If it had anything to do with the urban environment of Dallas, they could stay in LA. Corporations move strictly due to taxes, incentives from the city and state, and cheap labor. I know a very good friend that is GC of a large corporation moving to Dallas from San Diego. It certainly doesn't have anything to do with anyone actually wanting to live in Dallas. They plan to lose a lot of the staff who refuse to move and restaff at 1/2 the cost.

Well yeah the taxes are what is causing most of these companies to move out of Cali I'd guess. I was being sarcastic in my post. Dallas is a great city and very walkable to my standards.

PluPlan, as you have found, Dallas has everything a person can need, but it doesn't compare to much of So Cal in many ways.

PluPlan, as you have found, Dallas has everything a person can need, but it doesn't compare to much of So Cal in many ways.
I agree with that entirely. SoCal makes Dallas look like OKC compared to Dallas.

It's hard to nearly impossible to beat SoCal, weather, scenery, ect. Dallas is doesn't have that, but atleast we make it up in ways where it isn't so bad here. Other wise 7.5 million people wouldn't be calling DFW home. :)

Btw I was in San Diego last month and loved it!

Well yeah the taxes are what is causing most of these companies to move out of Cali I'd guess. I was being sarcastic in my post. Dallas is a great city and very walkable to my standards.


So much more than just taxes!

The wife and I went to Dallas this past weekend and I thought I would share a few things that we noticed:

We stayed at an Embassy Suites just north and east of 635 and the Dallas North Tollway. We got in on Saturday around 3 pm and noticed 635 was pretty well completed except for the turnpike underneath and a few areas where they had some finishing up to do. To be honest, I thought it would be a lot more messed up than it actually was.

I-35E, however, was a complete mess. I noticed how bad it was coming into town but started measuring how much of it was under construction on our way out of town on Sunday. To give you an idea, 635 intersects I-35 at mile marker 441. There was almost constant construction until mile marker 461 (20 miles for you math nerds) and still some after that. And I am not talking about redoing the shoulder or restriping. I am talking narrowing from three to two lanes, moving traffic to the other side of the highway, completely redirecting traffic so a new bridge can be built kind of stuff. Now, that being said, I didn’t really have to slow down much below 50 the entire time, but I can’t imagine how long it will take to complete I-35 and they will probably have to get started again on it after they finish, kind of like the Golden Gate Bridge.

I will say, one thing I really like about Dallas, although I don’t get to enjoy it enough, they have sidewalks everywhere. Even the side streets where there is an old apartment complex behind an office complex, there was a sidewalk. I saw sidewalks on the highway service roads. As much as people talk about Northpark Mall and how great it is (I will say it has great shopping) it has to be one of the ugliest malls I have ever seen. It is so plain and boring that if it wasn’t near University and Highland Park, it would be more like Crossroads.

We have found very little reason to go to Dallas anymore other than the fact that we just want to get out of town and we know where a lot of things are around there. When we were first married eight years ago, I feel like we took a day trip at least once every two months. Now, we are likely to only go there two or three times a year, at most. Once OKC gets a Kate Spade, Crate & Barrel and a Tory Burch, we might only go down if flights are substantially cheaper.

DFW Scores Again! Wow. Unstoppable!!


Exclusive: Telecom firm moves Americas HQ, 250 jobs to Cypress Waters - Dallas Business Journal (http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2015/05/27/exclusive-british-telecom-moves-americas-hq-250.html)

When posting do you ever ask yourself if you are legitimately trying to add to a discussion, or if you are simply trolling? If you ask yourself this question honestly and the answer is "trolling", you always have the option to not hit the post button. Just a thought.

Good News for Dallas!


Dallas ranked as nation's most business-friendly city - Dallas Business Journal (http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/blog/morning_call/2015/05/dallas-ranked-as-nations-most-business-friendly.html)

Does anyone know if the state of Texas has a no texting while driving law? When we went down a few weekends ago, the majority of the slow downs on the highways was due to people looking at their phones.

