Dallas Metropolis

A little bit of new detail...https://www.bisnow.com/dallas-ft-worth/ ... -66441#ath

I wonder what kind of retail they will attract--anything but restaurants? I bet places like Shinola would do well.

That exposed wood is so pretty.

Blue Cross Blue Shield plans innovation center in Dallas' revitalized West End

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/real ... fice-trend

The health insurer will occupy part of the 114-year-old former retail and entertainment complex which developer Granite Properties is converting into high-tech, creative office space.

The 7-story, 237,000-square-foot building - which started life as a cookie factory built at the turn of the 20th Century - is being converted into a new generation office environment called Factory Six03.

Granite Properties is one of several developers taking old commercial buildings and reworking then into working environments for tech, creative and start up firms.

1/2/17
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

I'm most interested to see the wrap around patio be brought back to life.

So there will be now retail components here at all? I'm not too upset if there isn't as I'm just so glad to see this building come to life again.

I saw signs on the fence advertising restaurant space for lease.

Blue Cross Blue Shield to build next big widget in Dallas' West End
Health care giant Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas plans to bring the next big widget to save on health care costs to fruition in Dallas' West End neighborhood, in a new two-story innovation hub.

The innovation hub will act like a startup, so the garage-like mentality away from the company's corporate structure was needed, Cassidy said. That was one reason Blue Cross Blue Shield decided to set up its hub away from its operations center in Richardson.

The hub, called The C1 Innovation Lab, will sit in two floors totaling 31,700 square feet within Factory Six03, which is a historic West End building at 603 Munger St. in Dallas.

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/ ... et-in.html

More good news for the West End!

Granite Properties’ Historic Redevelopment Continues in Dallas’ West End

http://www.dmagazine.com/commercial-rea ... -west-end/

Maybe this will be a sort of a office product that doesn't work right in the suburbs, and becomes popular.

Not sure if this building is part of factory six 03, but it's apparently got a fresh coat of paint on the west side facing facing factory six 03

Looks like the wrap around patio is being rebuilt. I hope they restore the old school lighting with light bulbs.

A landmark downtown Dallas building is hitting the market and is likely to attract attention of creative office firms.

The 5-story, 70,000-square-foot Oilwell Supply Building on Lamar Street in the West End historic district was built in the 1920s. Over the years, the building has housed a variety of businesses, including creative and high-tech firms.

Now the Dallas partnership that owns the property has hired commercial real estate firm JLL to market the property.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/rea ... rict-grabs

This is regarding the Oilwell supply building, which is near Factory SIX03. Nice to see more activity in this area.

With all of the properties that have changed hands, I wonder why Factory is the only significant redevelopment to date.

willyk wrote:With all of the properties that have changed hands, I wonder why Factory is the only significant redevelopment to date.

Yeah, it is strange. I'm hoping this one will be the next re-development. The timing seems right for the area, and with Factory SIX03 being completed soon (or is it already done), it'll encourage more development nearby.

Despite Palm Closing, The Historic West End Is Booming
By Kevin Cokely, NBCDFW.com, June 30, 2017

"We've seen companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield move in, Uber, Snapchat. So you're really seeing the West End come back in a new and different way," said Kortny Garrett, executive vice president of Downtown Dallas, Inc.

Factory 603 will open later this summer, and before the end of the year, the Dallas Holocaust Museum will break ground on a new state of the art building in the Historic West End.
....

"There is a lot of growth, a lot of people are coming back down here," said leasing consultant Kevin Willms. "Shops and restaurants are opening up, got the new apartment building here that opened about a year ago, so people are excited to come down here again."

After being vacant for years, the newly renovated West End Marketplace will open this summer.

Now called Factory 603, approximately 800 Blue Cross Blue Shield employees will work there among other office tenants.

Article with video: http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Despit ... 86173.html

The West End has definitely changed for the better. Just four years ago, it didn't feel at all safe when I would wait for the train at the West End station. I guess the city finally did something about the panhandlers and dopeheads that would hang around there. It was so bad in the summer of 2013 that I would walk by dopeheads passed out near the tracks. Nearly got robbed there too. My second amendment right protected me in that instance.

joshua.dodd wrote:The West End has definitely changed for the better. Just four years ago, it didn't feel at all safe when I would wait for the train at the West End station. I guess the city finally did something about the panhandlers and dopeheads that would hang around there. It was so bad in the summer of 2013 that I would walk by dopeheads passed out near the tracks. Nearly got robbed there too. My second amendment right protected me in that instance.

They're still there. I haven't seen progress on the homeless front. But the area has been getting better.

