| COVER STORY, JUNE 2007
THE IN CROWD
High-density urban projects in Dallas/Fort Worth are paving the way for future infill development in Texas.
Lindsey Walker
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Block 1500 is a new mixed-use project being developed at the entrance to the Design District near downtown Dallas. Wood Partners is developing the project, which is expected to break ground within the next few months.
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Dallas is experiencing a tremendous push toward urban living, and many of the neighborhoods close to downtown are undergoing revitalization to accommodate the demand for a live/work/play environment in and around the city center. The Design District, which is located just west of downtown Dallas on the north side of the Trinity River corridor, recently has been rezoned to allow multifamily uses in what was formerly an industrial district — leading to the announcement of several new projects in the neighborhood. “[The area] has fabulous views of downtown and the Trinity River, so the Design District is hot,” says Larry Good, founding principal and president of Good Fulton & Farrell Architects.
Block 1500, for example, is a mixed-use development going up at the entry to the Design District on Turtle Creek Boulevard. Featuring ground-floor retail and design showroom space below four stories of 220 loft-style residential units, Block 1500 will be a catalyst for future development in the area. And, with its frontage on the Trinity Strand hike/bike trail and a new park being created by project architect Good Fulton & Farrell Architects, Block 1500’s residents will get the pedestrian-friendly, urban environment that they desire. Wood Partners will lead the development effort for the project, which is expected to break ground within the next few months.
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Granite Properties and Gables Residential Trust are developing two towers — one residential and one office — as part of a mixed-use development in Uptown Dallas.
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While some Dallas neighborhoods, such as the Design District, have just now begun to incorporate modern, walkable characteristics into their streetscapes, Uptown is one area that has embraced the New Urbanism style for many years. However, while the submarket has been plenty of high-rise residential and office buildings go up, there has yet to be a project that combines the two, until now. Granite Properties and Gables Residential Trust are teaming up to develop two towers — one residential and one office — as part of an as yet unnamed mixed-use development on the corner of Akard and Cedar Springs right on the edge of downtown and Uptown.
“So far, people have been doing one or the other, office or residential, in a large-scale format,” says Good. “[It] will be the first time a partnership like this has been formed to do the two together. There’s a lot of excitement about that.”
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Good Fulton & Farrell Architects is designing the Granite and Gables project in Uptown Dallas, which will feature a 13-story, 375,000-square-foot office tower and a 17-story, 296-unit residential tower. Completion is expected in 2009.
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The project will feature a 13-story, 375,000-square-foot office tower and a 17-story, 296-unit residential tower sitting atop a mixed-use podium with retail and restaurant space, a fitness center, service amenities and parking. The project, which is being designed by Good Fulton & Farrell Architects, is expected to be complete by 2009 or 2010.
Block 1500 and the mixed-use project by Granite and Gables will add more to their neighborhoods than just aesthetics — the projects will bring additional employment to the areas as well as additional residents. “In a sense, they are bringing 24-hour activity,” Good says. “You have the daytime population, which we’re adding to, and then we’re creating a full-time resident base. So, they are positive economic developments.”
In addition to the round-the-clock populace, these projects are located in tax increment finance (TIF) districts: Uptown is in what’s called the Downtown Connection TIF, and the Design District is in the Design District TIF. Therefore, the incremental tax base they bring will be re-invested in these districts, with new streetscaping, improved utility services, parks, affordable housing and the like.
Turning westward, Fort Worth also is seeing renewed interest in urban development, and the West 7th and University mixed-use project planned in the Cultural District will bring the needed momentum to re-establish West 7th Street as an important entertainment and shopping district in the Metroplex. Cypress Equities is developing the 900,000-square-foot complex, which will feature office, retail, grocery, residential, theater, health club and hotel uses over six city blocks.
“West 7th and University is going to use the existing grid of streets and create a village that is lined with retail and restaurants on the ground floor, and then, on the upper levels, we’ll have a combination of office and residential,” Good says. “It’s an exciting mixed-use deal.”
Robert Shaw is partnering with Cypress to develop the residential portion, and Good Fulton & Farrell Architects, RTKL, and Gideon Toal are providing architectural services. The project currently is in design stages.
With all of the infill and high-density projects planned for the Metroplex’s city centers, will a movement centered on the development of urban areas be the wave of the future for Dallas/Fort Worth?
“I wish I could say that it was, but there’s always going to be a balance,” Good says. “For every project I could tell you about that is infill, there is a new one announced that is sprawling 50 miles away. I’m convinced that we’ll make it to the Oklahoma border in my lifetime.”
As long as there’s affordable land in the suburbs, there will be suburban sprawl in North Texas. However, with the help of development incentives like TIFs in the Metroplex’s urban neighborhoods and with the success of infill projects such as Block 1500, the Granite and Gables development and West 7th and University, more and more developers will trend inward and create the urban communities from which both the residents and the city will benefit and enjoy.
Urban, Mixed-use Project Will Help Revitalize Downtown Waco
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Waco Town Square will be a 17-acre mixed-use development situated in the heart of downtown Waco. The project, which is scheduled to break ground this fall, will feature retail, restaurant, office, residential and student housing space in a Main Street design.
