Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

The west end of Oak Lawn next to the North Dallas Tollway is getting a coffee shop, that will just happen to be attached to a new multi-story office building.

Located on an irregularly shaped quadrangle lot, the project site is a vacant lot bounded by Knight Street, Fairmount Street, and the North Dallas Tollway frontage road.

Pritchard Associates Inc., the developer, submitted this project in December 2015 and it took all of 2016 for the concept to wind its way through City Hall. Baldwin Associates represented the developer with the land use and zoning issues.

The site area is just under one acre. According to a Development Services Department report, Pritchard proposes a 45,000-square-foot office building that will include a 1,500-square-foot coffee shop that will face Knight Street at the corner of Fairmount.

This property is surrounded by multifamily and single family residential to the north and east, and multi-family and retail to the southeast. City officials commented that the project was compatible, since it creates a buffer between the residential and commercial; Fairmount is kind of the dividing line here.

The prior zoning limited height to 36 feet, but Pritchard asked for and received permission to go up to 85 feet.

“Due to the odd shape of the property and its adjacency to the tollway, staff supports the increase in height and proposed uses,” the city report said.

Most of the land will be occupied by surface parking and landscaping. The building footprint (lot coverage) was reported at 45 percent of the total.

Pritchard went the extra mile on a landscaping scheme. Working with SMR Landscape Architects Inc., the company is including metal fencing, a generous arrangement of trees, raised planters, and benches. The building setback is 10 feet all along Fairmount and Knight.

Boka Powell, the structure architects, describe a building that will feature cantilevered roof eves, balconies and canopies that may encroach up to five feet into the “front yard,” (that would be the set back along Knight).

According to state records, construction is estimated to begin in March and reach completion by April 2018, as a construction cost of about $7 million.

Matt777 wrote:Wow.... it's troubling to see how a forward-thinking, pedestrian friendly development like this tower (and on a sleepy side street to boot) can take over a year to wind through city hall and planning, but a gross CVS or Starbucks with large surface parking lots in our most promising neighborhoods on our most promising streets can sail right through...... city hall needs a good house cleaning, top to bottom.

Tnexster wrote:This doesn't seem that bad to me, most office projects have some kind of parking space plus this is pushed right up against the tollway. Need to see more.

Matt777 wrote:People are complaining about the proposed Starbucks drive-thru/giant parking lot at Oak Lawn and Congress described on the previous page of this thread (which City Hall is letting sail through).

Hannibal Lecter wrote:

Matt777 wrote:People are complaining about the proposed Starbucks drive-thru/giant parking lot at Oak Lawn and Congress described on the previous page of this thread (which City Hall is letting sail through).

I'll wager a good amount of money that the number of people complaining is less than the number of people who will happily use that drive-thru every day.

Matt777 wrote:

Hannibal Lecter wrote:

Matt777 wrote:People are complaining about the proposed Starbucks drive-thru/giant parking lot at Oak Lawn and Congress described on the previous page of this thread (which City Hall is letting sail through).

I'll wager a good amount of money that the number of people complaining is less than the number of people who will happily use that drive-thru every day.

Then those people should move to Frisco and they will be happy as clams.

Hannibal Lecter wrote:^ You mean because there are so many commuters from North Dallas passing through the intersection of Oak Lawn and Congress every day? Or because that's the only Starbucks for miles and miles?

As a side note, I used to lease/manage the center on the north corner of that intersection, so I am very familiar with the property and the neighborhood.

D Magazine reports that Quesa owners Fransisco and Patricia Cabrera have teamed up with Dallas barman and restaurateur Michael Martensen to breathe new life into the space with two new concepts: Q Tacos and Machos Cantina to 3900 Cedar Springs. Both will operate inside Quesa, which will remain open, and feature tacos for less than $4 available until 4 a.m. (on Fridays and Saturdays).

uptown74 wrote:Not sure about the street re-do, but it looks like there is a push again for rainbow crosswalks at Cedar Springs/Throckmorton instersection after the public art crosswalks were installed in the West Village recently.

http://www.dallasvoice.com/tag/rainbow-crosswalk

tamtagon wrote:Tailored crosswalks are great, especially if they lead to new sidewalks. Oak Lawn Avenue should be one of the city's Premier, World-Class, New Millenial, NewUrbanistMixedUse, Starcitect, Complete Streeted.... pedestrian-resident oriented thoroughfare, from the fountain at Preston Road to the Trinity River.

uptown74 wrote:

tamtagon wrote:Tailored crosswalks are great, especially if they lead to new sidewalks. Oak Lawn Avenue should be one of the city's Premier, World-Class, New Millenial, NewUrbanistMixedUse, Starcitect, Complete Streeted.... pedestrian-resident oriented thoroughfare, from the fountain at Preston Road to the Trinity River.

Totally agree!

One of the reader comments by Philip Kingston from the Dallas Voice article stated that Oaklawn has always opposed forming a PID like Uptown. Any ideas as to why business owners would be opposed to this? The Uptown PID has done so many things for the area.

A new gastropub is coming to Oak Lawn Avenue bearing craft beer and brunch. Called District 30 Gastropub, it'll open in June at 3211 Oak Lawn Ave., in a space with some turnover and whose most recent occupant was Bite By Eddy T.

