Archive for the ‘Development’ Category

About a month back we espied the winning entries in the CityDesign Studio's competition intended to find someone to artistically hide that Oncor power station at the western foot of the Margaret Hunt Hill lest those headed to Ray's come spring find it unpalatable. (Keeping in mind, of course, that the competition was just that -- winners get a few thou to expand their conceptual renderings, but there's no actual funding to fabricate the top design.)First prize went to Scott Armstrong, whose water-colored entry suggested obscuring the facility with plants -- not real plants, mind you, but "grass blades" up to 80 feet tall. What would that look like? Glad you asked: The Dallas City Hall-based CityDesign Studio directs our attention to the animated look-see you see above. And if there's one thing I love more than conceptual renderings ...

Via.​Theresa O'Donnell, director of Sustainable Development and Construction for the city of Dallas, confirms: Sylvan Thirty's zoning ordinance won't go before the City Plan Commission till October 6, a month later than originally scheduled. The delay is due, in part, to a request made by the Belmont's Monte Alexander on Monday, in which he writes that "more time is needed to evaluate the case."This, of course, follows revisions to the ordinance requested by the CityDesign Studio, as detailed in the item below. They involve, among other items, making the development caddy-corner from the Belmont more "transparent" (which is to say, the buildings have more windows) and more accessible from Sylvan Avenue -- better able to "activate the public realm," in the words of CityDesign Studio head Brent Brown.But while the city waits for the revisions, which we may have shortly, letters of support for the project continue to roll in -- not just from the West Dallas and Oak Cliff chambers of commerce, as we've noted this week, but from the likes of state Rep. Rafael Anchía, Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia and state Rep. Eric Johnson. O'Donnell also forwards one from Jason Roberts, who writes in his letter of support that "as designed, Sylvan Thirty advances the sense of community that it vitally important. It is highly pedestrian oriented and integrates well with Sylvan Avenue and Ft. Worth Avenue." (Update: Roberts followed up with a note to O'Donnell enumerating several concerns with the original zoning ordinance. It follows in full in the comments.)Anchía, Garcia and Johnson's letters follow.

Via.​So, back to that Sylvan Thirty item from earlier in the week. Got an email this morning from Monte Anderson, the man who resurrected the Belmont. Said he wanted to talk about the development going in catty-corner from his -- one he's long supported. Matter of fact, says Anderson, he helped Sylvan Thirty president Brent Jackson "get that land, and I introduced him to Cox Farms," so far the only tenant announced for the mixed-use development scheduled to go where once the Alamo Plaza Hotel Courts stood.Anderson still wants Sylvan Thirty: "I'm kinda lonely over there by myself," he tells Unfair Park." He just doesn't want it the way it's configured in zoning plans scheduled to go to the City Plan Commission come fall. (Word is the scheduled September hearing regarding Sylvan Thirty's zoning has been pushed till October.)Specifically, says Anderson: "The biggest problem is he's building a suburban-style development with pad sites that have their backs to the road. He won't put it in the code where the front doors can face the major roads, and he's made the sidewalks so narrow it looks like the backside of a building. It's like an outlet mall where you have these blank walls on the front and all the life happens inside."He dismisses those Lake-Flato renderings we looked at earlier this week. "I am not talking about the pretty pictures," Anderson says. "I am talking about the zoning. Those are pictures."Anderson's opposition comes as the West Dallas and Oak Cliff chambers of commerce sent their respective letters of support to the city. Former council member Bob Stimson, head of the Oak Cliff chamber, tells Unfair Park today his group's just fine with the plan: "Our goal is to make sure good things happen, investments get made and businesses move in." And Sylvan Thirty does that.As for Jackson, well, he insists all will be well."Until all information is known from city staff and is published and made public," he tells Unfair Park, "there will continue to be questions, and that's understandable."

