Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

joshua.dodd wrote:This is the property Mark Cuban owns, right?

joshua.dodd wrote:This is the property Mark Cuban owns, right?

eburress wrote:Isn't there a plan to decommission and remove those jails? If I had to guess, those jails will be gone before anybody has to see them out of their nextdoor windows, which may say as much about this project's prospects as it does about the jail's longevity.

whit5125 wrote:

eburress wrote:Isn't there a plan to decommission and remove those jails? If I had to guess, those jails will be gone before anybody has to see them out of their nextdoor windows, which may say as much about this project's prospects as it does about the jail's longevity.

Seriously, this. That damn jail needs to go. Half of it isnt in use anymore, but the issue is that the county will do its best to keep the jail there regardless and will refuse to pay, because that is what Dallas County does.

The whole complex doesnt need to be moved and torn down, just the jail portion itself and the abandoned jail across the street. The actual building that houses the offices and the court system offices isnt actually the worst looking building ever and could probably blend in just fine with surrounding development.

So is there actually a plan to move that jail or a link to the plan?

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:The jail should be somewhere near I-20. Needs to be moved. Easier said than done.

Tnexster wrote:

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:The jail should be somewhere near I-20. Needs to be moved. Easier said than done.

That's a statement. Just send it down south.

Hwulivn wrote:

Tnexster wrote:

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:The jail should be somewhere near I-20. Needs to be moved. Easier said than done.

That's a statement. Just send it down south.

And why should it be near I-20?

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:The Jail brings nothing but bail bond businesses. I Much rather put it in area that has little potential for revitalization and a low population density. Where it's at now is probably the worst location possible. That's my opinion. But sure move it to midtown. Lol

tamtagon wrote:

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:The Jail brings nothing but bail bond businesses. I Much rather put it in area that has little potential for revitalization and a low population density. Where it's at now is probably the worst location possible. That's my opinion. But sure move it to midtown. Lol

I would say a more accurate chain is, 'The courtrooms bring nothing but jails and bail bond businesses.' As it is now, the jail simply must be near the courts. Supersizing the jail houses and consolidating them downtown is a bigger problem; it's supposed to save money by having everyone serve time in the same location (close to the court), but rehabilitative services (for those needing it or there that long) were scraped out of the whole process. Maybe each neighborhood should have a jail sized to the residential population of the neighborhood.

Whatever, but if we're going to seriously think about a better place for gigantic county jails, we need to first think about why they're all downtown.

On another note, I'm wondering about how all this presumed development should interact with the levees and other flood control initiatives. Like, there's probably a way to build adjacent to the levee that enhances, reinforces and strengthens the overall system. Maybe this entire proposed development area should be build on a top of a 500 year flood pedestal... something like an (above gound?!?!?!) basement that can handle and mitigate a catastrophic flood...

joshua.dodd wrote:Further from the city center. The 20 corridor in Dallas is essentially a warehouse district now.

Written by Steve Brown

..."This is an opportunity to do something for these people, but not in the traditional way where you have a warehouse and you put a lot of beds in there," Moayedi said. "There has to a situation where people are treated with respect."

Because the building has almost no parking, developers haven't been able to come up with a plan to convert the building into apartments, offices or other uses ... "The building is useless when it comes to anything else."

"It will take about $10 million ... I want to do it privately without any help from the government. ..."We are going to work with faith-based organizations to try and get this done."

He said the facility could house up to 1,000 people with facilities for medical, mental health and job counseling services. "You couldn't find a better location - it's surrounded by commercial properties."

tamtagon wrote:https://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2018/02/12/could-old-dallas-jail-reborn-new-homeless-services-center

Could old Dallas jail be reborn as new homeless services center?

Written by Steve Brown

I'll go ahead and answer this headline's question: No.

Preliminary plans call for a high-density development with 400,000 square feet of shopping and restaurant space plus 3.5 to 4 million square feet of commercial and residential building.

The developers plan to work with the Corps of Engineers and the city to come up with a way to access the river levee for public and private use.

"This is a Trinity centric project," Pruitt said. "This is a long term project - it's a 10-year project."



Forest City and the architects are working on several proposals to raise high-rise buildings planned along the riverbank up to the level of the levee. The buildings and the new neighborhood would be linked to the river park by either bridges or infill on the backside of the levee.

A new street would run through the middle of the project from Stemmons Freeway to the river. The project would include a multi-level big box retail center.

Matt777 wrote:I passed the HKS office at One Dallas Center during my lunch break today, and they had a lot of graphics posted on the wall. One caught my eye. It was a computer generated layout the Southwest corner of the CBD, with some development mapped out. The Trinity River was completely filled in with water, shore to shore, and it looked like Downtown Dallas with a waterfront. It was very intriguing as I have talked before about completely filling the Trinity around Downtown and making it a reservoir like Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin (which is man-made). Then a boardwalk, piers, and waterside development along it.

"We think this site will have demand for all four of the commercial real estate uses, from hotel, retail to multi-family to office, and would be a place where Google would go if they wanted to be downtown and have the ability for employees to walk to work," Montesi said Jan. 31.

"There would be some cool factor to it with less spit-shine and polish compared with Uptown," he added. "I think this could be a great new neighborhood."