Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

6/4/17

Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr
Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr
Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr
Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr
Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr

Crane going up now (from KDC's webcam)

maconahey wrote:Crane going up now (from KDC's webcam)
2017-06-13_11-51-07.jpg

This project is moving fast! I'm so glad this is happening.

Now I wish Elan Citylights new apartment tower would go up. This area needs a grocery store to walk to.

dd_dweller wrote:
Now I wish Elan Citylights new apartment tower would go up. This area needs a grocery store to walk to.

Yes

I am hoping once the Ascent is stabilized they move over here--but the neighborhood is more than ready. There are enough attractions to support several more towers.

As silly as it is, I'm hoping this development will draw more people to the Traveling Man statues. I feel Dallas needs more 'picture-worthy' landmarks to help garner attention over social media. Obviously our skyline and the MHH bridge are wonderful things to take pictures of, but I can't think of smaller-scale landmarks that tourists can take pictures of. I know it doesn't seem important, but these smaller-scale landmarks are what people pose in front of, take pictures, and post them online and spread the word about a certain city.

I have seen the street art in Deep Ellum getting a bit of attention on social media, but it would be cool to see the Traveling man become more popular and iconic and synonymous with Dallas.

We've got trouble, right here in River City, that's trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with B and that stands for Blonde.

Bottled Blonde, Opening in Deep Ellum, Accused of Racism and Liquor License Violations in Chicago

http://www.dallasobserver.com/restaurants/bottled-blonde-opening-this-summer-in-deep-ellum-has-the-neighborhood-nervous-9541963

...but the render looks nice and the location west of Deep Ellum station has been overlooked until now. I am guessing that the proximity to the Epic and the way Good Latimer connects directly to Uptown is what turned some urban prairie into a prime location. More of this out of town money to come along Good Latimer, I bet.

The only positive about that place is at least we may get a good venue for another business once this one closes. They definitely sound like all kinds of wrong coming back to Deep Ellum. I imagine we can't stop them from opening legally if the TABC does grant them the permits here. If the zoning is already in place it will be up to neighbors to record the behavior and police to be on guard if they really are that bad at managing their locations.

willyk wrote:http://www.dallasobserver.com/restaurants/bottled-blonde-opening-this-summer-in-deep-ellum-has-the-neighborhood-nervous-9541963

...Deep Ellum has already seen issues with bars and restaurants operating primarily as dance clubs. Bottled Blonde's issues in Chicago are stoking fears that it could happen again.

So, exactly where are dance clubs supposed to operate? Highland Park Village? Legacy? Legacy West? Lake Highlands Towne Centre?

What exactly does any town have against dance clubs?

Oh, it's all the drugs, and the drinking, and the crime, and the staying up late and all the sin? ...and rather than figuring out how to monitor the scene and keep club participants safe, the answer is just don't let it happen in the first place.

I understand very good folks want to make Deep Ellum into a nice place to live, but if turning the entertainment scene into something like Lower Greenville Ave rather than rip'roaring 1990s Deep Ellum, then those very good folks need to find another place to tame.

I was thinking the same thing... I get it that Chicago was expecting a 'Family' restaurant, but we seem to know what to expect by now. And, I'm okay with that. Now... had they tried to put this in Bishop Arts or Lakewood... yeah, I'd see that as a problem.

Being that I worked for a rather large dance club myself, Station 4, and still do when they need Bartenders for special events I can understand the concern. I do agree these clubs deserve to exist but I have to agree with the questionable way their management seems to be handling PR here. Going against your liquor license is not a minor thing. S4 is a dance club and has a license to be one course it also doesn't have a food license or claims to be a restaurant. When a place like this that applies to be a restaurant with some dancing but ultimately lets the bar dance club be the front-running business that is a real problem. As far as the social media reviews that happen all the time. Most places don't have such a negative pre-opening news cycle that leads people to investigate the early reviews. I've seen many places yet to be opened in Deep Ellum and other parts of town with 5-star reviews by friends, coworkers and paid reviewers to give places a head start.

I actually prefer these multi-use facilities (restaurant/dance club) that are allowed under urban uses, as opposed to the more one dimensional establishments that tend to be closed down much of the day, only to open for shorter periods later (or earlier, depending on the use). Places like Social House are a good example and support better street interaction over the long haul.
Hopefully these guys can maintain safety while providing food/entertainment opportunities. I'm also less inclined to judge one establishment based on the actions of another establishment under the same name... particularly in the restaurant/club scene. Their operations tend to be subject to more local management than some big wig at the top simply causing problems for all.

Two cranes are up on this site.

Does anyone have the official floor count on the residential building? This building seems to be a lot taller than what was mentioned on the DMN article. I'm basing this off of the renderings they released.

residential - 20 floors of residential + 5 floors of parking garage = 25 floors

office tower - 10 floors of office + 5 floors of parking garage = 15 floors

Image of the two cranes erected for The Epic taken June 18, 2017, courtesy of Roman Reyna's flickr page.