Courtesy Team Better BlockThe scene at Square 67, formerly an abandoned gas station on Red Bird, over the weekend​A couple of months back we mentioned Jason Roberts's plan to connect North Oak Cliff with the southernmost tip of the Katy Trail via a nine-mile trail along and across the Trinity River -- one he'd hoped to have wrapped within 90 days. And, lookie here, says the Better Blocker: "We'll announce more details on that project later in the week." Tick and tock.Meanwhile: Roberts has posted about an intriguing project done in partnership with UTA architecture prof Wanda Dye, whose covered food court on Ross Avenue took top prize in the Better Boulevard event-slash-competition in late June. Long story short, as Dye wrote over the weekend: "Dallas' Team Better Block turned a vacant gas station in South Oak Cliff into a people-friendly environment complete with shipping container converted to a restaurant, outdoor cafe seating, fountains, and fishing!" A vacant gas station on Red Bird Lane, to be specific, surrounded by a sea of vacant parking spaces and a moribund strip shopping center -- a familiar sight in many parts of town, not just south of the Trinity.Roberts last night posted the plan and photos on the Better Block website -- a step-by-step how-to, of sorts, for the project called Square 67, so called because Team Better Block intends for it to serve as a new public square rather than a dead space. He wrote last night:At the end of the day, people lingered in a space formerly dedicated to cars, bought food and drinks, people-watched, and talked about how the community needed more events like this to bring everyone together. We were constantly asked about the next event, and how they could help. It's so rewarding to find out how much a community is willing to pitch in to help us make places that matter. When you step away from the world of specialists, and consultants, and just have fun with a community, you get a much better sense on how to make things better. The real key is to just do something concrete. Planning, and studying is necessary, but if we can't tie that to actual improvements on the ground in short order, then momentum can quickly be lost, and we can find ourselves in a pattern of always talking about doing something great, but never acting. And for places like this, time is of the essence. Everyone deserves a place that matters, and that builds up a community.And, no, this is not a one-off. More retail to come; also, complete streets.

Photo by Patrick Michels​Drove by Davy Crockett two weeks ago and espied the still-up sign noting that the Dallas ISD was taking bids on the city-designated historic landmark, which turns 108 this year and was the oldest school in use when the district shuttered it in January 1989. We've written about the property plenty, beginning in February 2010, when we noticed its sad state of disrepair; at the time the district said it had no plans for the building, most recently used as admin offices. Anyway.That sign reminded me: Bids were due to close June 3. I'd meant to see how that turned out, but I didn't have to look far: Thursday the board of trustees will vote to sell nine "surplus properties" to the highest bidders, and Crockett's among the properties on the sale list. Says the spreadsheet, Good Signature Management was the sole bidder, submitting an offer of $239,000 (which is quite a deal). Last year, the district had been showing the building to nonprofits, most of which didn't think it viable as a redo on their budgets.Not sure what developer Ken Good plans to do with the property, which is protected due to its designation; several messages have been left. DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander, who's got his hands full at present, says he'll ask building officials what they know about the would-be new owner's intentions and get back to us. I've also left a message with Preservation Dallas exec director Katherine Seale, who, coincidentally, is among the panelists taking part in the Historic Preservation in Dallas chitchat at the Dallas Center for Architecture tonight at 6.Update at 2:46 p.m.: Seale says "we at Preservation Dallas think this very positive news, and probably one of the best decisions they could have made with the school" -- referring, of course, to DISD's decision to part with the property. "DISD has not indicated any interest in that building in many years, and it wasn't mothballed the way it should be, and DISD is not in the business of historic preservation. We applaud them for taking action on this and selling the property so somebody else can do something with it."Says Seale, used to be she'd get calls about old Parkland; then, the Statler; then, 508 Park. All of them in recent years have come off the most-endangered list thanks to new owners. "In the last year and a half, Davy Crockett has become the No. 1 call of concern from our members," she says. "This is good news."

Photo by Patrick Michels​Drove by Davy Crockett two weeks ago and espied the still-up sign noting that the Dallas ISD was taking bids on the city-designated historic landmark, which turns 108 this year and was the oldest school in use when the district shuttered it in January 1989. We've written about the property plenty, beginning in February 2010, when we noticed its sad state of disrepair; at the time the district said it had no plans for the building, most recently used as admin offices. Anyway.That sign reminded me: Bids were due to close June 3. I'd meant to see how that turned out, but I didn't have to look far: Thursday the board of trustees will vote to sell nine "surplus properties" to the highest bidders, and Crockett's among the properties on the sale list. Says the spreadsheet, Good Signature Management was the sole bidder, submitting an offer of $239,000 (which is quite a deal). Last year, the district had been showing the building to nonprofits, most of which didn't think it viable as a redo on their budgets.Not sure what developer Ken Good plans to do with the property, which is protected due to its designation; several messages have been left. DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander, who's got his hands full at present, says he'll ask building officials what they know about the would-be new owner's intentions and get back to us. I've also left a message with Preservation Dallas exec director Katherine Seale, who, coincidentally, is among the panelists taking part in the Historic Preservation in Dallas chitchat at the Dallas Center for Architecture tonight at 6.Update at 2:46 p.m.: Seale says "we at Preservation Dallas think this very positive news, and probably one of the best decisions they could have made with the school" -- referring, of course, to DISD's decision to part with the property. "DISD has not indicated any interest in that building in many years, and it wasn't mothballed the way it should be, and DISD is not in the business of historic preservation. We applaud them for taking action on this and selling the property so somebody else can do something with it."Says Seale, used to be she'd get calls about old Parkland; then, the Statler; then, 508 Park. All of them in recent years have come off the most-endangered list thanks to new owners. "In the last year and a half, Davy Crockett has become the No. 1 call of concern from our members," she says. "This is good news."

