Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

The_Overdog

"How can I possibly make this decision without knowing how much you're estimating the garage for the normal house would cost?!" And if you want to argue about the unit cost of rebar or whatever like you do in your house bathroom remodel, the City Council produces those documents too as pa...

The_Overdog

I'm still a little confused, are you saying high population areas that didn't used to have bars are now getting them, so that is pulling away from other parts of town? Didn't think we ever had many bars outside of Deep Ellum/Lower Greenville/now uptown Yes, it is pulling people and business away fr...

The_Overdog

I'm genuinely curious, because I think you're onto something, but can you elaborate? I think the compass direction is wrong. It's north that has the population and a bar scene that used to be nonexistent but now is in it's infancy. That's the overflow - nonresident spending leading to a desire for ...

The_Overdog

PDQ restaurant

PDQ restaurant is closing. Their bold expansion and giant restaurants for a place that only sold fried chicken tenders was only slightly less crazy than Pollo Tropical's. Which was right across the street for all of 6 months before they closed.

The_Overdog

I'm not sure if Dallas has any bike share regulations yet but the other suburbs are, from the extreme (I believe they are banned in Highland Park) to the reasonable, and the city of Dallas would do well to copy the reasonable ones, which include: *) limiting the bikes initial placement to a limited ...

The_Overdog

I just think you are wrong - good architecture does cost more money - buried parking costs more, balconies cost more, shorter block lengths cost more (less units per acre), false pitched roofs cost more - raised stoops cost more - wooden windows cost more. Bricks cost more too, but the value of them...

The_Overdog

Even most of the garden style apartments that went up around DFW in the 90s and early 2000s used much higher quality materials and ornamentation, including a heavy use of brickwork. None of the ones that I lived in were high quality construction, and I don't defacto consider brick to be higher qual...

The_Overdog

But because Dallas has block after block of these, it's very easy to notice the repetition. That's because Dallas went about 20 years without building much multifamily at all. It sticks out here because the designs are all contemporary because they have all been built this decade and because DFW is...

The_Overdog

I go to other cities and am blown away by the designs of the new residential going up.

Most of the Dallas apartment builders are national firms, and it's very easy to find the exact same buildings in other cities around the US.

The_Overdog

So, I guess this is the last large development site, except for the other sites Hillwood has on Victory Avenue; and except for the site of Hines' proposed second office tower?? It's the last site in Victory Park in the same way that every suburb north of Dallas is 'built out' which is why they have...

The_Overdog

If they pick DC, how will you know that Dallas came in second place?

Dallas will get a set of steak knives.

The_Overdog

I don't think anyone guessed that Frisco would be the next Skyhouse location. Just in case anyone is curious, the Frisco one built on empty land next to The Star is supposed to be 332 units in 25 stories, the Dallas original was 24 stories and 336 units, and Victory Park was 25 stories and 352 units.

The_Overdog

The RR ROW along the northern side of LBJ belongs to KCS, not to DART. I'm not aware that KCS wants light rail trains running adjacent to their freight trains. The Cotton Belt Line belongs to Kansas City Southern - KCS. I would assume they are working on sharing agreements or are cool with DART bui...

The_Overdog

I know DFW apartment vacancy numbers have been low, but what about the urban core?

The urban core numbers are fine.

The_Overdog

That's disappointing to hear about Skyhouse lowering rents, but I've always felt Victory Park has been overpriced for quite a while. It's not disappointing at all - it's great. The margins on apartment towers are not so tight that lowered rents will hold back development, and money in renters' pock...

The_Overdog

I see they are mentioning the "northern CottonBelt alternative" to Amazon for that site but Richardson and DART are pushing the southern CottonBelt alternative pretty hard, and have an engineering plan and potential station locations determined already. Also there is no station adjacent, s...

The_Overdog

Same group that is rumored to be buying Collin Creek Mall in Plano. He's going all-in on Dallas and good for him.