Almost three blocks along busy Maple Avenue have been purchased by two real estate companies created by MQ Development, a Dallas-based shopping center firm. The companies have purchased more than three dozen properties over more than a year, Dallas County records show.

Most of the property is on the south side of Maple, stretching about three blocks between Wycliff Avenue and Lucas Drive. The purchases include automotive businesses, small retail buildings and offices.

The acquisition is one of the largest such assemblies of properties in years in Oak Lawn.

Jay9398 wrote:Maybe they're hoping that deferred maintenance on the Legacy of Love monument will cause it to topple over. Then it can be replaced with something that's not a poorly-designed phallic eyesore.

Cbdallas wrote:The complete street plans would have taken care of this by closing off that right turn as well as made the street more friendly to retail and restaurant space. Unfortunately, the bar owners squashed the entire deal as they said it would get in the way of their beer truck deliveries. I went to the planning meetings and the bar owners were vocal that they would not let this plan get done.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:I've talked with the bar owners and while that reason is on their list of complaints just like we would all have a list of complaints if we owned or ran a business the other reason is they are deathly afraid the construction process will kill off businesses.

lakewoodhobo wrote:I think the only thing that would send Caven into a panic would be two or three gay bars opening in Oak Cliff, threatening to take the crowds away from Oak Lawn.

R1070 wrote:I don't think Cedar Springs looks that bad. Especially the block with Roundup and Hunkys. They could just do some little things to spruce it up a bit. Rainbow crosswalks will be fun too.

tamtagon wrote:

cowboyeagle05 wrote:I've talked with the bar owners and while that reason is on their list of complaints just like we would all have a list of complaints if we owned or ran a business the other reason is they are deathly afraid the construction process will kill off businesses.

Um, Cedar Springs @ Throckmorton is pretty much a monopoly for the Gay Scene. Where else would these particular customers go for a similar experience? I guess Houston comes to mind, Austin isn't big enough to hold down the same atmosphere? Fort Worth?

There's got to be a solution that'll fix the street for pedestrians that doesn't send Caven into a panic.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:

tamtagon wrote:

cowboyeagle05 wrote:... the other reason is they are deathly afraid the construction process will kill off businesses.

Um, Cedar Springs @ Throckmorton is pretty much a monopoly for the Gay Scene...

What you are missing is the reality that the gays are not patronizing the gay bars like they used to. The acceptance of gays into wider culture means they enjoy the comforts of every other bar in town. While once gay bars were competing with each other they are now competing with Uptown, Deep Ellum, Lowest Greenville, Legacy, Design District. All you have to do is check the gays you know that go out Instagram accounts and you will see them all over Dallas not just at RoundUp or JR's. There is already some widespread distaste for the old and lack of creativity with the gay bar scene in Dallas. Many gay bars have held on for decades under the premise as a safe place to be gay. What happens when gay men and women no longer feel threatened outside of a gay bar. That's when a bar owner has to re-examine what drives customers. Is the concept for the bar strong enough to be attractive to the same people who go to HG Supply or the Armory in Deep Ellum. Those are two bars I see a lot of gays at these days, well those and Stirr.

That is what scares all the gay bars and other gay businesses. If you make it harder to access their establishments like let's say for the construction of a road diet beautification project will those customers come back? Will that business who depends on the regulars and walk-ins be able to keep the customers they have and get new ones while construction is under way?

Fear is a powerful tool and fear has kept gay bars in business for decades. When you get rid of the fear and then you are left with the same things that make any bar in town a success or a failure. It's a reality that gay bars and gay districts are in for some definite decline in size and strength simply because they are a "gay bar".

With all that said how do you implement changes to the infrastructure of our gaybourhood while improving safety, access, beautification and not killing off business for an already open group of seemingly stable businesses? The answer from many business owners has been just throw in some blinking lights and more stop lights and leave us alone.

Cedar Springs is about to get a double dose of Greenville Avenue, as two Lower Greenville concepts expand into an iconic Oak Lawn building. Restaurateur Brooke Humphries is opening a first-of-its-kind combination of Mudsmith, her coffee house, with Pints & Quarts, her retro burger stand at The Centrum building.

Quadrant is adding a key feature: a row of diagonal pull-up parking spots in front of their space. While the Centrum has a generous underground parking lot, it hasn't had the pull-up parking spaces that helps make a place succeed in Dallas.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:Please stop saying, Caven, because Caven is not the only voice in the gaybourhood.

Dallas' Maple Avenue is back on the map, and here's why

Steve Brown

...The most significant project so far on Maple has been Crow Holdings' landmark redevelopment of the Old Parkland Hospital campus...

... Trammell Crow Residential .. 340-unit apartment project is under construction at Throckmorton and Fairmount, a block off Maple.

...an office building at Fairmount and the tollway. The four-story Parkland Knight building is being constructed

...At Maple and Wycliff, MQ Development has bought up more than three dozen properties for a future project. The land assembly is one of the largest in years in Oak Lawn.

...near Parkland Hospital at Maple and Hudnall Street, a large property just east of DART's Inwood Road rail station is being planned for a combination of apartments and retail.

..."Medical district jobs clearly are the key driver of demand in the neighborhood," Willett said. "Current occupancy tops 95 percent, and vacancy issues have been avoided throughout this development cycle."

R1070 wrote:1) The Poston building is gone on Hall Street.