New mid-rise planned(I think of anything under 30 stories a mid-rise(esp. in this day in age).


Hines is developing the 23-story Victory Park office tower designed by Austin-based Duda/Paine Architects

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/commercial-real-estate/headlines/20140331-victory-center-.jpg.ece/BINARY/w620x413/Victory+Center+.jpg


Developers working on the next building in Dallas’ Victory Park are tossing out the project’s old architectural themes in favor of a bold new look.
A sleek glass office tower made up of tilted geometric shapes is set to begin construction soon in the development on the northwest corner of downtown Dallas.
Hines, a Houston-based commercial real estate firm, will build the 23-story office tower on the east side of Stemmons Freeway.

The 470,000-square-foot high-rise was designed by Austin-based Duda/Paine Architects with sloping sides and vertical and horizontal metal fins on the exterior.
The planned tower is a sharp departure from other buildings in Victory Park, which favored light-colored concrete and brick exteriors in a similar design theme.
Hines’ Victory Park tower will be the first office-building project in the development in seven years.

The building will be next door to the One Victory Park offices, which Hines built in partnership with Victory’s original developer, Hillwood Capital. That building is almost fully leased with tenants including Ernst & Young, Haynes and Boone and Plains Capital.

Hines plans to open the new Victory Park building in early 2017. It will feature conference and fitness facilities, ground-floor retail space and a rooftop terrace.

To those who think Dallas puts highways over everything.... even though I posted above how much Dallas is investing in rail

Tearing down 345 I-345 poised for fast-tracked study | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20140411-i-345-poised-for-fast-tracked-study.ece)

Building I-30 below grade and covering it up(what I think they should do with 235): Editorial: City leaders must push plan to lower Interstate 30 | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20140422-editorial-city-leaders-must-push-plan-to-lower-interstate-30.ece)


Proposed deck park over Interstate 30
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20140422-proposed-deck-park-over-interstate-30-copy.jpg.ece/BINARY/w620x413/Proposed+Deck+Park+over+Interstate+30+copy.jpg

The Trinity River Toll is still a possibility and they are just now floating about the possibility of not building it at all. This editorial brings up a valid point of how it could be engulfed in a flood.




Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs has always been against planting a high-speed, six-lane toll road the city along the east levee of the Trinity River between Interstate 45/U.S. 175 to the Interstate 35E and State Highway 183 merge. His reasons are myriad. “For starters,” he said Monday afternoon, “urban design, mobility and environmental reasons.” But following today’s meeting of the Dallas City Council’s Transportation and Trinity Corridor Project Committee, Griggs said he has additional reasons to be dead-set against an unfunded road guesstimated to cost upwards of $1.5 billion.

Among today’s revelations: For much of its nine-mile length, the road will extend around 535 feet into the floodway; there’s a plan for a “flood separation wall” that’s not even as high as the existing levees; and in some instances the road runs almost right next to the river.

HNTB vice president Dan Chapman also told the committee during the presentation that there will need to be an evacuation plan of some kind should heavy rains fill the floodway to 100-year-flood levels.

“This is the first time we got a sense of how far the road goes into the green space,” says Griggs. “And the flood wall only halfway up the levees. If you live near the levees you know why they’re as tall as they are, and not half their height. It gets up there, like it did in 1990. And now I am concerned about the safety of people using the road during storms.”

Today’s briefing was intended to bring the council up to speed on the Federal Highway Administration’s final environmental impact statement, which was published to the North Texas Tollway Authority’s website last month in advance of a public hearing — the final one — scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. April 24 in the old Memorial Auditorium at the Dallas Convention Center. The Trinity River toll road discussion was intended to last 70 minutes, until committee chair Vonciel Jones Hill cut it short and ended the meeting at 2 p.m. because of Passover, which doesn’t begin until sundown.

Chapman reiterated what we’ve known all along: The FHWA, NTTA and the Texas Department of Transportation say the city can either go with so-called Alternative 3C (the “least environmentally damaging alternative” of the road-building choices) or do nothing at all. The city has been hoping since 1998 to build a road, insisting it’s a necessary reliever route (for those trying to get around Dallas). But it needs the FHWA’s OK, as well as a sign-off from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which will release its own EIS Friday in advance of another council briefing.

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https://scontent-a-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t31.0-8/10257766_10202876057334991_2813540645265752658_o.j pg

- Trinity River toll road planner to Dallas City Council: Parkway could be swamped in a flood | Dallas Morning News (http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/2014/04/trinity-river-toll-road-planner-to-dallas-city-council-parkway-could-be-swamped-in-a-flood.html/)


Just FYI, I do NOT support this and hope they don't build it to be honest. I'd rather support and underground four-lane high-speed tollway and develop ground level.

Dallas Complete Streets Initiative:


WHAT ARE COMPLETE STREETS?

The vision of the Dallas Complete Streets Initiative is to build streets that are safe and comfortable for everyone: young and old; motorists and bicyclists; walker and wheelchair users; bus and train riders alike.

the city launched the complete streets initiative in June 2011 with the goal of instituting a new approach to designing and building streets. Complete Streets is a relatively new term for an idea from decades past. long before regulations and requirements promoting rapid automobile movement began dictating street design, streets were built and developed to serve the destinations surrounding them. some of the greatest streets in America still maintain this centuries-old character. new great streets – built to evolving standards – are being built throughout the country through complete streets programs.

complete streets make it easy to cross the street, walk to shops, and bicycle to work. they help buses run on time and make it safe for people to walk to and from train stations.

- here is the .pdf presentation. Very good read if you have awhile with a bunch of awesome photos of streets in Dallas

http://dallascityhall.com/development_services/pdf/DCS-Design-Manual_DRAFT_091713.pdf

A couple of cool screenshots

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https://scontent-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/t31.0-8/10317810_10202876089455794_3634132645225210751_o.j pg

Here is the website: http://dallascompletestreets.wordpress.com

HSR Update for Texas


High-speed rail could be coming to the Metroplex by early in the next decade.

Plans were announced Wednesday in Fort Worth to bring the fast means of transportation from Fort Worth to Houston.

The commission for high-speed rail in the DFW region said they are only in the beginning stages of the project, but they feel bringing this form of transportation here is a strong possibility.

However, money is always the first obstacle.

“Financial problems is billions of dollars in an environment where billions of dollars for transportation infrastructure are difficult to come by,” said high-speed rail commissioner Bill Meadows.

A Japanese company has already started initial plans to bring high-speed rail from Houston to Dallas. The commission in DFW wants to make sure Fort Worth and Arlington are connected to the plan.

“We have to put our big boy pants on and think of the entire state at one time,” said North Central Texas Council of Governments Director of Transportation Michael Morris.

If the high-speed rail is brought to DFW, the 200 mph train could get you from Fort Worth to Dallas in roughly 18 minutes. If you want to travel from Fort Worth to Houston your trip would be roughly 90 minutes.

Commissioners said the Metroplex, which is supposed to reach a population of 11 million by 2040, needs more options for transportation.

“You work hard because it’s important,” said Meadows. “It’s important for moving people of this region and this state."

Meadows said the Japanese company has a goal of getting a high-speed rail from Houston to Dallas complete by 2021 or 2022, but said there is no timetable to connect the Houston line to the rest of the Metroplex.

- Plans Announced for High-Speed Rail to Houston | NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth (http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Plans-Announced-for-High-Speed-Rail-to-Houston-258316161.html)

Just why do we care about what is happening in Dallas?

Just why do we care about what is happening in Dallas?

Maybe you don't, but others will. I have family there, so it's nice to keep up.

Don't open the thread if you don't care.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Dallas was mentioned as desirable to millennials in this story posted in the New Urbanism Library thread.


Why Americans Are Fleeing The Suburbs (http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/why-americans-are-fleeing-the-suburbs-155653589.html)

Is It Time To Stop Subsidizing the Suburbs (https://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/is-it-time-to-stop-subsidizing-the-suburbs--163018799.html)

update on the North Tarrant Express from DFWU2

http://media.star-telegram.com/smedia/2014/02/24/21/26/7fEKz.St.58.jpeg
http://media.star-telegram.com/smedia/2014/02/24/21/26/jLdL0.St.58.jpeg


I wish they would get I35W finished or fixed. That Interstate is a nightmare and I always take 820 if I need to go to the northside.

