Survey suburban home owners and you’ll be surprised how many confess they don’t even know their neighbor’s last name. Neighborhood “events” may be the occasional multifamily garage sale or the driveway cocktail hour attended by a few homeowners who live on the same street. There isn’t that sense of fellowship you had when you lived in the college dorm, or the camaraderie you felt when you played a team sport.

If you’re looking for a close-knit community and opportunity to network and socialize, apartment living is king. Here are four reasons why an apartment community fosters fellowship, belonging and a sense you’re a part of something bigger than yourself.

Proximity to others
Living next door to someone doesn’t mean you’ll be best friends, but the odds of meeting like-minded people increase when you factor in density and location. Apartments are built for density, so there are many people living in a relatively small footprint. Oftentimes, people select the apartment based on a certain metro, community or even street.

The Cedar Springs area, for example, appeals to young urban professionals who gravitate to the work-live-play lifestyle. In this neighborhood, you’ll find a bevy of restaurants, bars and retail, many of which are frequented by the people who live in the area. Cedar Springs is also conveniently located near Uptown (but benefits from less noise and traffic) and is in proximity to the Dallas North Tollway and work centers.

Common area congeniality
Fitness centers, pools, green spaces and elevators give you the opportunity to meet and mingle with others. By and large, these are the amenities of apartment living, and although they are included to provide convenience and fun, common areas also help people get to know who lives down the hall.

Common areas are a place to converse, hang out and relax, and they provide residents with a go-to area for meeting up, sharing ideas, giving support and building relationships.

Onsite interests
One of the signs of an apartment community’s success is that people talk about how much fun it is to live there. A community that gets rave reviews is ilume Park, which was created for discriminating residents and their furry friends.

Here, canines are catered to. The community includes a dog walk, enclosed dog play area, bone-shaped splash pool with fire hydrant fountain, Pawspa® (which features professional groomers and grooming equipment), and dog sitting. ilume Park has mastered the art of appealing to residents’ interests with onsite amenities that transcend the expected. (There are even dog treat vending machines.)

Fun and games
Many apartment communities encourage resident activities where you can meet others who share your interests and passions. Again, ilume Park has the ideal setup.

The apartment community features a Grand Lounge that was designed to feel just like an enormous living room. Inside there are five flat-screen TVs, board games, poker table, media room and movie library; there is a complimentary happy hour every evening. Grand Lounge is designed to encourage residents to mingle and have fun.

The community also offers a complimentary brunch each month, cigar night and holiday events. You won’t find this kind of social mixer in a single-family home community.

Whether you’re looking for new activities or want to expand your inner circle, apartments are designed to foster the work-live-play lifestyle.

Whom have you met in your apartment community? Please use the space below to share your story.

---

To learn more about where luxury living meets your pet’s paradise on Cedar Springs, visit the ilume Park website.

ilume Park provides plenty of fun opportunities to get to know the neighbors.

Photo by Sylvia Elzafon

ilume Park provides plenty of fun opportunities to get to know the neighbors.

As a society of canine-obsessed humans, we spend a lot of time and cash when it comes to our dogs. Today in the United States, somewhere between 70 million to 80 million homes have at least one canine resident, according to the ASPCA.

Our dogs lead lives of loving privilege: They shop with us, dine with us, and hang out as we relax and unwind. This year, it’s estimated by American Pet Products Association that Americans will spend nearly $60 billion on products for our four-legged friends.

As the bona fide group affectionately known as Generation Rex, it’s a fact that Americans are unabashedly pet-crazy. Dallas is on board with this trend, as many retailers, restaurants and even luxury apartment communities cater to our city’s canine population.

The place for dog lovers
For those who love their furry friends, finding a home with pet-friendly amenities is often one of the strongest factors in deciding what apartment community will earn their residency. After all, they’re not just seeking an apartment complex that allows pets; they want a community that loves animals as much as they do.

All around the city, dog owners rejoiced when ilume Park® was constructed in the Cedar Springs neighborhood earlier this year. This luxury boutique apartment community was specifically designed for discriminating residents and their pets. (Or maybe it’s the other way around.) In addition to stylish design and beautiful décor, ilume Park® prioritizes canine-friendly perks, such as enclosed walking trails that wind through a 700-foot private dog walk and park that has two off-leash play areas and a bone-shaped splash lagoon created exclusively for dogs.

ilume Park® also offers a professional dog wash/groom studio and dog lounge. For people who pamper their pets, ilume Park® has it all. And for humans, plenty of details are taken care of too. From everyday wants such as a high-end gym, community lounge, media room and dry cleaning services to proximity to five-star dining and salon services, ilume Park® was built as a place for residents and their furry housemates to live, relax and indulge.