The_Overdog

Yikes that's bizarre! The most dense parts of Dallas get nothing, the LBJ line is incomplete, and the only complete E/W central Dallas connector is the Cotton Belt line. Of course, that tiny sliver of Irving will have 2 legit N/S lines and an E/W one and east side of US75 along 635E will have full r...

The_Overdog

was an Albertsons before

It was probably abandoned because the infra was shot vs the sales/rent, so repairing is as expensive as building new.

The_Overdog

Texas has none of that, which means that new hospitals can be built, partnerships can be established, and existing facilities can be bought up without the same amount of oversight as in other states. Texas doesn't need a CON program, because Texas (even the nice parts) have lower numbers of doctors...

The_Overdog

Curious if the vacating Toys R Us changes their plans at all... They could probably get a sweet deal on that space. It's also very expensive to turn a toy store into a grocery store. The infra is all wrong. The one in Plano sat empty for 10 years before it became a car dealership. These types of st...

The_Overdog

The wording is a little confusion. I'm seeing one year and five year being said in the article. My interpretation of it is that the existing buildings will be re-developed within a year. The buildings are 40% leased per the article. I'd assume the "one year" refers to updating and putting...

The_Overdog

I think no residential is a bad idea. This is going to be another part of downtown people come to for work and then leave at 5:00pm. Any good that is done here is just going to pile on top of others' better, harder work.

The_Overdog

The Toys-R-Us / Babies-R-Us location on MacArthur was recently announced for closure. That company has gotten crushed in the past few years. Locations in Allen, Irving, Lewisville, and the Dallas Galleria are also closing leaving, Garland, Frisco, and Dallas US75 as the only locations in north Texa...

The_Overdog

They leave not because of housing they leave because they can't afford private schooling on top of housing so they move to where they have public schools that they consider worth the sacrifice of moving to the burbs I'm not sure I believe that is true today, though it probably was true historically...

The_Overdog

Epic Waters sounds pretty cool - an indoor water park as a rec center, but it's pricing is kind of high-$19 for GP residents and $29 for non-residents. A nice local attraction but at that price is competing against legit water parks, and I'm not sure it stacks up. We'll see.

The_Overdog

It looks nice and contrasting in the renderings.

The_Overdog

Might answer your question: I really hate articles like that. I think Jon Anderson is a generally fine writer, so this is light criticism, but the crux of the article is "they are building too many buildings where the rent is too high---building is slowing down" while Jon also writes endl...

The_Overdog

I've haven't seen a downtown line future plan (which I guess would be D3) but there is certainly a 2040 plan for a line north up the DNT to the Plano Legacy area that tees off the Cotton Belt line.

The_Overdog

The lobby portion of the Southfork Hotel on the edge of central expressway is now a giant pile of rubble. The hotel rooms off the wings were separated from the lobby and turned into another hotel. Not sure what is planned for the soon to be empty lot.

The_Overdog

Not Plano, but the new I35E/SRT interchange is very similar

Poor BJs and Chipotle.

With the service roads shrinking (a good thing in my opinion) parts of DFW will really start to look different in the next few years.

The_Overdog

I know the DMA got a redesign on the westside parking garage entrance, but did the garage double in size?

They may have also walled off portions of it, and could possibly restripe portions of it (to make the parking spots smaller) and decrease turning radii and alternate exits.

The_Overdog

The new US75 Plano Parkway flyover is now complete -they took away a service road lane and added it to the highway, and built a flyover lane for Plano Parkway. The result with BJs Pizza and Chipotle and whatever feel they like they are right up against the highway and you can look down upon the roof...

The_Overdog

In my opinion that's a terrible place for performing arts center mostly because nobody of school age actually lives anywhere close to it. I guess that's what you get when you have 3 high schools of equal-ish power. I mean it's next door neighbor is a huge cube storage location, a lone office buildin...

