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5 Ways to Grow
South Dallas |
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| The City of Dallas is making South Dallas more desirable to develop, and you should pay attention because 170 square miles of its 197-sq. mile area are in play. Assistant economic development director Lee McKinney laid out the plans at Bisnow’s Future of Southern Dallas at the Adolphus Hotel yesterday. | ||
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200 listened as Lee gave us her holiday wish list:
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| Lee says 45% of the city’s population lives in the southern part, yet it only contributes about 15% of the city’s tax base. The answer: grow CRE and bring jobs to the community. Often considered the wrong side of the tracks river, South Dallas is bigger geographically than Boston, Miami, and San Francisco combined. (If you don’t believe it, try getting lost there one day.) | ||
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| Trinity Groves/Romano Concepts prez and CEO Phil Romano goes over notes with moderator Bury + Partners biz dev manager Deren Wilcox. Phil spent seven years accumulating the 80 acres for his Trinity Groves project (on the west side of the Margaret Hunt Hill bridge). So far, he’s sunk $40M into the Trinity Groves project. The restaurateur says his industry needs concepts or sales will drop out of the sky, so he’s creating a restaurant incubator with plans for up to 30 concepts. (Our submission: a restaurant that only sells rutabagas.) Entrepreneurs contribute up to $500k (with no long-term liability on leases to entice them to commit) into a fund that will own 50% of that concept. | ||
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Our panel: Catalyst Development principal Paris Rutherford, Phil, Duke Realty SVP Jeff Thornton, Deren, Corinth Properties owner Frank Mihalopoulos, Prime Rail Interests prez Mike Rader, and JLL managing director Terry Darrow. Paris says Catalyst has a mixed-use project designed to serve that lonely VA hospital Lee mentioned. On a 3.5-acre TOD site, Lancaster Urban Village will include 193 apartments with 14k SF of retail and offices. There will also be a 50k SF expansion of the Urban League of Greater Dallas & North Texas where trade skills and work force development classes will be offered. |
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| Event sponsor American Insitute of Steel Construction’s Rick Kuhn, with MWH Americas’ Bob Johnson, tells us AISC is the code and technical organization serving the structural steel design community and construction industry. AISC’s members provide the construction industry an economic structural steel framing solution in conjunction with project schedule optimization. His motto: there’s always an economical solution in steel. (And if there isn’t, you can call the Man of Steel, Superman, to fix the issue.) | ||
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Champion Partners’ Jeff Swope, Thomas Reuters’ Brandon Fitzgerald, and TJ Shoenemann. We heard scuttlebutt that Champion may be buying the 500k SF former Nortel offices in Galatyn Park. Jeff smiled and declined to confirm, but did say he has some irons in the fire. Brandon says Ryan’s acquisition of Thomas Reuters will probably be complete by year’s end. |
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| Sachse EDC CEO Carlos Vigil, right, with Capital Title’s Michael Board, tells us that with the expansion of Hwy 78 to six lanes divided and the opening of the President George Bush Turnpike, opportunities for a major retail corridor are available for development. Walmart is coming and city leaders completed an entertainment and recreation feasibility study and master plan (with study done by Leisure and Recreation Concepts’ Michael Jenkins) to find a developer to create a venue that will be an economic engine for more development along the Bush. | ||
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Angelic Efforts |
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For the eighth straight year, SRS Real Estate Partners gathered holiday delights for the Salvation Army Corporate Angel Tree program. SRS partnered with Cypress Equities to adopt 54 angels from newborns to teenagers. More than $4,000 in gifts were delivered to the Salvation Army Christmas Distribution Center on Harry Hines. While at the center, SRS employees assisted in sorting gifts and stocking shelves. Way to go, Santa’s helpers! |
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Mea Culpa: We flubbed up our verbiage yesterday: The Cantrell Co’s Todd Franks and Sam Pettigrew each independently closed a dozen deals this year. We have sent our reporter back to math class and will monitor her progress. |
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More event coverage coming tomorrow. [email protected] |