Pretty sure they do have a no texting law.

Pretty sure they do have a no texting law.

I was told no texting in School zones only, I'm not sure on this though.

Just got back from 5 days in Dallas. You can have it.

Pretty sure they do have a no texting law.

I strand corrected. They have a distracted driving law. This year, the law specific on texting didn't pass for the second or third time. Republican governor and legislature don't want to abridge someone's right to kill you.

Nm

FYI: A couple tweets to address the Texas-doesn't-have-awful-traffic-claim:

https://twitter.com/walkabledfw/status/605505659627446272

https://twitter.com/walkabledfw/status/605505808722333696

FYI: A couple tweets to address the Texas-doesn't-have-awful-traffic-claim:


Nobody has said Dallas doesn't have bad traffic. What myself as well as a few others have said is that for a metro of 6 million people traffic flows pretty smoothly and that is true. Dallas traffic is NOT as bad as most other metro areas its size. It is worse than OKC however. That should be expected as traffic kind of comes with the territory when living in a large city.

I'm disputing that it flows... Because it constantly backs up all over the metro (see above tweets).

Nobody has said Dallas doesn't have bad traffic. What myself as well as a few others have said is that for a metro of 6 million people traffic flows pretty smoothly and that is true. Dallas traffic is NOT as bad as most other metro areas its size. It is worse than OKC however. That should be expected as traffic kind of comes with the territory when living in a large city.

lol

Nobody has said Dallas doesn't have bad traffic. What myself as well as a few others have said is that for a metro of 6 million people traffic flows pretty smoothly and that is true. Dallas traffic is NOT as bad as most other metro areas its size. It is worse than OKC however. That should be expected as traffic kind of comes with the territory when living in a large city.
Guess you haven't been there in a few years....or decades.

Guess you haven't been there in a few years....or decades.

Actually I go quite often, but it doesn't bother me. Dallas traffic is pretty on-par with Charlotte in a lot of places so its about the level I am used to. I accept traffic as being one of the things you deal with in a major city. It's a lot more navigable in Dallas than it is in Houston or Atlanta.

I'm not trying to start a mudslinging argument here, but doesn't Dallas' skyline seem a little underwhelming for a metro of that size?

I'm not trying to start a mudslinging argument here, but doesn't Dallas' skyline seem a little underwhelming for a metro of that size?

I don't think so. Houston's skyline is a little taller but I think the two skylines are pretty comparable. While most of the time its a good indication, I don't think skyline is always truly representative of city size. There are some sizable cities that have skylines that leave much to be desired, such as Raleigh NC and San Antonio. Likewise, cities like Tulsa and Charlotte have nice skylines that make them appear as larger cities than they actually are.

I don't think skyline is always truly representative of city size

This is certainly true. It just seems that Dallas should have a more dense skyline. But I suppose it's because the DFW metro is so spread out. Towns linke Plano, Frisco, and Richardson used to be its own little town but now they're just exurbs of DFW.

The Dallas skyline still fits in well the population it has now. I think back during the 1980's Dallas seemed overall "big" since the only true skyline excluding Las Calinas was downtown, and the metropolitan area was half the size as it is today. But with all the density going on and towers springing up left and right all over the Metroplex makes Dallas an overall more denser, urban city than it was 30 years ago. Same skyline but with an over all much denser feel to it, I would say.

Also I would like to say is that Dallas and Houston were building big during the 80's. Today both those cities are building where the land is cheaper weather it be downtown or out in the suburbs. But one thing I am proud to say is that both are building residential towers in the heart of downtown, especially Houston.

Planners fear for Dallas? urban core amid suburbs? growth | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/news/headlines/20150524-planners-fear-for-dallas-urban-core-amid-suburbs-growth.ece?hootPostID=6eef505248f87766e4adea90b614 0cfa&utm_content=buffera8f24&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer)


Planners fear for Dallas’ urban core amid suburbs’ growth

by BRANDON FORMBY bformby@dallasnews.com
Transportation Writer

The continuing population boom in Dallas’ northern suburbs isn’t necessarily a good thing for the entire region, especially the urban core.