The Epic will visually expand Downtown in a fairly dramatic manner.

The residential tower in the project will apparently be the height equivalent of the Anatole Hotel at 316' tall and the office tower component the equivalent of The Crescent at 254' tall.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/143583242 ... 553364444/

Alls I have to say is it's about time downtown jumped this highway!

tamtagon wrote:Alls I have to say is it's about time downtown jumped this highway!

AGREED!!!

This project is doing what the city had hoped the city lights property would do over 10 years ago at this point. Now this site is exploding and we are still waiting on the supposed Tom Thumb/Apartments on what's left of the City Lights property.

We are entering a new phase of the cycle now: Uptown Overflow.

This is the stage when every project within one mile of Uptown is a success.

From KDC's webcam

Not surprisingly the office tower is the first thing going vertical. I certainly will be curious to see how fast the hotel new construction and restoration part get into the mix. I wonder if the residential tower portion has any partners yet. I don't remember seeing any company announced to develop the apartment tower portion.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:Not surprisingly the office tower is the first thing going vertical. I certainly will be curious to see how fast the hotel new construction and restoration part get into the mix. I wonder if the residential tower portion has any partners yet. I don't remember seeing any company announced to develop the apartment tower portion.

Street Lights Residential is developing the apartment portion. I believe it was mentioned in a couple of stories but more importantly it's in KCD's brochure.

http://kdc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/ ... al-A22.pdf

Does anyone know of any plans for updates of the old buildings on Elm St. Across from the epic. These little buildings need some much needed TLC.

Probably asked before but why did they even bother with roads through this development, seems like they could have made all to access points from the streets surrounding the development.

Tnexster wrote:Probably asked before but why did they even bother with roads through this development, seems like they could have made all to access points from the streets surrounding the development.

I don't know, but from looking at the parcel map it may be because of an apparent easement running from Hawkins to Good Latimer.

That's not an easement. That's the old Texas & Pacific RR right of way. I'm guessing Westdale bought it from DART.

Interesting, thanks. The DCAD map doesn't identify it as an owned parcel, but it's kind of inconsistent that way with DART and city land.

Most likely Emergency Access, traffic studies required by the city in addition to a desire for garage access points and valet was the reasoning for the internal roadway. Besides, it's not like it will be a cut through for those skipping the light. There will be plenty of things to slow people down with the retail, valet, Uber, walking dogs etc.

Work starting on The Pittman Hotel

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/rea ... m-building

From this weekend:

Dallas Construction August 2017 by Thymant, on Flickr

From KDC's webcam


bigger:
https://oxblue.com/pro/load_jpg/20170906/180659/9a92e0cf6f2a81b3fc91c628a4fa83a1/f260bb9798f4094fb0358313412414c1/0.jpg

When I looked earlier this week you could see the windows of the Knights building were open. You can tell they are working on both the Hotel and of course the Office building. I am assuming the extra land they acquired will be for a phase 2 if there is enough interest.

From KDC's webcam (cropped)



https://oxblue.com/pro/load_jpg/2017092 ... 48a7/0.jpg

Wow lots of progress.

9/24/17

Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr

Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr

Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr
Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr
Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr

This afternoon:

Bird's eye view from this morning

I guess these siteplans from brochures should be posted in this thread:


Sources:
https://kdc.com/our-active-work/epic/
https://kdc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017 ... al-A22.pdf
http://ucr.com/property/the-epic/
http://ucr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/ ... 100317.pdf

11/27

Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr

Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr

Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr

Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr

KDC put up a new webcam on the Case building



Cropped

You can see this one peeking over the top of I-345 from Pacific Avenue at Thanks-Giving Square.

Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr
Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr
Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr
Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr

From KDC's webcam. Looks like they might be prepping land for the residential tower

Wow that really gives you a sense of how these new towers will be a dominating presence in DE.

^ Which totally sucks.

I don't think it will be that dominate when you are actually are in Deep Ellum. I look forward to the potentially positive impact on the buildings across Elm that have been highly underutilized for decades now. I think the Case building does more negative things in terms of leering over the district than this project will. The architecture is a lot better in the Epic in how its planned to interact with the street and broken into smaller pieces. The Case Building goes vertical without any real space between the street and surrounding buildings to allow for an easier transition. Also, the case buildings design cues are two-story tall along the ground level so to me they kind of leer over pedestrians and the narrow sidewalk. The Epic will have overhangs and street trees, plazas and another taller than one story building, aka the Knights of Pythias to create a stair step effect.

Yeah, this project is definitely far enough away from Deep Ellum to where it doesn't look odd at all. I actually think it will look great, and, eventually, it will just look like it's an extension of the CBD (which makes I-345 feel much less like a barrier).

Untitled by Around My City, on Flickr

Drove by this today, saw them digging this space out which looks like it might be the base of the residential tower. Don't know for sure but it sure looked that way. Anybody else notice?

I don't normally post a lot of photos but here's a quick iPhone update pic of the Epic.

We now have a name: The Hamilton


http://www.streetlightsres.com/development/the-epic/