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FARMERS BRANCH - It has taken much longer than anticipated, but Howard Freed has finally completed a $1 million renovation of his furniture store along Interstate 635 west of the Dallas North Tollway.
The redo, which added 30,000 square feet of showroom space, involved relocating the second-floor warehouse, cutting a massive hole in the concrete structure to create an atrium at the front entrance, and installing a handcrafted iron staircase that surrounds a large fountain.
For Freed, the renovation marks the end of an eight-year quest. The delays had nothing to do with complicated construction issues, but with real estate snafus and a lawsuit filed by one of his uncles.
A third-generation furniture retailer, Freed is following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Dave Freed, a cabinet-maker who got into the business in 1938 with a store in Deep Ellum. He was soon joined by his son-in-law and three sons, including Freed's father, Joe. Upon Dave Freed's death,...