Collin and Denton Counties continue to draw highly educated, middle-class newcomers from across the country. Meanwhile, Dallas continues to grapple with serving a poorer population. And the city must do so without the benefit of increased tax revenue that comes with exploding new developments and neighborhoods its northern neighbors enjoy.

Some urban planners and experts call such suburban sprawl a “Ponzi scheme.” And one of the region’s most influential government planners says that as far as transportation infrastructure goes, the push northward isn’t sustainable.

North Central Texas Council of Governments transportation director Michael Morris told the Young Constructors Council of the TEXO construction association last week that instead of an ever-extending transit network, the solution is dense infill developments where highway capacity and rail service already exist.

“The more development you can get to locate to areas that already have adequate transportation, the less you have to then build in the green-field areas,” Morris said in a subsequent interview.

There are places where cities and developers are doing this. Two massive residential and office developments are going up along Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s Red Line in Richardson. Irving has long planned for several more developments along the Orange Line in Las Colinas, which already features several apartment and office buildings. And there are plans for a mixed-use development at what will be the end of DART’s Oak Cliff streetcar line in Dallas.

But suburbs have more empty land than there is in the urban core. Dallas officials have two initiatives to make the city more dense, but both are in their infancies.

Dallas city officials made clear earlier this year the stark reality of the effects the population shift north has had. The city’s middle class has fled, median income levels have fallen and poverty has risen. Meanwhile, the city’s housing stock no longer matches what people can afford.

Two new efforts at Dallas City Hall are underway to turn the tide. One is called Neighborhood Plus, an ambitious fledgling plan that calls for implementing a $10.25-an-hour minimum wage, empowering neighborhoods to identify their most pressing needs and partnering with nonprofits to help do what local government cannot.

The other is an overhaul of how the city approaches urban planning. The goal there is to make it bureaucratically easier to add high-density developments, green spaces, and pedestrian- and bike-friendly infrastructure, all of which are said to draw young professionals and middle-class residents.

“Both initiatives involve questioning traditional approaches, breaking down silos and increasing communication,” City Manager A.C. Gonzalez said.

Still, much of what drives where transportation infrastructure is needed and where development goes depends on things that regional planners and city officials don’t directly control.

“A lot of that’s up to the private sector, and a lot of that relies on the quality of the school districts,” Morris said.

Between 2010 and 2014, the Dallas-Fort Worth area grew by 528,000 people to about 7 million people. Much of that growth came in northern suburbs such as Frisco and McKinney, which were among the state’s fastest growing cities with populations over 50,000. They saw respective growth rates of 24 and 19.6 percent.

Meanwhile, Dallas’ population grew 6.9 percent. Those same norther counties that draw domestic migration from Dallas also drew more people moving in from elsewhere in the country than Dallas did.

According to the Texas Education Agency, the number of students in the Frisco school district grew 245 percent from 2004 to 2014. The Dallas school district’s enrollment shrank by about half a percent.

Last year, both districts received an overall “meets standards” rating. But all of Frisco’s campuses achieved that rating. Forty-three of about 220 Dallas campuses required improvements.

Also, the share of poor students in both districts is inverted. About 89 percent of Dallas students last year were poor, while 11 percent of Frisco students were.

Frisco Mayor Maher Maso said the secret isn’t in chasing numbers, but in providing “the quality of services and education” that people want.

“Seventeen years ago, we had five schools,” Maso said. “Today, we have 61.”

Frisco has $5 billion worth of mixed-use, high-density development planned along the Dallas North Tollway. But the city, like most of Collin County’s fastest growers, isn’t a member of one of the region’s three primary transit agencies.