State Highway 183 expansion approved.


Texas Transportation Commission gives expansion of State Highway 183 green light

State Highway 183’s long wait for an overhaul is over.

Expansion work will begin later this year on the highway that connects Dallas and Tarrant counties as well as dozens of cities to the southern entrance to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. It will be the first time since 1973 that the east-west corridor, also called Airport Freeway, will undergo a substantial upgrade.

The project, which will include upgrades to State Highway 114 and Loop 12, won’t add any new free, main lanes to any of the highways. All of the expanded capacity will come from the toll express lanes.

The work is scheduled to be completed in 2018.

“It was unfortunately overlooked for quite a few years,” said state Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, whose Irving district includes Airport Freeway.
The Texas Department of Transportation will rebuild 10.6 miles of the highway in Irving and Dallas and 1.5 miles in Euless. It also will add an 18.3-mile toll express lane in each direction from State Highway 121 in Bedford to Interstate 35E in Dallas.

The work is part of an $847.6 million contract that the Texas Transportation Commission unanimously awarded Thursday to Southgate Mobility Partners.
Southgate also will add toll express lanes on 2.5 miles of Loop 12 and 10.5 miles of State Highway 114, including through Las Colinas. There also will be minor upgrades to portions of 114 and 183 that aren’t being completely rebuilt.

Direct connections from the new 183 and Loop 12 toll lanes will be added. That interchange also will get new direct ramps from eastbound 183 to northbound Loop 12 and southbound Loop 12 to westbound 183.

“There are many transportation needs within these corridors,” Ed Pensock, TxDOT’s strategic projects director, told transportation commissioners Thursday.
The toll portions, also called TEXpress lanes, will operate with fluctuating prices like the similar lanes on LBJ Freeway and the DFW Connector. Toll rates will fluctuate based on congestion, with the goal of keeping motorists moving 50 mph or more.

Project details
Construction projects on State Highway 183, State Highway 114 and Loop 12 will start later this year and are expected to finish in 2018.
12.1: miles of rebuilt roads
31.3: miles of new toll lanes
$847.6 million: Budgeted cost of the project

- Texas Transportation Commission gives expansion of State Highway 183 green light | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/irving/headlines/20140529-texas-transportation-commission-gives-expansion-of-state-highway-183-green-light.ece)

Here is a great list of some awesome museums in the DFW area.

See the sights at D-FW's most eclectic museums | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/columnists/joy-tipping/20140529-see-the-sights-at-d-fw-s-most-eclectic-museums.ece)

Another cool list from Dallas Morning News to catch some good views of the Dallas Skyline

10 great spots to catch a view of the Dallas skyline | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/columnists/joy-tipping/20140522-10-great-spots-to-catch-a-view-of-the-dallas-skyline.ece)

A really good read about the office market in Plano


The Encana tower in West Plano could easily house 1,000 workers.

But these days, fewer than 100 folks are employed in the 12-story high-rise.

Last fall, Canada-based Encana Oil & Gas decided to pull out of the new office tower as part of a company consolidation. The building in Legacy business park has pretty much emptied out since then.

In the past, the sudden addition of a big block of empty office space would cause some hair-pulling in the property market. But that’s not the case here.

Legacy was one of the country’s hottest office markets even before Toyota announced last month that it would relocate its North American headquarters there. Since then, the West Plano office market has caught fire, developers of new buildings and leasing agents say.

“Our momentum is huge,” said Greg Biggs, the managing director with commercial real estate firm JLL who’s heading efforts to rent the Encana building. “We’re averaging three tours of the building a week to potential tenants.

“And we are in lease negotiations for three full floors of office space.”

Encana recently decided for the first time to break up the more than 300,000-square-foot office tower for multiple tenants. Biggs said the building will now be available for as small as a single-floor lease.

“Since we decided to do that, the activity really increased,” he said.

The area that includes Legacy business park and West Plano already accounts for about 40 percent of Dallas-area office leasing activity, according to a new study by JLL. That’s more office leasing than downtown Dallas and Las Colinas combined.

Toyota’s move, which starts this summer, is expected to accelerate demand for office space in West Plano and Frisco. The company leased 120,000 square feet of temporary office space on Legacy Drive east of Dallas North Tollway.

Along with the automaker’s 4,000 workers, thousands more office employees who work for companies that do business with Toyota are likely to be located in the area.

- http://www.okctalk.com/current-events-open-topic/36215-dallas-3.html#post792401

3 Pacific Plaza Proposals

http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/files/2014/05/PacificPlazaProposals.jpg
http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/park-board-not-ready-to-decide-if-dallas-or-a-developer-should-pay-for-top-priority-pacific-plaza.html/

Including:

1. A huge 100 million dollar parking garage with a massive media screen covering it


Dallas has spent millions over the years acquiring a downtown parking lot it wants to turn into a park but doesn’t have the $10 million in fertilizer it needs to make the grass grow on Pacific Plaza, which remains little more than a car-crowded slab of blacktop.

Downtown developer Shawn Todd says he’s got a plan that doesn’t just plant a park, but also a sprawling eight-level parking structure stretching over Pacific Avenue that will alleviate the parking shortage in that part of downtown — and bring in a grocery store as well.

The “iconic structure,” in Todd’s words, would be covered with a massive media screen with a digital ticker-tape scroll like the one in Times Square and cost upward of $100 million. He insists he can and will fund the whole thing by himself.

“This is an expensive project because you’re spanning over a road system, you’re never touching the Pacific Plaza designated land,” Todd said. “And I am not asking the city of Dallas for one tax incentive, not one abatement, not one cent of TIF money. I’m not asking for anything. Nothing. This is new construction, and it doesn’t need it. When you’re buying old buildings, you need it. This doesn’t need it.”

What it does need is an existing park: 31-year-old Aston Park, a triangle of cracked concrete, desiccated tree trunks and dirt at Pacific Avenue, Harwood and Live Oak streets.

- Proposed $100M parking garage could plant seed for downtown Dallas park | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20140421-proposed-100m-parking-garage-could-plant-seed-for-downtown-dallas-park.ece)

http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20140422-0422pacificplazarend1.jpg.ece/BINARY/w620x413/0422pacificplazarend1.jpg
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20140421-pacificplaza.jpg.ece/BINARY/w620x413/pacificplaza.jpg

2. Two 70 story residential towers valued at $600 million


A week from Thursday developer Shawn Todd will present his $100-million Pacific Plaza proposal to the Downtown Residents Council, which will certainly have a lot to say about the plan, which involves not just the three-acre park bound by North St. Paul, Live Oak and North Harwood, but an eight-level parking structure with a massive “media screen” stretching over Pacific Avenue that could include a grocery, restaurants, retail and even residential towers.

But Todd’s isn’t the only proposal floating around Dallas City Hall.

Turkish developer Mukemmel “Mike” Sarimsakci, who’s overseeing the redo of 211 N. Ervay, is behind a second Pacific Plaza that would include underground parking (with room enough for about 1,855 cars, plus or minus a bunch), two residential skyscrapers at least 70 stories tall and high-end retail with a grocery store imported from Eatly. There would also be a park, of course, though city officials say they’re concerned Sarimsakci’s proposal eats into the hoped-for green space.

“We’re trying to accommodate parking and a park,” says Sarimsakci. “It’s a concept being used a lot in Europe and overseas. I haven’t seen anything like it in the States.”

The city has said it can’t afford the $10 to $11 million needed to build the park. So far, the two proposals say they will pay for Pacific Plaza. There is a third proposal also being pitched to city officials by so-far unnamed developers. But do stay tuned. Anyway.

Back to Sarimsakci’s proposal, which he says will cost $600 million and involve a public-private partnership that involves the city becoming a “20 percent partner in the deal.” That right there might be a sticking point: City officials killed an earlier proposal involving an underground parking structure when they told Tower Petroleum and, for now, Corrigan Tower owner John Kirtland they didn’t want to be in the parking-lot business.

