Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

Mr. Amsterdam wrote:Don't tell me the whole bottom half is a parking garage...

No, the bottom half is retail and office space in addition to a garage. The tower perched on top is residential. I am sure there is lots of extra parking in this project though for them to offer to the smaller properties they have nearby.

I don't recall ever seeing a rendering for that southern face of the building, but wouldn't it be hilarious if they revised the design to spite the townhome owners after they tried their nimby campaign.

They could do themselves a favor if they at least covered some of the garage facing side in greenery. Dallas developers. With everything in EQ being one and two stories this project will stick out and a giant green wall with the EQ logo could be a great promotional tool. Afterall they are marketing to millennial companies and residents.

Really excited with what's going on in the East Quarter. This new development seems to be really solid, and that rendering doesn't even have Harwood Park in it either, which I have to imagine will be taking shape by the time the larger building is complete.

The parking was intentionally built above ground so it could someday be converted to office/residential. You can see it on the left-hand side of that rendering, yes, facing those townhomes.

eburress wrote:The parking was intentionally built above ground so it could someday be converted to office/residential. You can see it on the left-hand side of that rendering, yes, facing those townhomes.

Too bad they don't appear to have plans to at least glass the garage.

jetnd87 wrote:Sure looks like a pedestrian walkway between the new building and that triangular building where Nick Badovinus is putting in his new restaurant.

Ironically, since they re-built Caesar Chavez the city has prohibited pedestrian crossing across it on the south side of Commerce. For months they also closed the sidewalks on the north size for construction, which actually made it illegal to cross Caesar Chavez at all at that intersection during that time.

I wonder how feasible it would be to turn all of Jackson into a pedestrian walkway, now that part of it at AT&T is pedestrian only now. Maybe with small slivers of 1 lane limited auto access for the buildings that absolutely need it (ie: the Statler).

Tnexster wrote:

eburress wrote:The parking was intentionally built above ground so it could someday be converted to office/residential. You can see it on the left-hand side of that rendering, yes, facing those townhomes.

Too bad they don't appear to have plans to at least glass the garage.

That seems odd to me too.

Matt777 wrote:I wonder how feasible it would be to turn all of Jackson into a pedestrian walkway, now that part of it at AT&T is pedestrian only now. Maybe with small slivers of 1 lane limited auto access for the buildings that absolutely need it (ie: the Statler).

Yes ^^^^ Totally.
This was always one of my wish list items way back when living at DPL.

This was basically one of my projects in my former role. Instead of making Jackson a dedicated pedestrian street it was adding in bike lanes that would connect Deep Ellum, through downtown, to the Trinity. Both the Discovery District and East Quarter are incorporating elements of that concept. On Jackson between Browder and Ervay you will see an eight to ten foot area striped off on the north side of the street where people are parking. That is a placeholder for a two-way bike lane. Unless plans have changed, East Quarter should be designing a two-way bike lane in front of their new high-rise development. Where the right turn from Cesar Chavez to Commerce has been rebuilt you may notice a pathway through it. That is for the future bike lane. Heading east it would just be a matter of rededicated a lane on Commerce for the two-way bike lanes. Hopefully this will still all happen.

^ The plan for bike lanes on Commerce through Deep Ellum was eliminated due to neighborhood opposition. At the last neighborhood meeting to discuss the proposals for the lanes the only support came from bikers from outside the neighborhood. Not one property owner, business owner, or resident supported them.

I think Scott Rohrman, head of 42 Real Estate, put it best: They'd accept the bike lanes as long as they didn't require giving up any on-street parking. But they'd fight to death if they meant losing even one parking space.

Hannibal Lecter wrote:^ The plan for bike lanes on Commerce through Deep Ellum was eliminated due to neighborhood opposition. At the last neighborhood meeting to discuss the proposals for the lanes the only support came from bikers from outside the neighborhood. Not one property owner, business owner, or resident supported them.

I think Scott Rohrman, head of 42 Real Estate, put it best: They'd accept the bike lanes as long as they didn't require giving up any on-street parking. But they'd fight to death if they meant losing even one parking space.

I tend to agree about the parking... But, the width of Commerce itself is excessive; Almost to the point that it's difficult to parallel park at times when vehicles come flying down that street. Uncle Ubers is one of my main reasons for visiting DE, but that street is a dangerous mess. It would seem that removing a traffic lane, and using it for a bike lane would help on both fronts. Was that a viable option?