The_Overdog

The WaterMark executive extended-stay 'apartments/hotel' has broken ground on the corner of Glenville and N Greenville Ave. I think they are building close to 200 units. In a few more years, the Telecom Corridor is going to be a sort-of neighborhood. Also a 7 story triangular-ish hotel has been appr...

The_Overdog

But if you argue the Cotton Belt shouldn't be built, may I suggest we should also tear down the Green Line? Again, the numbers presented weren't for the original buildout. They were 2040 numbers , or about 20 years after the line has been in service. They are the max. If they were for the original ...

The_Overdog

Just out of curiosity, are there any penalties that are assessed to property owners for leaving half-demolished carcasses of buildings sitting on the side of the road?

Any penalties would be assessed by code enforcement.

The_Overdog

The zero appraisal on the improvements tells us the improvements are functionally obsolete. And the fact that the owners plan to demolish all of the buildings strongly suggests the appraisal is correct on that point. Still not sure what exactly is the unfair part about any of that. Valley View is n...

The_Overdog

It's been a while, but the last estimates I saw were around 1500 residents.

The_Overdog

The assessment merely reflects the reality that the land is worth more without the (functionally obsolete) building than it is with it. I completely agree that the land is worth more than the building, but those are separate categories on the assessment, and the assessment doesn't make any assumpti...

The_Overdog

Contradictory logic :lol: But thanks for the insight! The value of the Valley View mall building is $0 according to DCAD, and probably only because it can't be a negative value. Yeah, $0 improvement value for a huge mostly functional building. Commercial property assessment is totally fair I tell y...

The_Overdog

Isn't it cheaper to front the demolition costs than to cover the property taxes of the mall until a 1/1,000 deal gets inked? According to DCAD of the property taxes for the property at 13331 Preston Road with a description of Valley View Shopping Center and a size of 2.29 acres, the answer is actua...

The_Overdog

The slide says "50,000+ residents within 2.5 miles". I think the circular graphic represents the population area they are referring to. It includes portions of the Design District, Riverfront District, Oak Cliff, The Cedars, Downtown, South Dallas/Fair Park, and Old East Dallas. That's an...

The_Overdog

If they somehow didn't take auto congestion on the DFW turnpike to the airport into account (outside of rush hour, there is none on the G Bush), then they are bad at projecting and shouldn't be moving any farther. Build this line in 2040, when those numbers would be fine for a starting line, and use...

The_Overdog

The traffic counts for this useless line for 2040, not when built. 20 years from now: DFW: 1170 North DFW: 1320 Cypress W: 910 Downtown Carrollton: 1970 Addison: 1690 Knoll Trail: 530 Preston: 400 Coit: 760 UT Dallas: 850 CityLine: 1380 12th Street: 370 Shiloh: 680 I'm sure Plano is going to drop DA...

The_Overdog

According to Google Maps, this location (13675 Noel Road) is north of The Galleria, is mostly already developed with a parking garage, Toy R Us, Dicks Sporting Goods, a parking lot, and a multi-story office looking buildings, and strip mall with a Starbucks across from The Galleria. It is across Alp...

The_Overdog

Looking at the land plan, Im disappointed in the giant parking garages facing the DNT. I wish they would mask them with high-rises or condos In most of the suburbs, it's against zoning to put housing up against highways due to noise, horrific effects of pollution, etc. Most require a buffer close t...

The_Overdog

Maybe you're highly skeptical that it's a good idea, and that's fine, but it's not a bunch of idiots with no background in the field who are saying it might be a good idea. The traffic loads on most of the city of Dallas' streets, outside of highways, pales in comparison to the traffic carried on s...

The_Overdog

It's like how people coming here for business are not considered "tourists." When I go places for business I consider myself a tourist. It's not like I'm businessing 24 hours a day. And the last time my local work group went downtown, we all went to the 6th Floor Museum for the first time...

The_Overdog

thanks! I looked for the original, but didn't see it. Feel free to move and delete moderators.

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