- For $600 million, developer proposes garage, ?fancy? grocery and two 70-story residential towers for Pacific Plaza | Dallas Morning News (http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/for-600-million-developer-proposes-garage-fancy-grocery-and-two-70-story-residential-towers-for-pacific-plaza.html/)

http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/files/2014/05/PacificPlazaRendering.jpg

3. An underground automated parking garage not yet appraised


The city of Dallas says it does not have the $10 million to $11 million it needs to plant a long-proposed three-acre park on what is now a downtown parking lot bound by North St. Paul, Live Oak and North Harwood streets. But the city has received a handful of proposals for the park, each one of which comes with a parking lot.

Two downtown developers, Shawn Todd and Mukemmel “Mike” Sarimsakci, have already made public their plans involving parking garages, grocery stores, retail outlets and skyscrapers. Now a third party has emerged: Former Dallas City Council member Ron Natinsky tells The Dallas Morning News he is spearheading a group – 4P Partners – that hopes to seed the would-be park with a retail development, shops and a parking garage that will hold 1,632 cars.

Natinsky and his partners want to put their parking structure entirely below ground. And, they say, it would be entirely automated, making it the first such structure in Dallas.

Unitronics, based out of the Ben Guirion Airport in Israel, would build the parking garage, which would be by far the largest among its handful of U.S. projects. Natinsky says the garage would pay for the development, which would include a retail-and-grocery structure with a grass-covered rooftop that’s being proposed for Aston Park, which is currently a city-owned triangle of concrete and trees surrounded across Live Oak.

The proposal calls for dead-ending Live Oak in order to connect the retail structure to the park. In between would would be car elevators — or “transporters,” as Natinsky calls them, “like in Star Trek” — that would move vehicles down to the garage.

- A third proposal for Pacific Plaza, from a former Dallas City Council member, includes an automated parking garage | Dallas Morning News (http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/a-third-proposal-for-pacific-plaza-from-a-former-dallas-city-council-member-includes-an-automated-parking-garage.html/)

http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/files/2014/05/PacificPlaza.jpg
http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/files/2014/05/PacificPlaza4.jpg
http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/files/2014/05/PacificPlaza2.jpg

New Renaissance Hotel rendering as part of a huge new development in West Plano branded Legacy West.

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This is a nice article!


Sources: Toyota isn't going to be the last big fish to land in Dallas

Toyota Motor Co.'s new $300 million corporate campus could spur other large companies to land in Dallas-Fort Worth, with real estate sources saying at least two other big businesses -- at a million-square-feet or more -- are looking at the region.

"There are other relatively large corporations out there that are looking at this market," developer Fehmi Karahan told the Dallas Business Journal. He is working on the $2 billion Legacy West development that landed the corporate offices of Toyota and FedEx Office & Print Services.

"We have the best infrastructure for these types of projects," Karahan told me. "The suppliers want to locate near Toyota's new headquarters...I have been bombarded with emails and phone calls. The excitement is huge."

- Sources: Toyota isn't going to be the last big fish to land in Dallas - Dallas Business Journal (http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2014/04/30/sources-toyota-isnt-going-to-be-the-last-big-fish.html)

An overlook of the development

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/commercial-real-estate/headlines/20140313-legacywestmodel.jpg.ece/BINARY/w620x413/legacywestmodel.jpg


Another Uptown

By holding off on development of the property until now, Penney’s land will wind up looking more like Dallas’ Uptown district than a suburban development, he said.
“The timing couldn’t be better,” Shaw said. “We are in a hurry because there is a lot of interest.

“We want to make sure we are diligent and thoughtful with our development plans, but at the same time not miss opportunities.”

**This is what I really like! If OKC developers would just hold off if they loose financing or run into trouble instead of just automatically downgrading, we would end up with much better developments. I would rather wait 2-5 more years for a really nice development instead of having something like Belle Isle.**

Fed Ex also building here with some more specs


A luxury hotel tower, corporate office space, an urban shopping center and apartments — those are part of what’s planned for one of the Dallas area’s largest new real estate projects.

Developers who will break ground soon on almost 240 acres at the Dallas North Tollway and State Highway 121 in West Plano aren’t wasting any time getting the huge real estate project in gear. Construction will start in the next few months on the first phase of the Legacy West project.(PluPan Edit: mind you this article was written back in late March)

“There is a huge momentum to develop this site,” said developer Fehmi Karahan, who heads one of three local firms joining forces to build on land surrounding J.C. Penney’s corporate headquarters in the Legacy business park.

The property, divided into four huge blocks fronting on the tollway and Highway 121, has remained vacant since Penney built its corporate offices in the 1980s.

Now Karahan Cos., corporate office developer KDC and apartment builder Columbus Realty Partners will develop the land in partnership with Penney.

Just a month after committing to the deal, the firms are ready to start work on the first office buildings, and a hotel tower is on the drawing boards.

“We are doing site clearing now, and we will probably start full construction in about 60 days” on a new headquarters complex for FedEx Office, KDC chief executive Steve VanAmburgh said.
More than 1,200 FedEx workers will be housed in the campus that KDC is building on Legacy Drive.

“We are already talking to two or three other prospective companies that want to be in this project,” VanAmburgh said. “The entire office component could be anywhere from 3 [million] to 4 million square feet.

“It would be easy to envision anywhere from 10 to 20 midrise and high-rise office buildings that range from 150,000 square feet to 300,000 or 400,000.”
KDC has a lot of experience with that kind of office development.

The Dallas-based firm is building the huge State Farm Insurance regional headquarters in Richardson. And it’s done large corporate facilities for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Citigroup and, in Legacy business park, for Encana Oil & Gas, Tyler Technologies, Intuit and Denbury Resources.

- http://www.dallasnews.com/business/commercial-real-estate/headlines/20140313-office-campus-shops-and-high-rise-hotel-in-the-works-for-big-plano-development.ece

Another older article about the FedEx - http://planoblog.dallasnews.com/2014/02/fedex-office-and-print-services-planning-to-relocate-headquarters-to-plano.html/

A cool article about Fort Worth

Why developers are investing in Fort Worth?s skyline - Dallas Business Journal (http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2014/03/13/why-developers-are-investing-in-fort-worth-s.html)

Somewhat old piece about the Orange Line DFW Airport expansion

DART will launch service to D/FW Airport 4 months early on Aug. 18 - Dallas Business Journal (http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2014/03/25/dart-will-launch-service-to-d-fw-airport-4-months.html)

New Dallas Cowboys HQ proposal for Frisco


Construction is not far away on the first part of the multiuse event center and Dallas Cowboys headquarters.

Frisco City Council members at a special meeting on May 6 heard an update on the project and saw an updated site plan and rendering of the publicly-funded areas.

The first part of the site plan, which includes the multiuse event facility, two practice fields, the Dallas Cowboys headquarters and some retail space, is expected to go before the Planning and Zoning Commission for approval on May 27.

That section of the project, in the northwest quadrant of the development at Warren Parkway and Dallas Parkway, is still on schedule to be open by late 2016, according to Assistant City Manager Ron Patterson.

If the commission approves it, Patterson said construction on the property will be able to start. Construction of the piers for the multiuse event center could begin in August, he said.
The indoor multiuse events center will be set 18 feet into the ground in order to reduce the profile of the building and will be a split-bowl style, meaning part of the seating will be below the ground—similar to Toyota stadium—and the other section will rise above. In all, it will be about three and a half stories tall, Patterson said.

http://impactnews.com/downloads/28000/download/bitblt-620x371-2754657f6bf485714fb9a3273486e209aeeb923d/Plan%202.jpg

- Site plan for event center and Dallas Cowboys headquarters to go before Planning & Zoning Commission - Community Impact Newspaper (http://impactnews.com/dfw-metro/frisco/site-plan-for-event-center-and-dallas-cowboys-head/)

Cool Redevelopment of Frisco's Silos


The historic grain silos at John Elliott Drive and Main Street could see new life again as dining and entertainment spaces.