But with political and financial barriers to fully joining Dallas Area Rapid Transit, it doesn’t appear that rail service is in those cities’ immediate future. That worries Morris, the regional transportation director, especially because Collin County is expected to double in population within a few decades.

The migration is expected to put the population center of the region along Dallas County’s borders with Denton and Collin counties.

“How are you going to move all those people without the benefits of rail transit?” he said.

DART owns a rail corridor roughly in that same area, but is still struggling to find the money to operate rail service. After Addison officials balked at the idea of making it a bus-only corridor, planners were tapped to find funding for different rail options.

Morris’ comments about the sustainability of suburban sprawl came during a panel discussion about the fate of Interstate 345, which forms downtown Dallas’ eastern border. A group of urban planners and civic leaders called A New Dallas say the elevated I-345 is suppressing land values.

They also say it’s preventing what could be a renaissance of high-density, mixed-use development connecting downtown to Deep Ellum and East Dallas.

They say the highway, aimed at getting people in and around downtown quickly, subsidizes suburban sprawl at the detriment of the urban core. Dallas, they argue, could make better use of the sparse and underdeveloped land beneath and surrounding the structure. Increased development would draw more middle-class residents and drive up property values, on which Dallas schools rely.

Morris stopped short of supporting a replacement for I-345 or saying whether he believes the idea is feasible. But some of his comments about suburban sprawl — as well as the two new Dallas City Hall initiatives — signal that A New Dallas’ once grass-roots movement is starting to influence how officials approach planning in general.

State officials, city leaders and a founder of A New Dallas are exploring the options for tearing down I-345 as well as how to approach renovations to other downtown highways. Texas Department of Transportation district engineer Kelly Selman said the finished product will give Dallas officials a list of options and costs.

“It’s about having a public discussion about what we want our region to be,” Morris said. “What’s the quality of life and how do we do that?”

Interesting view of Dallas from the Dallas Morning News.

If Dallas were 100 people | ViewPort by The Dallas Morning News (http://labs.dallasnews.com/viewport/2015/6/if-dallas-were-100-people)

Oklahoma City was being considered according to the article. It looks like they lost out to Dallas? Better incentives? Better business climate? The comment below by a reader makes a snide remark about Oklahoma. It sure would be nice for once if OKC could beat Dallas at the corporate game? Wishful thinking.



Farmer Bros. coffee company headquarters move started out as a top secret real estate deal | | Dallas Morning News (http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2015/07/farmer-bros-coffee-company-headquarters-move-started-out-as-a-top-secret-real-estate-deal.html/)

You have to take it with a grain of salt Progressive Boy. People will always talk smack just to hear themselves talk. Also OKC has done a great job of luring businesses, as well as you guys showed the country that OKC can built a 850ft skyscraper during a massive recession.

How about General Electrics latest Global Research Center ? It came to OKC, not Dallas. There's only 7 of these world wide, and one is being built in OKC.

How about General Electrics latest Global Research Center ? It came to OKC, not Dallas. There's only 7 of these world wide, and one is being built in OKC.

Speaking of that, someone needs to upload a progress picture. It's a LOT bigger then what I was expecting, maybe others too.

Speaking of that, someone needs to upload a progress picture. It's a LOT bigger then what I was expecting, maybe others too.

It's one big building. They've topped out on the west side but still going up on the east side along with a parking garage.
I'll see if I can get a picture this week.

Dallas getting ready for it's next wave of development. :)

New 7 story Rolex building breaksground!
http://media.bizj.us/view/img/6676792/rolex-building.jpg

Dallas-based Harwood International unveils Rolex building design as work gets underway - Dallas Business Journal (http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2015/08/11/harwood-international-unveils-rolex-building.html)

Construction equipment on sight for a new apartment tower at Victory Park. Sorry no pictures of the equipment.