Hannibal Lecter wrote:^ The plan for bike lanes on Commerce through Deep Ellum was eliminated due to neighborhood opposition. At the last neighborhood meeting to discuss the proposals for the lanes the only support came from bikers from outside the neighborhood. Not one property owner, business owner, or resident supported them.

I think Scott Rohrman, head of 42 Real Estate, put it best: They'd accept the bike lanes as long as they didn't require giving up any on-street parking. But they'd fight to death if they meant losing even one parking space.

I know. That was my project and I know why the bike lanes on Commerce through Deep Ellum were removed. The section of Commerce I am referring to is from Cesar Chavez to Good Latimer. There is ample room for bike lanes and on-street parking.

muncien wrote:I tend to agree about the parking... But, the width of Commerce itself is excessive; Almost to the point that it's difficult to parallel park at times when vehicles come flying down that street. Uncle Ubers is one of my main reasons for visiting DE, but that street is a dangerous mess. It would seem that removing a traffic lane, and using it for a bike lane would help on both fronts. Was that a viable option?

The plan is to make Commerce and Elm both two-way streets, with one lane of traffic each way. Between delivery trucks, Uber/Lyft, food delivery pick-ups, bands loading/unloading their equipment, bus stops, beer bikes, emergency vehicles, people trying to parallel park for the first time in 20 years and lanes closed for construction the streets will be gridlocked for much of the day. Elm already gets blocked at times with cars/trucks parked side-by-side blocking both lanes.

I drove through area on last Sunday before the Super Bowl and there were lots of people out but going up Commerce and down Elm and back up Main were easy and not a big deal. I don't see traffic as a problem but more of a solution to slow down vehicles and make the urban area more pedestrian oriented and get people eventually onto the Rail lines.

Hannibal Lecter wrote:

muncien wrote:I tend to agree about the parking... But, the width of Commerce itself is excessive; Almost to the point that it's difficult to parallel park at times when vehicles come flying down that street. Uncle Ubers is one of my main reasons for visiting DE, but that street is a dangerous mess. It would seem that removing a traffic lane, and using it for a bike lane would help on both fronts. Was that a viable option?

The plan is to make Commerce and Elm both two-way streets, with one lane of traffic each way. Between delivery trucks, Uber/Lyft, food delivery pick-ups, bands loading/unloading their equipment, bus stops, beer bikes, emergency vehicles, people trying to parallel park for the first time in 20 years and lanes closed for construction the streets will be gridlocked for much of the day. Elm already gets blocked at times with cars/trucks parked side-by-side blocking both lanes.

I'm not terribly convinced that converting one-way to two-way streets is the best idea. I know people will say 'study after study says....', but IMO as a pedestrian, crossing a one-way street from a directional standpoint is actually easier than a two way street. The problem is SPEED of traffic. Yes, going two-way will slow down traffic, but I don't believe it is the only (or best) way to do so. I would think that Commerce could easily split a lane into two bike lanes (outside of the parallel parked cars), as well as some other traffic calming measures, and meet the needs of Peds, Bikers, Drivers, and Parkers, to a better degree. Hopefully, this hasn't been given up on completely.
There is also opportunity to convert an alley (such as 'Clover St') into a bikeway of sorts. But that seems like more work. IDK

Cbdallas wrote:I drove through area on last Sunday before the Super Bowl and there were lots of people out but going up Commerce and down Elm and back up Main were easy and not a big deal. I don't see traffic as a problem but more of a solution to slow down vehicles and make the urban area more pedestrian oriented and get people eventually onto the Rail lines.

DE was actually pretty dead on SB Sunday. We were hanging out at the Deep Ellum Art Company. Despite the perfect weather there were never more than 6-8 other folks there at the same time. The previous Sunday the place was packed.

muncien wrote:There is also opportunity to convert an alley (such as 'Clover St') into a bikeway of sorts. But that seems like more work. IDK

I've thought about that for Clover, but unfortunately it just doesn't work.

Clover is five blocks long, dead-ending into minor streets at either end. Basically it goes from nowhere to nowhere. You'ld have to put stop signs at every cross street. Some of them have limited visibility, and knowing how your average cyclist is about stop signs you're going to have blood on the street. And you would have to leave it open to regular traffic. Clover is a street, not an alley. It's the only or primary access to a number of businesses and residences, for example Deep Ellum Distillery and truck access to the Bomb Factory.

