How do you solve the issue of nonprofit organizations getting squeezed out of the communities they serve by the rising costs of real estate in Dallas-Fort Worth? It starts with who you call.

Eliza Solender is president of Solender/Hall Inc., which assists nonprofits with buying, selling, and leasing commercial real estate in North Texas.

Solender/Hall has been highly successful in finding unique spaces, often repurposing stores, banks, warehouses, churches, and even bowling alleys for nonprofit clients.

Repurposing old spaces and helping groups and schools find new spaces is something that Solender has done since starting the firm in 1991. You’ll find dozens of local charities among her clients, from the AIDS Interfaith Network and American Foundation for the Blind to the World Affairs Council and Zero to Five Funders. Sprinkled throughout the A-Z list are a number of private schools.

Most recently, Solender represented The Kessler School in the purchase of a two-acre campus with 60,000 square feet of building space that was formerly the Calvary Baptist Church of Oak Cliff. The seller was represented by Roosevelt Broach of Church Realty Inc.

“The Kessler School had to be in a specific geographic area and needed more space — both indoors and outdoors — to be able to increase enrollment and expand programs. When we walked into this historic church, we knew it was the perfect place,” Solender said.

You can read the rest of the article below in the Fall 2020 edition of the DFW Real Estate Review, produced in partnership between The Real Estate Council, the Dallas Regional Chamber, and D Magazine.