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It’s not just Texas’ major metropolitans that are seeing an influx of activity in their urban cores. Second- and third-tier cities across the state also have encountered an increased demand for housing, shopping, dining and working spaces in their downtowns and are responding by coming up with high-density mixed-use projects that will stimulate economic growth in their city centers. SWB Heritage Square Partners LP, for example, is planning a mixed-use project that will help revitalize downtown Waco, Texas. The 17-acre development will sit in the heart of downtown between South Third and South Fourth streets, offering upscale retailers, restaurants, office space, loft-style residential units and student housing in a Main Street-style atmosphere.
“Waco Town Square will assist in bringing the required components of a successful mixed-use development to the downtown area,” says David Wallace, a partner with SWB. “By bringing over 400 student housing beds and residential lofts, you automatically bring the citizens to the downtown area. By bringing the required commercial, retail and restaurants, you immediately expand the retail services and available office space to enhance the economy. And, by bringing a vibrant town square atmosphere, you create a sense of community and quality of life that is needed to round out the entire development.”
Scheduled the break ground this fall, Waco Town Square will ultimately consist of 61,880 square feet of retail and restaurants, 68,680 square feet of Class A office space and approximately 35,000 square feet of loft-style residential space. Additionally, approximately 5 acres of the project will be developed as a 400-bed, student housing facility that will accommodate students attending Baylor University, McLennan Community College and Texas State Technical College. Phase I, which consists of the student housing portion as well as the commercial/loft/retail space surrounding the new Waco Chamber of Commerce, will be complete during the third quarter of 2008. The estimated completion date for the entire project is in 2010.
“All in all, during the next couple of years the downtown area will be the beneficiary of more than $100 million in fresh capital through the Hilton and Marriott renovation, the convention center renovation, student housing, lofts, retail, restaurants, commercial and so on,” Wallace says. “This injection of new capital will supplement an already growing and vibrant economy.”
— Lindsey Walker |
DOWNTOWN HOUSTON’S ALLEN PARKWAY CORRIDOR
TO RECEIVE NEW PEDESTRIAN-ORIENTED,
MIXED-USE NEIGHBORHOOD BY 2010
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GID Urban Development Group — a division of Boston-based The General Investment & Development Companies — plans to develop Regent Square, a 24-acre mixed-use urban neighborhood in Houston.
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Houston, like Dallas/Fort Worth, has grown outward instead of inward during the past decade or two. Yet, Houston is now becoming a much more dense place at its core, and recent initiatives have been created to ensure that the inner city grows in a way that is positive from a qualitative urban planning perspective as well as a quality of life perspective. As a result, a number of exciting projects are on the drawing board that could bring downtown Houston to the level of some of the country’s more pedestrian-friendly, 24-hour urban cities like New York and Los Angeles.
GID Urban Development Group, a division of Boston-based The General Investment & Development Companies, plans to develop a mixed-use neighborhood alongside downtown’s primary corridor, Allen Parkway, that should stimulate such inner-city growth. Situated on 24 acres between the River Oaks Shopping Center and Allen Parkway that the developer has owned for 20 years, Regent Square will transform the property into a vibrant urban community with a pedestrian focus.
“One of the things the developer has done very deliberately is to scale the streets both around the project and within the project to make crossing them and walking along them much more friendly,” says Doug Childers, associate principal with Houston-based Morris Architects, one of the firms working on the project. Some of the walker-friendly aspects include reducing the width of the driving lanes, putting parallel parking on the streets to serve as a buffer between the pedestrians and the street, widening the sidewalks to between 12 and 15 feet to allow for public occupation of the sidewalks, such as café tables, and creating a village green in the center of the project that will provide the neighborhood with an informal gathering place. “We’re doing everything we can to turn Regent Square into a pedestrian place, not a car place,” Childers says.
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Phase I of Regent Square will feature 230,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 740 residential units, 60,000 square feet of office space and a 200-room boutique hotel, all positioned along tree-lined streets. Future phases will add 100,000 square feet of commercial uses and an extra 1,000 residential units.
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Phase I of Regent Square will feature 230,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 740 residential units, 60,000 square feet of office space and a 200-room boutique hotel, all positioned along tree-lined streets. Future phases will add 100,000 square feet of commercial uses and an extra 1,000 residential units. Construction is scheduled to begin on the first phase during the fourth quarter of this year, and completion is expected in 2010. Morris Architects is working in collaboration with Washington, D.C.-based David M. Schwarz/Architectural Services to master plan the project, and five other firms have been selected to design buildings: New York City-based Robert A.M. Stern Architects; Miami-based Aponwao Design; Parma, Italy-based B&D Studio; Washington, D.C.-based Hartman-Cox Architects; and Washington, D.C.-based Bowie Gridley Architects.
From the attention to detail with design (by hiring not one but six firms to do the job) to the thought that has been put into creating a pedestrian-friendly environment, Regent Square should prove itself financially and functionally as a place that people want to be, according to Childers. It also should serve as a catalyst for similar projects in the future. “I think it will be a project that will be pointed to by many that will say ‘This is the kind of project we need to see more of inside the loop’,” Childers says.
— Lindsey Walker |
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