The Dallas City Council unanimously approved a $14.5 million incentive for the Palladium Buckner Station Project, a proposed mixed-income and transit-oriented development project at the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Buckner Light Rail Station at 8008 Elam Rd.

The estimated $107.1 million project is being developed by multi-family developer Palladium USA in partnership with Dallas Housing Finance Corporation and will be built on a space that is currently a parking lot.

It will include new ground-up construction of residential buildings to include 304 mixed-income apartments comprised of 90 one-bedroom, 147 two-bedroom, and 67 three-bedroom units. Of the 304 apartments, 244 will be income-restricted and leased solely to households earning at or below 60 percent area family median income.

There will also be two residential parking garages with 350 spaces, and a publicly accessible promenade providing a direct pedestrian connection to the DART Buckner Light Rail Station.

City Council member Jaime Resendez, in whose southeast Dallas District 5 the project resides, says in a statement that "this development directly addresses the City’s urgent need for high-quality affordable housing and has the potential to catalyze meaningful economic development and revitalization in a community that truly needs it."

The $14.5 million incentive includes a loan of $6,183,092 and a grant of $8,316,907 from several funding sources administered by the City’s Office of Economic Development, including general obligation bond proceeds from the economic development/housing propositions in the City’s bond programs.

The proposal is one of five transit-oriented development projects on DART-owned property up for review, with a goal to increase DART ridership by providing a mix of market-rate and affordable housing that easily connect to DART.