The main portion of the entire structure is a grand room, white and sterile, with a subfloor underneath and 20-foot ceilings above.
There are no bedrooms and just one bathroom, which rivals the finest in gas station lavatories.
The listing for the property made its way to Instagram, to a page called “Zillow Gone Wild,” where thousands of people theorized what really went on here.
“One of the best comments was that it was Dexter’s personal home,” Cain said, referring to the Showtime series featuring a vigilante serial killer.
Most of the folks on Instagram, and Dexter fans, will be quite disappointed to learn the truth.
Cain says AT&T built the facility in the early 2000s as an electrical switching station.
That’s it.
It needed a facility in this area, and rather than make it too much of an eyesore, AT&T tried to make it blend in with the neighborhood.
The property is zoned for commercial use and Cain says it likely could never serve as a home. He believes interested buyers could include something like a data storage company.
It cost $3 million to build nearly 20 years ago, but it’s listed today for less than $1 million. Cain expects he will receive at least a couple offers in the coming days.
“Not only would it be a deal, but it would be a unicorn treasure for a potential buyer to find,” Cain said.
A good deal and a great way to survive the apocalypse? In this housing market? Sold.
To view the listing, click here.