Frisco City Council members at a May 6 meeting approved moving forward with a lease process of the property to a developer who has interest in turning the top of the white silos into a roof-top restaurant/lounge and the metal silos into a multi-purpose facility for hosting weddings, reunions, parties and other similar events.

“The council has talked a lot over the past couple of years about bringing unique and destination dining and venues to Frisco,” Councilman Will Sowell said. “I think this really sets a very high bar—no pun intended—of what we would want to do moving forward. It’s well done.”

The restaurant and venues are not yet a done deal, however. The lease partner, MDS Capital LLC, will be responsible for funding engineering studies to determine the safety and instructional integrity of the silos as well as their feasibility for the intended use.

City staff members said in late 2013 that while the white silos are thought to be structurally sound, the metal silos may not be.

If MDS Capital determines the silos are suitable, the rental agreement will be put in place. Detailed plans of the architectural and structural work to the silos will go before the City Council for approval before construction begins.

MDS Capital has taken on other similar projects in Plano, and city staff and council members said the businesses are nice and “flourishing” and that MDS Capital respected the “vintage feel” of the locations.

The initial lease period is for 20 years with an option to extend it for another 10 years. The annual base rent for the first five years is $56,400. That rate would continue to rise until years 16–20 at $65,292 in annual base rate.

The land has been home to grain silos since the 1900s, although the current silos are thought to have been constructed in the 1940s or 1950s by Continental Grain.

http://impactnews.com/downloads/27998/download/bitblt-620x400-40f5be50ffae24bf649a855de9712c0a58fe2221/Silos.jpg

- Frisco's historic silos could be transformed to dining, entertainment spaces - Community Impact Newspaper (http://impactnews.com/dfw-metro/frisco/frisco%27s-historic-silos-could-be-transformed-to-dining%2C-ente/)

Plano facing buildout as undeveloped land dwindles | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/plano/headlines/20140525-plano-facing-buildout-as-undeveloped-land-dwindles.ece)

Cool new mixed use development in Richardson


University of Texas at Dallas’ Comet Town

University of Texas at Dallas’ Comet Town will become visible soon.

The Richardson City Council on Monday unanimously approved a request to rezone 13.3 acres next to the university from technical office to a planned development.

Northside at UTD, also referred to as Comet Town, will be a mixed-use neighborhood featuring apartments, townhomes, shops and restaurants.

The concept plan for the project reviewed on Monday shows 284 apartment units, 16 town homes and 26,780 square feet of retail space. A pedestrian mall will connect the neighborhood to the future DART Cotton Belt Station. More phases are planned for the project.

The property is on the north side of Synergy Park Boulevard, between Rutford Avenue and Floyd Road. Calvin Jamison, the university’s vice president of administration, said the school owns the land and will lease it to Wynne Jackson and Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions to develop and operate.

Comet Town housing will be open to the public but mostly serve faculty and graduate students, Jamison said. Rental rates are expected to start at about $1,600 for a 1,000-square-foot apartment.

University officials expect campus housing to be completely full by fall 2014, and there are no plans to expand dorms.

“We have experienced tremendous growth in a short period of time,” Jamison said.

Enrollment is projected to grow to 27,000 students by 2018.

- Richardson council approves zoning for UT Dallas mixed-use neighborhood | Dallas Morning News (http://richardsonblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/richardson-council-approves-zoning-for-ut-dallas-mixed-use-neighborhood.html/)

--------------

Here is a site plan:
https://scontent-a-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t31.0-8/10264146_10203007154612341_7206754436566878670_o.j pg

Here is the presentation: http://cor.net/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=10065

**BTW, this is something that would be awesome to see in Norman!**

Historic Oak Cliff Dairy Farm owner eying possible mixed use development


Dallas-based Cienda Partners calls itself a property investment company.

But for the last decade or so, the private firm has been something of a real estate rainmaker.

Cienda has bought up Dallas properties in strategic locations that are now being developed into high-profile projects.

No doubt that’s what will happen with its latest purchase – a 16-acre property at the doorstep of North Oak Cliff.

It’s the Oak Farms Dairy, an almost 80-year-old milk processing plant that is at the foot of the two bridges crossing to downtown.

Cienda bought the dairy from Southern Foods Group, who will continue to use the dairy for another year.

During that time, Cienda will spend time planning the property for redevelopment, said partner Philip Wise.

“We started looking at this site several years ago and always thought it was the best one around,” Wise said.

The property is zoned to allow high-rise construction and could accommodate up to 1,000 apartments and 600,000 square feet of commercial space.

Cienda has hired architects Good Fulton & Farrell to work on planning for the property, which is adjacent to Oak Cliff’s Gateway Park and on the new streetcar line connecting to downtown

Here is a cool picture provided if you are unfamiliar with the plant

http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/files/2014/05/oakweb.jpg

- http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/new-owner-of-oak-cliffs-landmark-dairy-eyes-property-for-mixed-use-development.html/

Here is the architects website: http://www.gff.com

They really have done some cool stuff including the new Perot Museum.

New 23 story residential building in Uptown Dallas.


Developer StreetLights Residential has disclosed some details of its new Uptown Dallas apartment tower.

The 23-story Uptown Plaza building is planned for a vacant lot across the street from Hotel Zaza at Maple and Thomas avenues. The vacant tract for the building is behind the Uptown Plaza shopping center.

StreetLights plans to build 212 units in the tower with the first units available in 2016, according to the company’s website.

Units in the traditional-style building will range in size from range in size from 737 to 2,238 square feet.

- Sneak peek at new Uptown apartment tower that will start soon | Dallas Morning News (http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/sneak-peak-at-new-uptown-apartment-tower-than-will-start-soon.html/)

another older link: Plans provide details for new Uptown Dallas apartment tower | Dallas Morning News (http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2014/01/plans-provide-details-for-new-uptown-dallas-apartment-tower.html/)

These are the same people who are nearly finished building this mid-rise

http://www.streetlightsres.com/images/projects/the-taylor/lg/Taylor-1b.jpg
http://www.streetlightsres.com/the-taylor.html

A nice little piece about it
Construction starts on 17-story apartment building in Dallas? Uptown area | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/business/commercial-real-estate/headlines/20120426-construction-starts-on-17-story-apartment-building-in-dallas-uptown-area.ece)

Also, here is their main website: http://www.streetlightsres.com

Here is another cool project by them in the Uptown area of it they're building which includes the Akard Place

Developers who own a key property in Dallas’ Uptown district plan to build a high-rise office and residential project.

RED Development of Phoenix has teamed up with Dallas’ StreetLights Residential to build the $200 million Akard Place mixed-use project at Field Street and Cedar Springs Road.

The 16-story office tower and 20-story residential building will occupy all of the vacant block, which is just north of Woodall Rodgers Freeway and the Perot Museum. It’s one of the last large building sites in the neighborhood.

Groundfloor retail and a large public plaza will connect the two buildings.

“There is a great demand now for restaurants and retail in Uptown,” RED Development managing partner Mike Ebert said. “There is big demand for offices.

“We think the timing for this project is outstanding.”

RED has been working on the Akard Place development for several years. In 2012 it bought the land from the Dallas Police & Fire Pension System. Ebert said the Dallas pension fund is a partner in his firm’s holding company.

RED hired Seattle-based Graphite Design Group as architect of Akard Place. And landscape architect OJB – which designed downtown Dallas’ Klyde Warren Park – is also working on the project.

Commercial real estate firm CBRE Group has been hired to market the office building to business tenants.

StreetLights Residential – which just built the Taylor apartment tower in Uptown – was selected as the apartment developer.

“We wanted a strong local partner on the residential,” Ebert said.

StreetLights CEO Doug Chesnut said he’s been interested in RED’s development site for a long time.

“The property is right in the middle of everything,” Chesnut said.

He said plans call for about 300 apartments in the residential tower, which will be at the northeast end of the property.

http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/files/2014/05/akard.jpg

- read more here: http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/new-project-in-the-works-for-dallas-uptown-will-have-office-and-apartment-towers.html/

The Canals at Grand Park in Frisco - A huge $500 million project in Frisco


Developers in Frisco have begun construction of an urban-style mixed-use village that will have almost 2,000 homes.