Rendering
http://gff.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Greystar_01-1834x1280.jpg

New 12 story office tower in the works at Preston Center

http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/files/2015/08/pegablon.jpg

New office tower in the works at North Dallas? Preston Center district | | Dallas Morning News (http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2015/08/new-office-tower-in-the-works-at-north-dallas-preston-center-district.html/)

Speaking of that, someone needs to upload a progress picture. It's a LOT bigger then what I was expecting, maybe others too.

I will try to get something today.

This seems amazing but, for Dallas, it seems kind of ho hum.

More construction cranes coming for Dallas? booming Uptown district | Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/business/commercial-real-estate/headlines/20150820-more-construction-cranes-coming-for-dallas-booming-uptown-district.ece)


More than 1.5 million square feet of office space is under construction in Uptown and on the north edge of downtown Dallas.

An additional 2 million square feet is in the works in a half-dozen proposed projects.

Uptown and Downtown North just keep booming. That district is amazing.

Developers announce apartment tower for Deep Deuce area! Lots of "reinventation" for that area.


High-rise apartment tower coming in Dallas? Deep Ellum district | | Dallas Morning News (http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2015/08/high-rise-apartment-tower-coming-in-dallas-deep-ellum-district.html/)

Developers announce apartment tower for Deep Deuce area! Lots of "reinventation" for that area.


High-rise apartment tower coming in Dallas? Deep Ellum district | | Dallas Morning News (http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2015/08/high-rise-apartment-tower-coming-in-dallas-deep-ellum-district.html/)

Developers announce apartment tower for Deep Deuce area! Lots of "reinventation" for that area.


High-rise apartment tower coming in Dallas? Deep Ellum district | | Dallas Morning News (http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2015/08/high-rise-apartment-tower-coming-in-dallas-deep-ellum-district.html/)

You obviously mean Deep ELLUM..?

You obviously mean Deep ELLUM..? Yes!! lol.:wink:

I really hope Deep Ellum doesn't turn into Uptown 2.0...

I really hope Deep Ellum doesn't turn into Uptown 2.0...

Agreed...I enjoy the occasional visit to Uptown, but its too "upscale" for my liking...and absolutely unaffordable for someone like me ;)

Here's a map of everything going on in Dallas.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zXV6pOl2IRfA.kqBdh9Nm9izg&msa=0&ll=32.788573%2C-96.793671&spn=0.078361%2C0.169086

I'd like to do the same thing soon for OKC.

That's a cool map, thanks for posting.

Amazing map! Great job! I note the interesting lack of anything much in Ft. Worth vs. Dallas

Amazing map! Great job! I note the interesting lack of anything much in Ft. Worth vs. Dallas

It appears to me that most of it is in the burbs instead of in either city.

It appears to me that most of it is in the burbs instead of in either city.

A good portion of the developments going up in DFW are in the suburbs, but there's still a lack of development in Ft. Worth compared to Dallas. If you zoom in on the city of Ft. Worth, you don't really see anything, but if you zoom in on Dallas, you'll see dots of development in and around DT Dallas.

There used to be a map here showing all of the projects. Whatever happened to it?

Cool map! It would be awesome to see one for OKC as well.

Also, IKEA will be building another store in the Metroplex!
IKEA to build a store in Grand Prairie | | Dallas Morning News (http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2015/10/ikea-to-build-a-store-in-grand-prairie.html/)

Yes. I've also seen rumors of a possible downtown Ikea or right next to downtown.

I'm going to start working on one within the next week.

Have you seen the Harwood Forum proposal, PluPlan?

Have you seen the Harwood Forum proposal, PluPlan?No I haven't. What is that?

There was a proposal submitted a couple of months back by Harwood International to the FAA seeking clearance for two 1080-ft skyscrapers in DT Dallas. Not much has been said about it other than the submission as well as a sign that appeared on the supposed site last summer suggesting a large development.

Here's one of the renderings:

Edit: I can't get an image to appear, so I'll just put the link here.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1847861

I remember that. I would have love to have seen that. Sadly, I think it was a flaky proposal.

As with the Chicago Spire, I always hate to see beautiful buildings like that get canceled.