Over/Under Downtown Dallas

[dfwcre8tive]

Dallas Morning News explores the Dallas Pedway:

https://www.dallasnews.com/life/curious ... -exploring

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Here are the plans for Cafe Momentum's community services center under Thanks-Giving Square in the Pedway.

[lakewoodhobo]

One of those things we've seen a million times without giving it too much thought: ventilation outlets for the never-built subway/transit station underneath 1700 Pacific.

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I started reading old newspaper articles on this and learned that when Live Oak extended all the way to Elm and this block was split into two triangular blocks, the city purchased the western triangle with a federal transportation grant. In 1980, as a condition for abandoning Live Oak to the developer of 1700 Pacific, the city was given the shell for a future underground station (plus what ended up being the food court, which was promised as a "massive pedestrian area"). This triangular portion of the block is still city-owned, and given that it remains unused I'm surprised the feds didn't make Dallas pay back the money for acquiring that land.

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[dfwcre8tive]

One of those things we've seen a million times without giving it too much thought: ventilation outlets for the never-built subway/transit station underneath 1700 Pacific.

vents.png

I started reading old newspaper articles on this and learned that when Live Oak extended all the way to Elm and this block was split into two triangular blocks, the city purchased the western triangle with a federal transportation grant. In 1980, as a condition for abandoning Live Oak to the developer of 1700 Pacific, the city was given the shell for a future underground station (plus what ended up being the food court, which was promised as a "massive pedestrian area"). This triangular portion of the block is still city-owned, and given that it remains unused I'm surprised the feds didn't make Dallas pay back the money for acquiring that land.

Screen Shot 2018-06-29 at 2.46.20 PM.jpg
Screen Shot 2018-06-29 at 5.05.00 PM.jpg

It's also why there are such nice bus shelters surrounding the building since it was built as a transit center. Maybe if the city was forced to pay back the money DART would use the station space for its intended purpose.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2018/06/25/two-underground-dallas-subway-stations-forgotten-curious-texas-digs-answers

When developers planned downtown's 49-story 1700 Pacific skyscraper in the early 1980s, they constructed an underground chamber to house a subway station.

Back then, the DART rail line through downtown was proposed as an underground route along Pacific Avenue. So the Canadian developer building 1700 Pacific — then called First City Centre — constructed an underground vault at Ervay Street and Pacific to house the station.

The builders contributed the huge underground chamber in return for the closure of a street through part of the block and other zoning concessions.

But DART's downtown line ended up on the surface a block away on Bryan Street.

And the underground station at 1700 Pacific is all but forgotten. Owners of the skyscraper say the entrance is still covered by a metal trap door in the basement of the office tower.

"Maybe DART will add the planned route someday," Crossland said.

[dfwcre8tive]

Prior to 1700 Pacific's construction there were underground segregated restrooms at the same location.



1915 article:

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