The $500 million Canals at Grand Park development on Legacy Drive will have a variety of apartments, houses, townhomes and senior townhouses built around landscaped parks and waterways.

Dallas-based Charter Holdings and Arcadia Realty Corp. are the developers of the land, which is west of Dallas North Tollway and near Frisco’s Main Street.

Work has begun on the 152-acre project at Legacy and Cotton Gin Road. The first homes should be ready next year.

First phases of the apartments, single-family homes and senior living homes are starting construction at the same time.

“We wanted this community to be developed with new urbanism, so it doesn’t look like a traditional suburban subdivision,” said Charter Holdings CEO Ray Washburne said Monday. “Since it is all coming up at once, it will be incredible.”

The first phase will include 365 apartments by builder StreetLights Residential. The developer is doing a combination of flats and townhouse-style rental units.

Almost 1,100 apartments are ultimately planned in what will be StreetLights’ first suburban Dallas project. The company has apartments in Uptown and downtown Dallas.

“Our whole project will be in three phases,” said StreetLights CEO Doug Chesnut. “We will have the first phase finished late next year.

“The units in the buildings will have walk-up front doors and front porches,” he said. “This is an old way of thinking that we forgot.”

The single-family home neighborhoods will also be built with houses that front on tree-lined streets and face the almost dozen small parks and greenspaces.


http://www.dallasnews.com/business/commercial-real-estate/headlines/20140505-friscocanals.ece/BINARY/w620x413/friscocanals

- read more here: $500 million urban village in Frisco will offer variety of housing | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/business/commercial-real-estate/headlines/20140505-new-frisco-urban-village-will-have-a-variety-of-housing.ece)

Ok, I'm exhausted for now. :p

But you know, just same old boring, cookie cutter Dallas with it's huge highways preventing any real quality development and no interest in mass transit. Yeap, those highway are sure hampering development down there.

Has anyone else noticed the increase in advertising of Dallas in OKC over the last year or so? There is a billboard coming off I-44 WB onto May and I know I have seen multiple others around. Also, I have seen a few commercials from time to time on the TV. I am curious if Dallas is losing tourism from Oklahoma, in general, due to OKC and Tulsa getting better options. My wife and I used to go to Dallas once a month or so, just day trips mostly and now we go maybe twice a year at the most because OKC's options are increasing. Thoughts?

Ok, I'm exhausted for now. :p

But you know, just same old boring, cookie cutter Dallas with it's huge highways preventing any real quality development and no interest in mass transit. Yeap, those highway are sure hampering development down there.

To be fair, the population of the DFW area is almost twice the entire population of Oklahoma in an area almost half the size of the OKC metro. It has to go somewhere...

Has anyone else noticed the increase in advertising of Dallas in OKC over the last year or so? There is a billboard coming off I-44 WB onto May and I know I have seen multiple others around. Also, I have seen a few commercials from time to time on the TV. I am curious if Dallas is losing tourism from Oklahoma, in general, due to OKC and Tulsa getting better options. My wife and I used to go to Dallas once a month or so, just day trips mostly and now we go maybe twice a year at the most because OKC's options are increasing. Thoughts?

Wouldn't shock me. Probably a combination of more options in OKC+online shopping

Cousin who lives down here and works for management for one of the bigger malls in the area (Stonebriar if you know where that is) says purchases from OK customers have been trending downward for some time and hasn't recovered like most of the economy, although he pinned it on higher gas prices and a sales tax holiday in OK. Stonebriar is the furthest north "super regional" mall so at one point it recieved a lot of customers from southern OK and OKC to a lesser extent. My sister is also an IKEA fanatic and she has noticed far fewer OK tags in the parking lot.

As far as more billboards, I noticed that too before I moved but the Dallas CVB has become more aggresive in general with their "BIG" campaign. Supposedly there are quite a few billboards in Austin and Houston as well.

Wouldn't shock me. Probably a combination of more options in OKC+online shopping

Cousin who lives down here and works for management for one of the bigger malls in the area (Stonebriar if you know where that is) says purchases from OK customers have been trending downward for some time and hasn't recovered like most of the economy, although he pinned it on higher gas prices and a sales tax holiday in OK. Stonebriar is the furthest north "super regional" mall so at one point it recieved a lot of customers from southern OK and OKC to a lesser extent. My sister is also an IKEA fanatic and she has noticed far fewer OK tags in the parking lot.

As far as more billboards, I noticed that too before I moved but the Dallas CVB has become more aggresive in general with their "BIG" campaign. Supposedly there are quite a few billboards in Austin and Houston as well.

I think the addition of the outlet mall in OKC helps greatly because ours is so much better than the one in Allen and the one in Denton I wouldn't really even call it an outlet mall any more. The layout might be the worst I have ever seen.

I know Northpark has great options but is a just a big, ugly square and I think it only really has those options because of it being in Dallas. I do like Ikea and if OKC could get a Kate Spade, Container Store, Crate and Barrel, Restoration Hardware and IKEA, I might never have to go to Dallas again except for traveling...

Yeah, I have definitely noticed the ads. I think it is a great sign for OKC. As mentioned, probably a combination of factors, but obviously OKC presents many more options for locals these days, which makes Dallas not quite as overwhelmingly attractive for leisure/shopping by comparison. The comment about increased gas prices is a typical Dallas/TX response. They would prefer to believe we can't afford to go there rather than are simply choosing not to in favor of OKC options.

To be fair, the population of the DFW area is almost twice the entire population of Oklahoma in an area almost half the size of the OKC metro. It has to go somewhere...I'm not sure whether you're agreeing with me or not, but my point was some posters on here were saying that Dallas only cares about cares and not mass transit and that isn't the case.

I'm not sure whether you're agreeing with me or not, but my point was some posters on here were saying that Dallas only cares about cares and not mass transit and that isn't the case.

It's not that I am not agreeing with you, I am just saying there are a lot more people in Dallas versus OKC so there are going to be a lot more cars and need for mass transit but I think the cars are going to be used more in that area than DART. Do we have any idea what the ridership for DART has been in the past five years as Dallas has grown?

I think the addition of the outlet mall in OKC helps greatly because ours is so much better than the one in Allen and the one in Denton I wouldn't really even call it an outlet mall any more. The layout might be the worst I have ever seen.

I know Northpark has great options but is a just a big, ugly square and I think it only really has those options because of it being in Dallas. I do like Ikea and if OKC could get a Kate Spade, Container Store, Crate and Barrel, Restoration Hardware and IKEA, I might never have to go to Dallas again except for traveling...

I must admit, that outlet mall in Allen is pretty dreadful, even though they have some decent stores. NorthPark's design is very "love it or leave it"; it's nice if you like mid century, 60's "Mad Men" type style. They are definitely cornering the market down here for upscale stores, largely at the Galleria's expense. I had friends come down from OKC for the Byron Nelson, and they were begging me to take them to the Galleria since I live fairly close. They were quite disappointed in the mall and store selections.


Yeah, I have definitely noticed the ads. I think it is a great sign for OKC. As mentioned, probably a combination of factors, but obviously OKC presents many more options for locals these days, which makes Dallas not quite as overwhelmingly attractive for leisure/shopping by comparison. The comment about increased gas prices is a typical Dallas/TX response. They would prefer to believe we can't afford to go there rather than are simply choosing not to in favor of OKC options.

Haha! This wouldn't surprise me. I've heard some pretty silly stuff about "yankees from north of the Red River."

I should point out that I have met quite a few people in DFW that have done weekend trips to OKC and all have said very nice things. Heck, I feel like it's pretty much a rite of passage for kids in Collin County to go to Beavers Bend. As an aside I wish OK and OKC would do a bit more advertising down here. Arkie is shameless in the way it blankets the airwaves, we can do a little more LOL.

It's not that I am not agreeing with you, I am just saying there are a lot more people in Dallas versus OKC so there are going to be a lot more cars and need for mass transit but I think the cars are going to be used more in that area than DART. Do we have any idea what the ridership for DART has been in the past five years as Dallas has grown?I believe I saw an article about Dart ridership. I can find one though. Are you asking about the ridership specifically relating to the growth or just ridership in general?

