Dallas Metropolis

This center, along the north side of Arapaho west of Hillcrest, has been acquired and is set for redevelopment. There are 4 buildings on the site, and one will be torn down. A park will replace that building. No future tenants were mentioned in the article.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/rea ... major-redo

Do we have any idea what part of the shopping center will go away for the park? I have stared at the google map and tried to guestimate since they announced this idea months ago but still no layout in an article. I am curious how central the so-called park will be for the development vs just a way to offload some land on the side that they think just isn't needed for commercial retail space for this market. I expect more suburban shopping centers will do similar offloading of land in the coming decade. A combination of factors will ultimately shrink the need for some of these large suburban strip centers in some of the ranch home neighborhoods.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:Do we have any idea what part of the shopping center will go away for the park? I have stared at the google map and tried to guestimate since they announced this idea months ago but still no layout in an article. I am curious how central the so-called park will be for the development vs just a way to offload some land on the side that they think just isn't needed for commercial retail space for this market. I expect more suburban shopping centers will do similar offloading of land in the coming decade. A combination of factors will ultimately shrink the need for some of these large suburban strip centers in some of the ranch home neighborhoods.

I totally agree. Incorporating a small public plaza/park/gathering area into the redevelopment of these shopping centers will breathe new life into them while providing a place for the community to meet. I just read an interesting request on the City of Irving's counsel meeting that wants to put a pop-up flea market in the parking lot of the massive shopping center at Macarthur/Las Colinas blvd. It's a great idea, but having a dedicated public space for such would be MUCH better... There's certainly plenty of parking lot available for such a conversion at most of these places.

itsjrd1964 wrote:This center, along the north side of Arapaho west of Hillcrest, has been acquired and is set for redevelopment. There are 4 buildings on the site, and one will be torn down. A park will replace that building. No future tenants were mentioned in the article.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/rea ... major-redo

Hopefully there's a pretty massive redo in store here, as it's a pretty large site if you take into account the former Albertson's space as well, but I'm wondering if it will just be a facelift.

IMO, the two-story retail center concept needs to go away. It's so dated and seems ironically non-conducive to pedestrian activity.

I am curious how central the so-called park will be for the development vs just a way to offload some land on the side that they think just isn't needed for commercial retail space for this market. I expect more suburban shopping centers will do similar offloading of land in the coming decade

Not sure about the design of this particular park, but most of the suburbs have rules against commercial and residential land being given back to the city unless it aligns with their existing parks and recreation plans. The area of north Dallas might be an exception because Dallas is continually dinged on the national 'best park system' listing because north Dallas is seriously lacking in neighborhood parks. So north Dallas needs parks, but not sure about the implementation in this specific location.

If I've got the correct location, there is a school next door with sports fields but no park/playground, so it's an excellent location for a city park.

I just attended a public panel with the head of the Parks Department and it seems like the Dallas Parks Department is desperate for park space since North Dallas was built without any parks. Funny enough South Dallas has lots of parks by comparison. He did announce they had signed a deal with DISD to partner in land and improvements on school properties to build better parks that both DISD can use and are open to public access. I imagine the city would love to absorb property for a park depending on its location on the site. Tearing a retail building down in the middle and throwing up a lawn surrounded by a sea of retail parking seems like a waste of the cities money albeit even though it might be an improvement for the shopping center. Even if you add a playground and I still don't see why the city should throw in funding into the project unless they integrate it well enough into a parks plan. There is no reason the city should be funding a retail centers "daycare-esk" playground construction.

In todays city council meeting agenda.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:In todays city council meeting agenda.
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Interesting, so if I'm not mistaken the only demolition would be the old Dog Stop stand. The rest of the space is parking/medians.