Virtually tour Blockhouse https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=VSiaxr66M6K

cyklopz wrote:Virtually tour Blockhouse https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=VSiaxr66M6K

Thanks for sharing! That roof deck view is pretty, pretty nice.

Thanks for all the pictures! I'm excited to see some of these new towers start to gain some height!

Great photos! I am so excited about this development, and the way it is being approached in a pretty holistic manner. There are so many great old buildings that will be stitched together here.

Thanks for the pictures thrillhouse! Lol @ your username too. We should play some bonestorm some time.

Flashback Dallas had a lovely post about the Magnolia Gas Station recently:
https://flashbackdallas.com/2020/03/28/magnolia-gas-station-no-110-1920/

Progress on the 300 pearl building. Lots of activity going on this morning as of 4/23/2020

From this weekend:

Already making an impact, such a big change for this area.

exelone31 wrote:

eburress wrote:That's a nice view!

On a somewhat related note, with the rest of the EQ getting spruced up, I wonder if we'll ever see Salazar Center remove the ugly glass skin which was added back in the '80s. It wasn't ever the prettiest building, but what we have now is hard to look at.

Wow, I had no idea that building had been glassed over. It's definitely got the retro blue-blockers kind of vibe to it right now haha.

Speaking of a bland renovation, the 1980s really killed this building. I'm sure that elevator marble is under the "new" skin.





https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1615192/

Great pics! Love the office.

Love the office view. I don't think I've ever seen the photos of the parking lots next to the Majestic occupied.

Hadn't been around this part of town since March, so looking at the KDC Epic II cam shocked me. This thing really is going to be massive.

The good thing with this ultimately is it gives them more parking to work with for the smaller buildings which is obviously part of their goal.

A couple progress pics. They got rid of the right turn lane on Commerce.

It's just so nice to see them actually pay attention to those kinds of walkable details and just get it done. If only the city could be so nimble and make such changes in other areas of Dallas.

Hardwood Park and Carpenter Park will both be great for this area. I hope we start to see infill on the small surface lots around there.

It would be great if this side of downtown is next up for the 30+ story residential towers.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:It's just so nice to see them actually pay attention to those kinds of walkable details and just get it done. If only the city could be so nimble and make such changes in other areas of Dallas.

Look carefully at the second of mdg109's pictures. You see the back of that sign mounted on the pole? It's a "No Pedestrians" sign. You can see matching one on the other side of the intersection.

Actually, for months while they were rebuilding the intersection they also had one on the north side of Commerce, facing south. Meaning if you were standing on the corner where that picture was taken you couldn't legally cross either street.

And that's how Dallas does walkable infrastructure.

^whaaaaaaaaa?

Looks like they have one more floor to add to the base/podium.

Hannibal Lecter wrote:

cowboyeagle05 wrote:It's just so nice to see them actually pay attention to those kinds of walkable details and just get it done. If only the city could be so nimble and make such changes in other areas of Dallas.

Look carefully at the second of mdg109's pictures. You see the back of that sign mounted on the pole? It's a "No Pedestrians" sign. You can see matching one on the other side of the intersection.

Actually, for months while they were rebuilding the intersection they also had one on the north side of Commerce, facing south. Meaning if you were standing on the corner where that picture was taken you couldn't legally cross either street.

And that's how Dallas does walk-able infrastructure.

While I am not surprised a sign can be removed with the addition of a good crosswalk painting. Removing a slip turn lane like what was replaced is a lot harder to get done. Remove one from any number of areas in Dallas and people will protest like the city is taking their leg. I would have to look at the new format of the intersection to understand why the sign is currently there in the first place.

Great pics!

Thanks for all the photos as always Maconahey.

I was wondering about the National Anthem restaurant build-out at Magnolia Petroleum Bldg. Some of the articles about it are over a year and a half old, so I went and looked around.

Go figure I'd find it here:
https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/TABS/Search/ ... 2021003127

Start Date:
11/2/2020
Completion Date:
6/15/2021

Thanks for sharing! I was also wondering when we'd start seeing some new restaurants in this area, and it looks like this one will be opening mid next year. Sounds like great timing to me!

Have any comrporate tenants been announced for the office space?

Mballar wrote:Have any comrporate tenants been announced for the office space?

5 listed here: https://www.eastquarterdallas.com/tenants

willyk wrote:

Mballar wrote:Have any comrporate tenants been announced for the office space?

5 listed here: https://www.eastquarterdallas.com/tenants

Those are tenants staying in the older buildings though not in the new high-rise which includes both office, residential and retail space.