I believe I saw an article about Dart ridership. I can find one though. Are you asking about the ridership specifically relating to the growth or just ridership in general?

Both. I would think that as Dallas was growing, ridership would increase but with Dallas spending billions on highway reconfiguration, rebuilding, widening, etc, it wouldn't surprise me if it didn't go up percentage wise as much as the population did. I am also curious how many people road the DART being that it is the closest city to us with a fully-functional mass transit system.

I had friends come down from OKC for the Byron Nelson, and they were begging me to take them to the Galleria since I live fairly close. They were quite disappointed in the mall and store selections.That's a first. I think the Galleria is great. Gucci and Louis Vuitton to name two upscale stores. The layout is great and every parking spot is structured. Every person I've ever known that has been there loves it. Northpark is a nice mall, but there is nothing really spectacular about it except some really high-end tenants. The mall is nice and luxurious in a few ways, but again, I think the Galleria is more impressive.

As an aside I wish OK and OKC would do a bit more advertising down here. Arkie is shameless in the way it blankets the airwaves, we can do a little more LOL.

I don't know what you are seeing but our casinos do plenty of advertising down there... :)

Both. I would think that as Dallas was growing, ridership would increase but with Dallas spending billions on highway reconfiguration, rebuilding, widening, etc, it wouldn't surprise me if it didn't go up percentage wise as much as the population did. I am also curious how many people road the DART being that it is the closest city to us with a fully-functional mass transit system.I'll try and find some studies done.

I meant to post this before hand, but it already happened. Non-stop air service to Shanghai and Hong Kong kicked off and they held this event.

https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/t1.0-9/p720x720/10407548_880565358636864_8718078816615448005_n.jpg

Some more info about this: dfwairport.com - Celebrate Hong Kong and Shanghai at DFW International Airport! (http://dfwairport.com/chinaservices/index.php)

https://www.facebook.com/DFWAirport/photos/a.122819071078167.18752.122783807748360/880565358636864/?type=1

I don't know what you are seeing but our casinos do plenty of advertising down there... :)

Truth

I must admit, that outlet mall in Allen is pretty dreadful, even though they have some decent stores.

Premium Outlet Mall? I had to look it up - never even knew it existed! All I know in Allen is The Village and it's far from an outlet mall. I love the trail, fishing, and the park-like atmosphere of The Village. If there's anybody here unacquainted with it - here's the directory (http://www.thevillageshopping.com/directory.html).

A good article

Awesome picture of the ongoing construction of the LBJ Freeway



http://www.dallasnews.com/news/transportation/20140611-nm_10tollr.jpg.ece/BINARY/w620x413/NM_10tollr.jpg

Era of the toll is about to dawn on Dallas-area highways

North Texas drivers wanting to minimize their traffic problems will soon have to pay the piper that state lawmakers spent decades avoiding.

Virtually every major Dallas-Fort Worth highway project includes plans for new tolls, in many cases replacing what have traditionally been free carpool lanes. By the time billions in planned construction is done, most of the area’s major corridors will either be toll roads or feature some sort of toll component.

In large part, the growing network of toll highways can be attributed to living in a state with a booming population and a Legislature that dodges solving transportation funding shortfalls.

Texas lawmakers haven’t raised the state gas tax, the primary revenue source for transportation funding, in decades. They also haven’t developed a meaningful, long-term alternative funding source. When inflation and fuel efficiency in vehicles are factored in, Texans effectively are paying far less to fund transportation needs than they were 20 years ago.

Transportation officials charged with minimizing congestion are increasingly turning to a patchwork of various financing methods. Virtually all of those plans rely on toll components whose estimated revenues are used to secure construction costs for new highways or expansions of existing ones.

- http://www.dallasnews.com/news/transportation/20140611-era-of-the-toll-is-about-to-dawn-on-dallas-area-highways1.ece

Some more articles about the LBJ progress

LBJ?s fluctuating tolls peak at $2.45 during rush-hour debut | Dallas Morning News (http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/06/lbjs-fluctuating-tolls-peak-at-2-45-during-rush-hour-debut.html/)


http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/files/2014/06/LBJ-35.jpg

Construction work continued in March 2014 on the interchange between Interstate 35E and LBJ freeway are drivers passed underneath new bridges. The interchange is set to open July 12, 2014. (Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer )

- Next portion of LBJ Freeway expansion to open July 12 | Dallas Morning News (http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/06/next-portion-of-lbj-freeway-expansion-to-open-july-12.html/)

Tolls on LBJ Freeway change at midnight, will forever vary after that | Dallas Morning News (http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/06/tolls-on-lbj-freeway-change-at-midnight-will-forever-vary-after-that.html/)

Eastern side of LBJ to get toll lanes, too | Dallas Morning News (http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/06/eastern-side-of-lbj-to-get-toll-lanes-too.html/)

More discussion about the controversial Trinity River Toll project


Toll road opponents planning so-called funeral for Trinity Parkway

http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20140604-0604trinityparkwaywake.ece/BINARY/w620x413/0604trinityparkwaywake
A rendering of one of the proposed plans for the Trinity Parkway.

No one knows for sure when – or if – the Trinity Parkway will ever be born.

But its funeral is scheduled for Sunday.

Organizers of a tongue-in-cheek, New Orleans-style jazz processional through the Bishop Arts District admit that the planned $1.5 billion toll road is far from officially dead. But they say the project’s costs and potential impacts have grown so dramatically since voters last approved the riverside road that it’s time to shelve plans.

Their way of reflecting mounting community opposition is a light-hearted Second Line procession complete with a ceremonial casket and bartenders slinging a signature cocktail called the Flooded Parkway. Pallbearers include former Dallas City Council member Angela Hunt, a longtime opponent of the parkway.

“You have an equal and opposite reaction to the ridiculousness that is this project,” said Jason Roberts, a long-time community activist who is helping organize the event.

The parkway is perhaps the most contentious piece of the city’s long-held but frequently embattled plans for the Trinity River Corridor Project. The ambitious venture aims to turn the vacant floodway into a massive urban park filled with lakes, recreational areas and trails.

The opening of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge over the river is so far the signature achievement of the overall project. The city will celebrate more victories this month with the opening of the Continental Avenue Pedestrian Bridge, the Trinity Skyline trail in the river basin and a redesigned Sylvan Avenue bridge that provides access to the floodway.

The contentious toll road is envisioned as a 9-mile-long road inside the Trinity’s levees. It will connect Interstate 45 southeast of downtown to Interstate 35E and State Highway 183 northwest of downtown. Dallas voters first approved the toll road in a 1998 bond package for the larger corridor project. They again approved the parkway in a 2007 election that unsuccessfully sought to block its construction.

“We’re moving ahead,” said Michael Morris, transportation director of the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

Morris said his agency and Dallas City Hall are awaiting the final sign off from federal authorities, who are reviewing plans for the toll road. Once that happens, regional leaders will begin working on a plan to finance the $1.5 billion needed for construction.

- Toll road opponents planning so-called funeral for Trinity Parkway | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/news/transportation/20140603-toll-road-opponents-planning-so-called-funeral-for-trinity-parkway.ece)

North Dallas Tollway getting an extra lane each way.


Additional lanes are coming for one of North Texas’ most traveled corridors — and one of its most loathed overpasses.

By 2017, the North Texas Tollway Authority plans to add a fourth lane in each direction of Dallas North Tollway from Addison and North Dallas to Frisco. It also will add some lanes and partially redo the tollway’s interchange with Bush Turnpike.

About 145,000 people use the north-south corridor every day in North Dallas and through Collin County, according to the average daily traffic count at the Parker Road toll gantry.

Dan Ting of Prosper said an extra lane on the stretch of about 9.5 miles is welcome, though he fears its potential relief may be short-lived.

“That’ll certainly help, but I don’t know how long before it just becomes gridlocked again,” he said.

The $250 million expansion and redesign is the agency’s largest project on the tollway since it opened the northern extension from Gaylord Parkway in Frisco to U.S. Highway 380 in Prosper in 2007. The widening and interchange redesign currently is in the design phase.