Via.​I like that camo draping those wooden picnic tables on the site of the former Alamo Plaza Hotel Courts at Sylvan and Fort Worth Avenue -- very M*A*S*H. In recent months, of course, that's been the site of the Cox Farms outdoor market, a sorta sneak peek at what's to come for the site of the project known as Sylvan Thirty. But this weekend's the Big Adios, the final market. After that, says Oaxaca Interests's Brent Jackson, there'll be live music on the property: "It'll be a really neat gathering spot," he tells Unfair Park this afternoon. "We'll encourage all of the community to come out and enjoy."Reason I called Jackson, president of Sylvan Thirty, was: Yesterday I drove by the site of the West Dallas Chamber-endorsed project and noticed the sign asking folks interested in leasing a spot to stop by the website. I was curious to see how that was going. Then, today, 36 new conceptual renderings of the development were posted on Flickr, giving us our first real glimpse at what Jackson envisions for the property -- where, he told Hanna back in March, he also hopes to open four restaurants.That's still the plan -- "chef-driven concepts," though, is all he'll say, in anticipation of a formal announcement come, oh, early October. Ish."It's still a work in progress," Jackson says of the renderings, offered in advance of the project's going before the City Plan Commission in coming weeks. "We hope to begin construction by the end of the year. We've spoken to a lot of folks in the West Dallas and Oak Cliff area about the project, and the grocery store is really drawing quite a bit of attention in the sense that people can't wait for it."

​More than 450 current and former property owners at a Lake Whitney residential golf community, including dozens of locals, are suing Dallas-based developer Double Diamond, Inc., claiming they were charged exorbitant fees by a puppet property owners' association that funneled the proceeds directly to the company. In some cases, the complaint alleges, the fees became so burdensome that some of the plaintiffs were forced to walk away from their property, which they allege was subsequently foreclosed upon by Double Diamond's financing arm. It all began, according to suits filed in Dallas and Hidalgo county courts, with an invitation to tour the White Bluff Resort -- an offer that included free golf clubs and a stay at the resort's signature inn. What followed, plaintiffs claim, was a high-pressure sales pitch in the "closing room," where salesman were allegedly instructed that a potential buyers has to refuse 10 times before they are allowed to leave. After each pitch, the complaint says, the salesman would leave the room to allow a husband and wife to have a private discussion. But the sales force was allegedly eavesdropping, then adjusting the pitch accordingly.

Photos by Noah Jeppson​The poor Dallas Pedestrian Network, otherwise known as Vincent Ponte's downtown tunnels and skyways. So unloved, so unwanted -- and if you believe the Downtown Dallas 360 plan (not to mention Laura Miller and Mary Suhm and Jack Gosnell), the leading cause of the death of downtown. Hence the closed-door meeting written about in this morning's News: "A tunnel task force had its first meeting recently to begin a discussion -- and eventually reach a conclusion -- about what to do with the underground."The Bullington entrance to the tunnels​Nothing's been decided; we're a long way from that. They'll walk and talk the tunnel for a long while yet; I've been told a final decision about what to do with the tunnels is a good two years off. But, of course, there was that note in the 1401 Elm Street plans: "Tunnel access to be closed off per city 2013." Which, despite what the head of the Office of Economic Development said, feels pretty ... definitive.And, that reminds me: Noah Jeppson, our Friend responsible for the map of the Dallas Pedestrian Network due sooner than later, has a new pet project (I mean, in addition to PARK(ing) Day): a Facebook page to Save the Downtown Tunnels. (Update: Noah wrote this morning to correct me: Corey Rawdon, another downtown resident, is responsible for the Facebook page.) Wrote Rawdon by way of introduction a couple of weeks ago:The tunnels have received a lot of press recently both from supporters who love and frequent them and from those who oppose them and would like to shut them down. Help us spread the word about the tunnels and show your support by joining this page! Together we can help influence and educate those who feel that the tunnels are not a valuable part of life for downtown residents and employees alike.And for those who've never visited the tunnels, Noah's put together quite the slide show, which, whenever I look at it and the old map, all I can think is: Carousel is a lie! There is no renewal!

Driving through downtown earlier this week I couldn't help but notice: First Baptist Dallas is erecting its new downtown campus with remarkable speed. Seems like only yesterday Tom Leppert, Mark Lovvorn and Robert Jeffress were pressin' The Big Red Button. But according to this nicely done look-see just posted to Vimeo ("the city of Dallas watches in awe"), the "structure for the iridescent drum topping our new worship center" is now complete. Fancy. But if this drought persists, and it likely will, they may want to read the City of Dallas Drought Contingency Plan before they turn on that fountain.