For people who adore pets, ilume Park® is not only the place to live, it’s the place to be.

Out and about
Bread Winners is one of many restaurants around the city that allows al fresco dining with your pet at the Inwood Village and Uptown locations. Here, the servers will even bring your pet a water dish upon your request.

And if your dog has gourmet tastes, he’s in luck: Bread Winners makes and sells its own line of organic dog treats called SoleMates. Other dog-and-dine patio hot spots around town include The Quarter Bar, Henry’s Majestic, Katy Trail Ice House, Cafe Brazil (Cedar Springs), Dish and restaurant/dog park Mutts Cantina.

Canine couture
Dallas boasts an impressive array of dog-focused stores and online boutiques, including Jack & Jill Pet Market, located in Uptown, and DallasDogs.com, which features canine accessories such as sweaters, scarves and hats. Baby Bow Tie, an online retailer that initially designed and sold bow ties for children, branched out to handsome hounds by popular demand. Each bow tie has a magnetic closure to ensure a fur-friendly experience.

As more people insist on being tailed around town by their favorite companions, retailers and dining establishments have evolved to serve every customer — and that most certainly includes the tail-wagging kind.

---

To learn more about culturally sophisticated living options on Cedar Springs, visit the ilume Village website.

Tail-wagging residents of ilume Park have plenty of amenities to enjoy.

Photo courtesy of ilume Park

Tail-wagging residents of ilume Park have plenty of amenities to enjoy.

Cedar Springs has been the bustling avant-garde subset of Oak Lawn affectionately known as the “gayborhood” since the 1970s. Over time, new trends have been established. Different style waltzed in. Innovation and ideas came to fruition.

Before anyone could say “fabulous,” this small but mighty community has evolved, defining a true-blue cultural shift where today, sexual orientation is a hot button of the same magnitude as, say, how many olives one prefers in a martini.

In a nutshell: The gayborhood put out the welcome mat, and it has become the place everyone wants to be.

Popular for work-live-play
Over the past decade, Cedar Springs has evolved into a coveted live-work-play community for urban professionals of all ilk. Although most of the original retailers have moved out (such as Union Jacks, which had been a clothing staple since 1971, and Buli, a cafe that closed in September), others have moved in, followed by a new demographic of buyers and discretionary income.

As Luke Crosland, developer of the neighborhood’s newest apartment community, ilume Park, puts it, “The recent influx of urban professionals to the area has created a need for the luxury they want and the services they feel they deserve. We developed ilume Park with those thoughts in mind.

“The result is a high-fashion, contemporary setting with every luxury you can think of.”

ilume Park definitely has residential amenities galore, including salon services, housekeeping, dry cleaning and onsite handyman. And for those who are crazy about canines, check this out: ilume Park provides any lifestyle service a dog owner would want — pet sitting and walking, as well as grooming services at the Pawspa® — and even has an onsite dog track with agility equipment, bone-shaped splash pool and dog-washing area.

ilume Park is located across from its sister community, ilume, a mixed-use development with dining and retail on the ground floor. Collectively, these two communities are referred to as ilume Village. The properties reflect the new demographic and scene of Cedar Springs and also help to define it.

Signs of the evolution
Proof of the area’s evolution is newcomer Cedar Springs Tap House, a sports bar offering plenty of big-screen TVs, a robust menu featuring American cuisine and craft beers on tap. As Silver Gordon, Tap House’s managing member, explains, the new bar addresses “something that is in short supply in the area.”

The sports bar has been so popular that Gordon says the team has worked hard to keep up with the volume. “It’s an absolutely beautiful neighborhood, and we have been well-received,” he reports. “Everybody’s been great. It’s a very friendly and open crowd.”

Another entrepreneur, Shane Walker, opened his floral and gift boutique, Flower Reign, two months ago and targeted Cedar Springs specifically for the great location.

“Having the store located on Cedar Springs gives me access to our existing customers in Highland Park and Turtle Creek, but it opened up a whole new window of opportunity to downtown and the Uptown community,” Walker says. “I love being surrounded by an artistic and creative community. There’s just a great energy here!”

As Cedar Springs continues to thrive as a leader in high fashion, influential art, and dining and retail, you can expect the community of ilume Park to meet the lifestyle needs of the modern Cedar Springs, which today represents the influences of a young professional urban community.

Says Crosland, “As the neighborhood continues to evolve and transform, we certainly hope that the sense of community we feel today continues into the future.”

---

To learn more about culturally sophisticated living options on Cedar Springs, visit the ilume Village website.

Dogs love the bone-shaped splash pool at ilume Park.

Photo courtesy of ilume Park

Dogs love the bone-shaped splash pool at ilume Park.