The project also includes some restriping and the moving of streetlights from Belt Line Road to LBJ Freeway.

- Dallas North Tollway to get additional lanes, new turnpike interchange | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/news/transportation/20140520-dallas-north-tollway-to-get-additional-lanes-new-turnpike-interchange.ece)

Some good news for Mesquite


Mesquite officials on Monday marched closer to a new public transportation deal with STAR Transit without mention of recent overtures from Dallas Area Rapid Transit.

The council is scheduled to decide at its June 16 meeting whether Mesquite will become the third southeast Dallas County city, and the largest, to contract with STAR — rolling its own paratransit services in with a connector line from Hanby Stadium to Dallas’ Lawnview rail station that currently operates on a deal with DART.

Assistant City Manager Jerry Dittman filled council in on negotiations since the two May public hearings on the STAR proposal. In reaction to residents’ pushback over price, he said, the transit authority has agreed to charge the same $1 that Mesquite’s paratransit charges for out of town trips for three months. Then, prices would go to $3.

- read more here: Mesquite keeps focus on proposed transit switch | Dallas Morning News (http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/06/mesquite-keeps-focus-on-proposed-transit-switch.html/)

A new bicycle corridor is being planned and built for the DFW metro area


Dallas has a new bicycle coordinator who’s very eager to roll out the bike plan

The city of Dallas has been without a bicycle coordinator for almost a year following the June adios of Max Kalhammer, who came to Dallas from D.C. in 2009 and stayed around just long enough to help launch the 2011 Dallas Bike Plan and then grow frustrated with his inability to roll out more than a few miles of bike lanes, most in or around downtown. But fret not, cyclists, as the position has been filled.

One week ago today Ashley Haire strapped on her (completely unnecessary?) helmet and went to work at 1500 Marilla, following stints as a project manager with the Texas Department of Transportation and at Portland State University, where she was a senior research associate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Says Keith Manoy, the city’s senior transportation planner and one of the few city officials who’s worked to make the bike plan a reality, says he hired Haire because of her “passion for cycling” — and because she has a background in bicycle and pedestrian facility planning. In other words, he says, she “has real experience” in turning the hypothetical into the tangible.

“People have been screaming for getting facilities on the ground, and her ability to streamline the process, to get things designed and get contracts out, was really attractive to me,” says Manoy.

Haire’s been at Dallas City Hall just long enough to find out where it is. She doesn’t even have a working computer, at least one on which she can design software. So it may be a few months yet before you see evidence of her handiwork. But, she says, the bike plan is a “living document” she intends to bring to life … finally.

“My general philosophy is to keep cyclists off of the high-volume, high-speed thoroughfares,” says Haire, who got her Ph.D at the University of Texas at Austin. “I was in Portland for some time, where I was doing more bicycle stuff, and there the philosophy is: We have in some way, shape or form a parallel route where we can get people where they need to go without putting them in harm’s way. In Dallas that’s a major concern: Cars rule, and get everyone else off the road.”

http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/files/2014/05/NewJefferson.jpg

- read more here: Dallas has a new bicycle coordinator who?s very eager to roll out the bike plan (from 2011) | Dallas Morning News (http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/dallas-has-a-new-bicycle-coordinator-whos-very-eager-to-roll-out-the-bike-plan-from-2011.html/)

Excellent Article on the DFW Metro:


The Urbanophile » Blog Archive » Dallas: A City in Transition (http://www.urbanophile.com/2014/06/22/dallas-a-city-in-transition)

Both. I would think that as Dallas was growing, ridership would increase but with Dallas spending billions on highway reconfiguration, rebuilding, widening, etc, it wouldn't surprise me if it didn't go up percentage wise as much as the population did. I am also curious how many people road the DART being that it is the closest city to us with a fully-functional mass transit system.Well, here are ridership numbers in general...


https://scontent-a-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/10514268_10203225526511502_6933764335255708933_o.j pg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t31.0-8/10495099_10203225527511527_994017696056732158_o.jp g

A few regular readers tell me they’re interested in the small print of DART’s rail ridership numbers. They’ve reminded me that I used to post them from time to time, and they want an update.

OK. Here you go. See the chart at right.
There is a pile of caveats, though.

There was a time when watching DART’s ridership gains or losses was as simple as remembering two colors: Red and Blue. And it was possible to add up all the stations of each line and compare ridership to years past.

Then these things happened to complicate comparisons:

1) DART added its Orange and Green lines.
2) During rush hours, every other train on Red Line tracks north of Mockingbird (and on part of Green Line tracks) are, in fact Orange.
3) DART changed its method of counting from manual to automated toward the end of 2012. That produced an immediate increase in official ridership numbers, at the time.

In looking at the ridership numbers keep in mind that they don’t represent human beings. Instead, they represent “trips.” You can think of them as boardings.

Look at the bottom of the chart, at the totals. The March total of 95,904 means about that many people got on. Since I get on the train twice in my typical commute, I’m typically counted twice. This morning I’d have been counted three times (and there are lots of us), since I got off the Orange at Cityplace and got on a Blue. One rider, two “trips” counted. The 95,904 trips in March may have been less than 40,000 daily commuters.

Also, don’t look at the October numbers, since they factor in a State Fair bulge.

The best way I know how to compare today’s ridership numbers with those of years past is to compare ridership by station. I’ve kept station-by-station numbers going back to 2004, when the first phases of the Red and Blue were more or less built out.

To compare then and now, I dismissed 2004 and 2005 as starter years and focused on 2006. Take a look at the three months from the spring of 2006 that I’ve excerpted here. I focus on the Red Line, which is the one I know best.

Eight years ago, Parker Road was topping 3,000, and now it’s not. That could be a short-term deficiency as the pay-for-parking program, now disbanded, pushed people to Bush.

Arapaho and Walnut Hill are down a bit, and Park Lane and Mockingbird (where the Red and Blue branch off) are up several hundred.

Since many stations are fed by buses — like the Route 361 I take to Arapaho — changes in the feeder routes can affect ridership.

- http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/06/since-readers-ask-here-are-figures-for-darts-rail-ridership.html/

This is interesting to. Shows, that if you give people the option between car or mass transit, the majority choose car because it's a better form of transit with more freedom.


After North Texas transit agencies spent billions increasing service to unprecedented and record-setting levels from 2000 to 2012, U.S. census data show that area commuters were less likely to take a bus or train to work.

An analysis by The Dallas Morning News of census data from 55 cities found that the area added more than 358,000 people who worked outside the home during the 12-year period. The number of additional transit commuters: 435.

The analysis also shows that 95.2 percent of commuters either drove or carpooled to work in 2000, a percentage that remained the same 12 years later. Yet the share of transit users fell from 2.1 percent to 1.8 percent over that time.
That’s not to say Dallas-Fort Worth public transit has failed. The area’s three transit agencies saw overall passenger trips — which include non-work journeys — increase 22.1 percent between 2000 and 2010.

State and regional planners say the network put in place during the beginning of this century isn’t just about today’s transportation needs. They’re trying to build infrastructure that will lure drivers for decades to come.
“We’re building a system for the next 50-plus years, the next 100 years,” said Gary Thomas, the president and executive director of Dallas Area Rapid Transit.

The analysis by The News found that while transit’s share of commuters declined in the 20 cities that are transit members, it collectively increased in the 35 cities that don’t pay into any transit agencies. And Dallas is almost single-handedly responsible for the transit-member decreases. The city added more than 13,000 people who work outside the home between 2000 and 2012. But 5,388 fewer people commuted by transit.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments, which steers federal and state funds to local projects, this month began organizing a regional transit task force that will look at ways to expand bus or train service to suburbs that aren’t members of transit agencies.
DART, meanwhile, wants to add an east-west rail corridor along the Cotton Belt that would connect Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Plano’s Red Line. It also hopes to add a second rail line through downtown Dallas in hopes of increasing capacity and flexibility for city riders. For now, both projects are largely unfunded.

But financing isn’t the only challenge facing transit agencies and planning officials. If they want to add a meaningful share of area commuters, they will finally have to overcome the political friction, population shifts and inherited development obstacles that have conspired for decades to keep the car king.

