Apartment News

New luxury residences at former DISD building will keep cool facade

The Academic will go into the old DISD HQ.

Rendering courtesy of TBG Partners

Construction is underway on a new multi-family development going into the old Dallas Independent School District (DISD) administration building at 3700 Ross Ave.

Called the Academic, the development from Leon Capital Group will repurpose the site with an eye towards keeping historically relevant bits.

It'll keep the main entrance and facade, plus the two-story main building and several oak trees.

Preservation of the structure was included in the zoning ordinance. Leon consulted with the Landmark Commission to identify which parts of the 70-year-old building could be saved.

The Academic will be a luxury community situated on four acres, with a five-story, Class A apartment community with 365 units, including studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartment homes, ranging from 500 to 1,150 square feet.

Amenities include private balconies/patios and yards; 10- to 12-foot ceilings; quartz/granite counters and stainless steel appliances; full-size washers/dryers; and oval tubs with separate glass-enclosed showers.

Community amenities include a club house with golf and sports simulators; convenience mart; executive business center with flex office; resort-style pool; and fitness center.

The development will also include a six-story parking structure and exterior materials of cast stone, stucco, wood and metal.

"Through our preservation work, The Academic is a nod to the area's original essence, returning Ross Avenue to its fabric and vision,” says Carl Starry, a managing director of multifamily for Leon Capital Group.

"The transformation of the DISD administration building into The Academic has been a true collaboration made possible by the community, Leon Capital Group, and our design team working together for the best outcome," he says.

That design team included Architecture Demarest, Urban Structures, Basharkhah Engineering, Spiars Engineering, and DesignSixTwo.

Leon Capital Group is a Dallas-based investment company with a focus on real estate that's also developing three other projects: Society 190, a luxury apartment community in Richardson; Lakeyard District near the Grandscape development; and Hangar 19 located within Centerport just south of DFW International Airport.

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Dallas-Fort Worth ranks among top 25 most livable U.S. metros in 2026

Photo by Max Fray on Unsplash

Dallas-Fort Worth is the most livable metro in Texas for 2026.

Americans looking for the right place to live with a good balance between location, community, and quality of life can find that right here in Dallas-Fort Worth, according to a national study from RentCafe.

The North Texas region stood out as the No. 1 most livable metro area in Texas, and the 24th most livable U.S. metro for 2026.

RentCafe's report analyzed 149 U.S. metro areas across 17 key indicators, including cost of living, income growth rates, "social association" rates, a food index, and others.

The top three most livable American metros are Washington, D.C. (No. 1); Portland, Maine (No. 2); and Kansas City, Missouri (No. 3).

Here's how Dallas-Fort Worth performed in the study's three main rankings compared to the rest of the U.S.:

No. 28 – Socioeconomics
No. 38 – Quality of life
No. 52 – Location and community

According to the findings, more than a third (34.4 percent) of Dallas-Fort Worth's 8.25 million residents are renters, and less than a tenth (9.7 percent) of residents are living in poverty. The city has an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, and less than half (45.7 percent) of DFW workers report having a "long commute."

The cost of living in Dallas-Fort Worth is 2 percent lower than the national average, the report said, and residents' income has grown 6 percent over the last five years, though the report doesn't elaborate on what those income figures are.

Based on a survey from CountyHealthRankings.com, RentCafe says Dallas residents experience about three "physically unhealthy" days on average, and an average of five "mentally unhealthy" days. Only 17.4 percent of DFW residents are reportedly "physically inactive" and 10.6 percent report they are uninsured.

Overall, 10 more Texas metros earned spots in the report, but they surprisingly all landed outside the top 100 most livable U.S. metros.

Those other Texas metro areas are:

No. 117 – Killeen
No. 125 – Corpus Christi
No. 127 – Houston
No. 130 – Austin
No. 134 – Beaumont
No. 138 – El Paso
No. 145 – Lubbock
No. 147 – San Antonio
No. 148 – Brownsville
No. 149 – McAllen

rentcafe most livable metros dallas fort worth