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Downtown Partnership Helps Revitalize Dallas

By Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 Reporter

Dallas, TX –

Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter: Less than a decade ago, only a few hundred people lived in downtown Dallas. For many, big city living's too noisy, dirty, crowded and inconvenient. But today, residents number close to 3,000, with expectations of twice that many in a few years. Ryan Baldwin, property manager of the renovated Davis Building on Main Street, says there's a certain allure to the urban bustle. And, finally too, there are more places to live, like apartments in his building.

Ryan Baldwin, Property Manager, The Davis Building: You're going to hear cars, buses, sirens, music in the plaza. You'll hear those things when it's going on. That's something I think appeals to many people. They want to live in that urban environment they're not getting in Plano.

Kyle Kepner, Davis Building resident: I've lived here since December and I really enjoy it.

Zeeble: Kyle Kepner used to live in Plano, where he grew up. The former Three Forks Restaurant assistant manager now lives in the Davis Building, while he works with a developer to get another nearby empty office building ready for a restaurant he'll run. Kepner's new neighborhood feels like a small town in the big city.

Kepner: I find it safe; there's a nice police presence here; everyone's real friendly. It's a nice environment - I enjoy it. I don't drive, ever. I have a truck, but do everything on foot or train now.

Zeeble: That's because there are more things to do downtown now, he says - more restaurants to try like Iron Cactus, P.D. Johnson, and others that weren't here a year ago. Or clubs, like Blue. And soon there'll be more places to live, in addition to the 90% - or so - occupied Davis Building, with its recently opened 183 units. There's also 1505 Elm. The Davis Building developer is also renovating the 1931 art deco masterpiece, the Dallas Power and Light building, around the corner. It will contain 158 apartments. The huge and newer Fidelity Life building is being converted. There's also a contract on the 1941 Mercantile building complex by one of the nation's largest urban developers, Forest City, which specializes in historic renovations. Details on that project are still being worked out with the city. As downtown residences and the population grow, developers argue there's a need for yet more retail. That's where the Dallas Partnership comes in.

Nancy Hormann, Executive Director, Downtown Partnership: We need a critical mass downtown to make downtown a viable shopping destination too. Retailers aren't concerned by how many people work downtown, but how many live downtown.

Zeeble: Nancy Hormann is executive director of the Downtown Partnership. At the beginning of this year, Dallas City Council approved 2.5 million TIF dollars - or Tax Increment Finance money - to lure potential retailers into downtown.

Hormann: So the more critical mass we have of residents down here, the more attractive we'll be to retailers. They know people will come in as a destination. They know they'll get the shoppers from the office buildings. But the loyalty of the residents is what'll keep them in business.

Zeeble: TIF money through the Partnership helped Colmaso Investments, which is renovating 1217 Main Street. That's where restaurant manager Kyle Kepner will manage his Cascade restaurant when it's ready. Keith Winton is the project manager and says the Partnership money is in important catalyst to the building's restaurant and retail plans.

Kepner: The relationship that the partnership creates with different businesses who are trying to bring in retail is extremely important. If they continue to keep this good relationship going, they'll eventually be able to work together to bring in a lot of retail clients into open available spaces, specially in the CBD area.

Hormann: I call the TIF dollars "but-for dollars."

Zeeble: Again, Nancy Hormann.

Hormann: So but for the TIF, we would not be able to have these projects monetarily work. And because that's here now, the momentum - let's get it before it's gone.

Zeeble: That's what LaRue Thornton was thinking too. Co-owner of Kul Design Studios, a contemporary office and residential furniture designer and maker, Thornton is taking a big step opening the company's first ever retail store. It'll occupy nearly 10,000 square feet on two levels in the Davis Building.

LaRue Thornton, co-owner, Kul Design Studios: Downtown is just on the verge of taking off. We could either wait until things have taken off, and it's two or three years down the road and we have a tough time finding space and we pay a ton for rent. Or we jump in and help it happen. That's what we decided to do. We decided to jump in at the beginning. Use our concept to help revitalize downtown, get retailers in, more people coming in town to shop, and get the money we got from downtown partnership and from the city sort of to offset the disadvantage of coming in early.

Zeeble: Thornton would not provide specific numbers, but the Partnership offers the landlord money to pass along a two-year rent discount to the retailer. It also offers up to hundreds of thousands of dollars to finish the space so it's ready for customers. Thornton, a former corporate attorney turned entrepreneur, expects the effort will be worth it, even though she calls the initial process painful.

Thornton: It took much longer than anticipated. And because we were the first group to go through the process, and the city hadn't determined which subcommittees needed to do this or that, the process wasn't clearly defined.

Zeeble: Thornton and Nancy Hormann both chalk up the experience to growing pains. Keith Winton, project manager at 1217 Main, says other problems persist as well within the city's bureaucracy. Sometimes he wonders why it takes six to eight weeks to get a simple permit, when waiting costs his employer so much money. He says for a price, $500 a day, he and other builders can fast-track the process over a few days, making the several thousand dollar expense worth it. But he still can't figure out why the delay. Nancy Hormann and Kyle Kepner have suggestions.

Hormann: We really need to streamline the process and look at the city's process becoming more entrepreneurial.

Kepner: We need a building czar that can take interested businesses, walk them through the permitting process - anything they need, walk them through and push them through if Dallas wants to grow as fast as it needs or wants to.

Zeeble: The mayor just appointed a Homeless Czar. There's no word yet on whether there's a building czar in the future to help continue Dallas' slowly successful urban renewal projects. For KERA 90.1, I'm Bill Zeeble.

 

Email Bill Zeeble about this story.