“That’s what keeps us up at night,” said Todd Plesko, DART’s planning and development vice president. “How do we remain flexible enough? How do we adapt to the changing ridership?”

- As North Texas transit options grew, bus and train commuting fell | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/news/transportation/20140628-as-north-texas-transit-options-grew-bus-and-train-commuting-fell.ece)

I really hope ODOT starts ramping up construction on new highways and expansion. I'm sure they will, but out of choice, I'd rather have better highways than a better transit system.

Update on the Toyota HQ in Plano


Toyota picks KDC to build new Plano headquarters

The $350 million Toyota campus will be built on 100 acres at the southwest corner of State Highway 121 and Legacy Drive.

Toyota Motor Co. has selected Dallas-based developer KDC to build its new North American headquarters in Plano.

KDC is the same company that’s developing the huge State Farm Insurance campus in Richardson.

The $350 million Toyota campus will be built on 100 acres at the southwest corner of State Highway 121 and Legacy Drive. The project is expected to total more than 1 million square feet.

“We are excited to move forward with KDC to develop our new North American headquarters,” Toyota’s Doug Beebe said Thursday in a statement. “We are confident that KDC will deliver a world-class facility that our employees will be proud to call home.”

Toyota plans to move into the Plano project in 2016 and 2017. The world’s largest automaker is relocating about 4,000 jobs from Southern California, Kentucky and New York.

KDC is a partner in the group that owns the land where Toyota is building its new head offices. And KDC is also developing FedEx Office’s new headquarters just across the street.

“We are proud to be partnering with Toyota on the development of its new home in North America,” KDC CEO Steve Van Amburgh said in a statement.

“We look forward to welcoming Toyota to Plano with a state-of-the-art headquarters that truly reflects the values of the company and its employees,” he said.

The Toyota campus is part of the 240-acre Legacy West development that KDC, Karahan Cos. and Columbus Realty Partners are building in West Plano.

- Toyota picks KDC to build new Plano headquarters | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/business/commercial-real-estate/headlines/20140710-toyota-picks-kdc-to-build-new-plano-headquarters1.ece)

This nice for the area


Tesla may be considering land in south Dallas for its giant battery factory

Tesla Motors may be considering a 700-acre site in southern Dallas County as a location for a $5 billion battery factory.

However, the site is one of dozens that have been submitted to Tesla for its review, and the electric-car maker is still months away from any decision.

“We are looking at a bunch of different locations and have not confirmed anything,” said Tesla spokeswoman Alexis Georgeson.

The site off Interstate 45 in southern Dallas County emerged this week as one of the locations.

The Dallas Business Journal says it is part of 4,000 acres on either side of Interstate 45 owned by Prime Rail Interests of Colleyville.

Until now, San Antonio was considered the front-running area in Texas, one of at least four states vying for the factory, which will employ up to 6,500 people.

Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico have also been identified as finalists for the plant. Some industry observers believe Nevada may be the favorite.

The automaker’s home state of California also has expressed interest in bidding for the factory.

Though attractive as a right-to-work state, Texas continues to irritate Tesla with its refusal to allow the company to sell vehicles here directly without dealerships. Direct car sales are allowed in California.

- Tesla may be considering land in south Dallas for its giant battery factory | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/business/autos-latest-news/20140710-tesla-may-be-considering-land-in-south-dallas-for-its-giant-battery-factory.ece)

West Dallas


Big project in the works for Singleton Boulevard in West Dallas

A property touted as the largest single redevelopment site in West Dallas is in play to developers.

The 40-acre tract at 1000 Singleton Boulevard is just west of the booming Trinity Groves district.

Developer StreetLights Residential is negotiating to acquire the tract now occupied by old metal industrial buildings.

The apartment developer would use the property for a large rental housing and retail community, property brokers familiar with the deal say.

The development has the potential to play a key role in the renaissance of West Dallas from a heavy commercial district to an urban neighborhood with new homes, restaurants and retail space.

John Bielamowicz, an agent with Henry S. Miller Brokerage LLC, has been marketing the Singleton property to potential buyers for about six months. The industrial site is owned by a unit of Austin Industries.

StreetLights representatives declined to comment on the deal. But filings for preliminary planning have been made with the city of Dallas.

The property stretches from the southwest corner of Singleton and Obenchain Street all the way south to the Union Pacific Railroad line.

It’s just north of the popular Belmont Hotel and the new Sylvan Thirty apartment and retail development.

With construction of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and success of the Trinity Groves restaurant and retail complex, apartment developers have been flocking to the area west of downtown Dallas.

Developer Trammell Crow Residential has plans to build more than 300 apartments on West Commerce Street on the site of the vacant Mission Motel and adjoining property.

Wood Partners is already building a rental community in the same area.

- Big project in the works for Singleton Boulevard in West Dallas | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/business/commercial-real-estate/headlines/20140711-big-project-in-the-works-for-singleton-boulevard-in-west-dallas.ece)

Article on the status of the housing market in Dallas

D-FW new home prices soaring thanks to higher costs | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/business/residential-real-estate/20140711-d-fw-new-home-prices-soaring-thanks-to-higher-costs1.ece)

Wade Park Frisco, TX U/C

http://friscoblog.dallasnews.com/files/2014/08/Wade-Park-8_6_141.jpg

Developers break ground on Frisco?s Wade Park | Dallas Morning News (http://friscoblog.dallasnews.com/2014/08/developers-break-ground-on-friscos-wade-park.html/?1407728210845&refer=self)

D-FW far outpaces the rest of the state in industrial building

http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/files/2014/08/cbrechart.jpg


By Steve Brown
August 5. 2014

Almost twice as much industrial space is under construction in North Texas as there is being built in the other top Texas markets combined, according to a new report by CBRE Group.
More than 18.5 million square feet of warehouse space is being built in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, CBRE estimates.
The other top Texas industrial building markets – Houston, Austin and San Antonio – together have only about 10.5 million square feet of industrial space being built, according to the commercial real estate firm.


D-FW far outpaces the rest of the state in industrial building | Dallas Morning News (http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2014/08/d-fw-far-outpaces-the-rest-of-the-state-in-industrial-building.html/)

Bleu Ciel Dallas

http://www.elitetraveler.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Bleu-Ciel-Wilmotte-Rendering-Day.jpg

?Own a Piece of the Sky? in Dallas | Elite Traveler (http://www.elitetraveler.com/travel/travel-news/own-a-piece-of-the-sky-in-dallas)

Starts this fall.

KDC Tower

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3083&d=1407505197

The Retail Connection (http://www.theretailconnection.net/property-detail.aspx?id=846)

100 Parkhouse Dallas Proposed

http://i1.wp.com/www.100parkhousedallas.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/100-parkhouse-2-04.jpg?w=2048

Home | Downtown - Dallas - Luxury Apartments - 100 Parkhouse Dallas (http://www.100parkhousedallas.com/)

I was at a ULI North Texas meeting last week and there was a panel discussion about the Trinity Parkway. One of the panelists was, I believe, the president of the citizens' council. She was very in favor of the project. Well, a Dallas city councilwoman was at the meeting as well and she got into an argument with the the panelist saying she hopes the project never happens. It was interesting to see the hotly contested issue in person.

I really hope it isn't built. The last thing Dallas needs is more and more urban highways. It would pretty much kill the experience of hiking, walking, biking near the river....not to mention that we shouldn't be building huge road infrastructure between flood levees!

I was at a ULI North Texas meeting last week and there was a panel discussion about the Trinity Parkway. One of the panelists was, I believe, the president of the citizens' council. She was very in favor of the project. Well, a Dallas city councilwoman was at the meeting as well and she got into an argument with the the panelist saying she hopes the project never happens. It was interesting to see the hotly contested issue in person.

I really hope it isn't built. The last thing Dallas needs is more and more urban highways. It would pretty much kill the experience of hiking, walking, biking near the river....not to mention that we shouldn't be building huge road infrastructure between flood levees!yes because all the huge roads and highways in Dallas are hampering development. That is why Dallas is doing so poorly in new construction and growth.