Granite Properties serving up a food hall at Factory Six03 in Dallas' West End
https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news ... ml?ana=twt

The proposed 10,000-square-foot food hall could bring six to seven different dining venues and bars to this part of the West End upon opening by the end of the year.

"We have no leases or other agreements, but this is something we are working on," Granite Properties President and COO Greg Fuller told the Dallas Business Journal.

Fuller said his leasing team has yet to finalize any lease deals related to the food hall, but he hopes to make some new announcements on the $50 million redevelopment in the near future.

Man I hope they extend their concept to include food trucks. They're in the perfect location. Right across the building under Woodall Rogers (Frog Alley) is a inactive plaza. Put some lights, benches and tables and have food trucks serve lunch/dinner options and you're all set.

This is probably because there is no food down in that area at the moment besides what has opened in Victory Park and whats left near the DART station. Spaghetti Warehouse, Hooters and Dicks Last Resort are the closer options along with McDonalds, Sonny Bryans and Corner Bakery. None of these options scream tech creative office millennial. If they want to grab the right tenants they want some fashionable options that haven't been considering the West End yet. Last I heard the Chipotle after the falling rats from the ceiling scenario closed permanently. YO is still there and is the TGI Fridays still open?

Either way, a food hall is exactly what will up the chance they will get more lucrative leases for the entire neighborhood.

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:Man I hope they extend their concept to include food trucks. They're in the perfect location. Right across the building under Woodall Rogers (Frog Alley) is a inactive plaza. Put some lights, benches and tables and have food trucks serve lunch/dinner options and you're all set.

That would be awesome, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. Perhaps as more activity starts to occur on the Victory Park side of things (which should happen within a year), a Food Truck will be more likely.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:This is probably because there is no food down in that area at the moment besides what has opened in Victory Park and whats left near the DART station. Spaghetti Warehouse, Hooters and Dicks Last Resort are the closer options along with McDonalds, Sonny Bryans and Corner Bakery. None of these options scream tech creative office millennial. If they want to grab the right tenants they want some fashionable options that haven't been considering the West End yet. Last I heard the Chipotle after the falling rats from the ceiling scenario closed permanently. YO is still there and is the TGI Fridays still open?

Either way, a food hall is exactly what will up the chance they will get more lucrative leases for the entire neighborhood.

There's some cool options in West End. Tutta's pizza (which btw, the food Network was there filming last week w/ Guy (whatever his last name is)) and Ellen's southern kitchen and Gators Cajun food.

The Chipotle is not closed, signs say it is being renovated. TGIF is still there.

But the food truck idea would be cool.

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:
There's some cool options in West End. Tutta's pizza (which btw, the food Network was there filming last week w/ Guy (whatever his last name is)) and Ellen's southern kitchen and Gators Cajun food.

The Chipotle is not closed, signs say it is being renovated. TGIF is still there.

But the food truck idea would be cool.

Yeah, Tutta's and Ellens are about the only thing over there that fits into the "millennial" cool category. Gators, Chipotle, Sonny Bryans, TGIF and Corner Bakery are at least approachable places in terms of price and accessibility but the kind of tenants Granite and the surrounding owners are trying to attract are looking for places where there is some cool factor. The West End hasn't had that in awhile so let's hope the Food Hall concept is a helpful way to make their new plaza an active space.

Food halls are great for the work lunch crowd. Gives everyone a lot of variety in a small space, and is quicker and easier than a sit-down establishment.

I want to be positive about this.

I'm concerned that over two years later, only half of the the building has "prospective leasers." The plans to build a food hall in the first floor, also, seem very half baked. They announced it with zero leases. It's just "something they're talking about." The temperature could drop tomorrow and the plans could just as easily change to a bowling alley. I'd love to see a food hall, but (a) don't see the need when there is the much more developed and thriving farmer's market downtown, and (b) imagine that by food hall they really mean food court. A food hall would have made sense a while back in West End, but the idea's 10-20 years too late as the West End is being redeveloping into a tech company magnet.

I would make a very high bet that Chipotle will not be reopening. I too have heard the rumor that it's closed permanently.

trueicon wrote:I want to be positive about this.

I'm concerned that over two years later, only half of the the building has "prospective leasers." The plans to build a food hall in the first floor, also, seem very half baked. They announced it with zero leases. It's just "something they're talking about." The temperature could drop tomorrow and the plans could just as easily change to a bowling alley.

Yes, they seem to be grasping a little, but it’s too soon to panic. This end of town is on the verge of being woefully underserved. We have more than 1000 new apartments coming on line at Victory and no restaurants have been added yet to account for any of them, or to serve Camden, 500 Ross, Arpeggio or Skyhouse. Next, throw in the movie theater and mega sports bar. I foresee plenty of demand for office and restaurants only a few months away.

