1. The market doesn’t lie, the saying goes. If that’s true, than the parking lots surrounding the arts district – the promise for turning the area into a residential neighborhood – have “little or no short-term development value but do have longer-term potential.” That is the assessment of the Toronto-based company that just purchased a vacant block near the Arts District.
“It is my understanding TerraPark intends to continue taking parking revenue for now but has development plans for the future,” said Mike Gosslee, the Cushman & Wakefield of Texas broker who worked on the sale.
What’s the over-under on the possibility that Veletta Lill just added the Canadian owners to her speed dial?
2. Thanks to the commenter who pointed this one out yesterday: art critic Tyler Green threw down with the Dallas Museum of Art and Cowboys Stadium with this Twitter tweet:
Provincialism defined: http://bit.ly/gXNphI A silly, small, unthoughtful and unscholarly context for a museum to display art.
The museum opens its exhibit about the Cowboys Stadium art next week, which will likely renew conversation among the conflicting opinions that surround the project. Brace yourself.
3. DC9 has kick-started its best content of the year, the annual rundown of the area’s best songs. Start here.
The Dictator
Dallas Opera Announces New Commission, Collaboration Between Composer Joby Talbot and Librettist Gene Scheer
The Birthday Party
Ticket Giveaway: Three Pairs of Movie Tickets (With Popcorn) For West Side Story
4 comments
Well, I do believe that land near the Arts District and DART is a great place to develop and believe it is vital to the future of our neighborhood and downtown.
However, the new owner’s statement validates one of my strongest concerns from a historic preservation perspective – buildings that get torn down and turned into parking lots remain vacant for at least a generation. The reality is it is probably multiple generations in downtown areas with skyscrapers.
Very true about preservation.
The other parking struggle is that from a leasing perspective, parking in downtown is sparse when compared to parts of North Dallas, making the office space less competitive and forcing owners to hold onto whatever parking space they can get. I’ve spoken with brokers who talk of nightmare days early in their careers trying to lease space downtown and having to compete with buildings out of the loop that offered two or three times as much parking. It struck me as ironic that while those of us who want to see downtown become a walkable, urban neighborhood characterize it as a parking lot wasteland, those who are involved in the economics of the real estate don’t think there is enough parking.
Ultimately it gets back to the cultural shift we spoke about during the panel that is needed to change our expectations for how the space functions. Being downtown should be desirable for tenants in spite of the parking issues. In this way, the Arts District is massive in adding that “value” to offset inconveniences. The other value-add would be to replace the lots with retail and residential neighborhood components, but that circles back into the chicken and the egg issue of what comes first, or who takes the first plunge. In terms of the Arts District, that will be the Hall project, and if it goes well, hopefully this Canadian group will flip their lots in a hurry.
I totally agree.
“L.A.” art critic calls Cowboys stadium provincial? Dude, you need to get a map…