Downtown News

Dallas City Council approves major subsidy for new West End Lofts

805 Elm St. in the West End.

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The Dallas City Council approved a $49 million incentive package for the development of the West End Lofts Project, a proposed mixed-use, mixed-income, and transit-oriented development project.

The project would take up three parcels within the historic West End: 805 Elm St., 711 Elm St., and 211 N. Austin St., directly south of the West End DART light rail station and directly north of El Centro (Dallas College).

Led by Sycamore Strategies, LLC, the estimated $103.2 million project will include 154 mixed-income apartments comprised of 56 efficiencies, 25 one-bedroom, 69 two-bedroom, and 4 three-bedroom units to be constructed within the historic 805 Elm Street building and in a new 6-story building to be constructed on the existing adjacent surface parking lot.

Of the 154 apartments, 63 (41 percent) will be income-restricted and leased solely to households earning at or below median income.

The project will include residential amenities, ground floor retail/commercial space, the creation of an approximately 25,751-square-foot plaza and promenade, and approximately 140 parking spaces in the historic 711 Elm Street parking garage.

The project’s funding includes $54,224,085 in non-City sources, including equity in the form of low income housing tax credits and historic rehabilitation tax credits.

The City’s incentive package includes an amount not to exceed $28,275,676 in City Center TIF District funding as well as up to $20,724,324 from other economic development 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 2012 and 2024 bond programs.

In a statement, Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert said that the project will provide affordable housing and ground floor activation within downtown’s West End Historic District.

Prior to the City Council's December 11 approval of a subsidy for the project, it got a thumbs up from the City Center TIF District Board of Directors, with the added condition that best efforts be made to provide a minimum of two square feet per residential unit for pet relief facilities.

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GP News

Grand Prairie expands to the south with new master-planned community

Rendering courtesy of Provident

Goodland Grand Prairie

The City of Grand Prairie is growing fast and expanding to make way for a new master-planned development south of US Highway 287 and along Tollway 360, in Ellis and Johnson counties.

The community development, called Goodland, is the result of Grand Prairie’s recent 1,500-acre annexation extending its southern border toward Mansfield. Overall, with the added land, Goodland will be a 5,000-acre site featuring 15,000 residences including townhomes, custom homes, and gated communities for 50,000 residents.

According to a release, it will be a “city within a city” and a 45-minute drive from Dallas-Fort Worth. Beyond housing, there will be shops, restaurants, schools, public and private event venues, regional sports fields and complexes, dance halls, churches, trail systems, city parks, ponds, and preserved green spaces.

“This is a significant step in our city’s development,” says Grand Prairie Mayor Ron Jensen in a statement. “Unlike many of our neighboring cities, we have the unique advantage of new development opportunities to our south that will drive the growth and prosperity of our city. We recognized the opportunity and took decisive action.”

Leading the development is Provident, a Dallas-based real estate firm that has created other master-planned communities across Dallas-Fort Worth, such as Preston Hollow Village and Hillstead in Collin County. Provident has plans to work nature into the space design with more than 1,600 acres of creek corridors and floodplain land.

Plans are ongoing for a centralized mixed-use walkable Town Center, complete with civic buildings and other commercial development. Further south on the property near Highway 67, light industrial uses and other private employment campuses are already underway, projects that will contribute vital tax dollars for city growth and future expansions.

“This level of placemaking is quite rare, and certainly not easy to execute, especially in a brand-new community," says Provident Managing Director Rylan Yowell in a statement. "We are committed to a long-term vision with a desire to be good stewards of the land."

A new four-lane road called Goodland Parkway will link Goodland to Grand Prairie at Tollway 360 and US Highway 287. It's set to open by December 2025.

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