That said, it behooves both the West End and Victory to make the passage under Woodall a little less forbidding and encourage circulation between the two neighborhoods.

willyk wrote: That said, it behooves both the West End and Victory to make the passage under Woodall a little less forbidding and encourage circulation between the two neighborhoods.

This x1000!

The West End and VP might as well be oceans apart -- just like Deep Ellum and downtown. People don't want to cross sketchy passages under the nation's busiest freeways but they'll cross Klyde Warren Park. The proposal to expand Klyde Warren Park would be so much more palatable if it involved burying the rest of Woodall Rogers up to the intersection with i35E, although I realize that might not be practical.

The problem is they have spent millions on that piece of property under the highway for decades. Its the nicest crossing we have under a highway in Dallas and or DFW. It even had lights and maintained concrete with a large plaza on the Victory side. Of course, the market shifted and its purpose and value were left in the dust along with the closed West End Marketplace.

It is time for a second look through and it's interesting to see Factory SIX03 hasn't made any public moves to have it improved at the taxpayer's expense. The previous improvements made were nice but they are very dependent on certain kinds of traffic patterns from people wandering from one side to the other to major attractions. The West End lost its major attraction element. It's time to look at more than a few lights and paved concrete.

Maybe it should have a bike rental spot or a skate park. Maybe some sort of retail space would work there like it has worked under freeways in other cities I am not sure. I do think its time for the city to do a Connect the Dots campaign to improve connections between all the districts that are an inch short of a firm handshake with their neighbors. The connective tissue between districts is a real problem and is something worth looking at all over Downtown.

Skate park would be perfect! It would attract participants and an audience. Low capital costs and operating costs. Include a concession for rentals. Great idea.

I think they should include the underside of Woodall Rogers as part of the Klyde Warren extension. Program it however it suits it (skate park, or otherwise) but make it all one big project!

willyk wrote:Skate park would be perfect! It would attract participants and an audience. Low capital costs and operating costs. Include a concession for rentals. Great idea.

The only potential problem I see is access. Skate Parks should be where the right people who would use them would be. Garland is making that mistake right now trying to shoehorn a skate park into an area that based on data shows no need for one there. Yes, a skate park is an attraction but I imagine Factory SIX03 may not want a bunch of skater kids going through their development. Then again they are targeting millennial employers and I know plenty of 20-30 somethings who have suit and tie jobs that skateboard and would use this during lunch or after work if their employer was one of those tech companies that doesn't do suit and tie stuff.

Skaters already hang out there so a skate park would be great for them. I like the food truck idea as well. Would love to have both!

Skate park seems more fitting near Deep Ellum (perhaps under I-345?). I wouldn't be opposed to one here, but something more family friendly and something appeals to the Klyde Warren Park crowd would be my choice.

A skate park seems more fitting around Deep Ellum

From a couple weeks ago.

mdg109 wrote:From a couple weeks ago.

Welcome to bustling downtown Dallas folks. Oh my god, that looks sad.

I wish they'd kept the old Dallas Alley lighting. The plaza looks nice enough but it's sad to see the alley go.

I can't believe they got rid of the Dallas Alley lighting. What a shame. I don't understand the need to scrub away anything that's been around for more than 20/30 year..... And those little string lights are so overplayed and look pathetic.

They did what I expected security lighting. It's the please don't sleep or do drugs here alley lighting scheme. The worst case would have been them blocking it off entirely with a security gate and using the area as storage or daytime use only.

Jbarn wrote:

mdg109 wrote:From a couple weeks ago.

Welcome to bustling downtown Dallas folks. Oh my god, that looks sad.

What are you expecting? There's not much density in downtown/Victory Park etc.. We need at least another 10K in downtown for foot traffic to become noticeable. When you start seeing more retail and grocers open, that's when you'll see people walking somewhere. Right there's nothing to walk too except on the EMC cooridor.

It's getting there. Patience.

From what I've read, there's supposed to be a coffee shop at the base of the building on the left with patio seating. Looking inside through the windows, there's a ton of space for retail/food hall next to the alley way. Not sure what the plan is, but it would be cool if they opened up the space to the alley where the tarps are, and put seating in the alley similar to the laneways in Melbourne.

Sam's Club to open a technology office separate from Walmart in downtown Dallas
https://www.dallasnews.com/business/ret ... own-dallas

Sam's Club has hired about 100 technology employees in the Dallas area for a new office in downtown Dallas.

Sam's, the warehouse club division of Walmart, has leased 45,000 square feet in a renovated historic building at 603 Munger Avenue in the West End area of downtown Dallas.