P PLACEMAKERS
PERSEVERANCE PAYS OFF
From Bishop Arts to Cedar Hill to Waxahachie, Amanda Moreno-Lake’s vision and self-professed stubbornness has led her to success in building communities. BY LANCE MURRAY
PHOTO: REBECA POSADAS-NAVA
When Amanda Moreno-Lake started her entrepreneurial life at age 11, selling paletas—a popsicle-like frozen treat—for 25 cents to her schoolmates, little did she know that her drive and self-professed stubbornness would lead her to become one of North Texas’ busiest redevelopers. You’ll find her touch in Dallas’ Bishop Arts District and in downtown Waxahachie. She has projects underway in Ennis and Cedar Hill with her husband, Jim Lake Jr., and other municipalities have contacted the pair about undertaking projects in their towns, too. Among their newer projects in Dallas, the Lakes bought the historic 113-year-old Ambassador Hotel in downtown’s Cedars neighborhood and are planning to redevelop it into micro-lofts with amenities including a coworking space on the first floor. Moreno-Lake is a busy woman, and she has many titles. She’s vice president for operations and a partner in Jim Lake Companies with her husband. She’s the owner of Lake-Moreno LLC, which oversaw the renovation of the historic Rogers Hotel and the redevelopment of roughly 200,000 square feet of mixed-use retail, commercial, office, and residential property in Waxahachie. She’s the CEO and owner of VA Capital, a commercial investment company. And there’s more. Moreno-Lake is a consulting property manager for Victor Ballas Investments and the owner of C&K Capital and 2 Esquinas at Bishop Arts. Add to that the consulting work she’s done in the past and her role on the board of Dallas Area Rapid Transit and other community organizations, and it’s hard to imagine Moreno-Lake has any free time. The mother of three sons, Moreno-Lake says her most important title, however, is “grandmother.” Her career in real estate investing and development started in 1992, when she bought a building that housed a typewriting business in Bishop Arts. In 1996, she opened Jaripeo Mexicano, a Western-wear store in Oak Cliff. The following year, she opened a successful beauty salon called Amanda’s Salon & Boutique in the building. Other businesses and real estate investments soon followed—the second building she bought is now the home of Lockhart Smokehouse—and she’s spent several decades working to boost and revive the Bishop Arts District.
SEEDS OF SUCCESS Moreno-Lake is the sixth of seven children born to Mexican immigrants who lived in an 800-square-foot home in West Dallas. The house wasn’t well insulated; in the winter, Moreno-Lake says she slept with her coat on and would use socks as gloves.
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SPRING 2019