U URBANISM
PLACEMAKING HOW MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT IS CHANGING DALLAS-FORT WORTH
BY LIZ JOHNSTONE CHRISTINE PEREZ KAREN NIELSEN STEPHANIE DAVIS
A TRANSFORMATION IS UNDERWAY in North Texas, where the mixeduse movement has taken hold with a vengeance. Massive, city-sized projects are springing up in the suburbs, and towering downtown office buildings—some that have stood vacant for a decade or more—are finding new life with added retail, apartment, and hotel components. Dallas-Fort Worth’s placemaking mirrors its risk taking-ethos, says Scott Polikov, president of Gateway Planning Group. “Cities and developers are willing to try new approaches to an old craft—the art of neighborhood design,” he says. In this special package, we showcase the wide diversity of mixeduse projects across the region, and share the perspectives of some of the experts who have helped bring them to life. It’s a process that’s not for the faint of heart, says Barry Hand, studio director and senior associate at Gensler: “Those engaged in it are building some of our next great civic and neighborhood spaces, while realizing great value for all involved.” Dallas-Fort Worth is a relatively new metropolitan area. It’s experiencing robust population growth and continuing to win major corporate expansions and relocations. For these reasons and more, mixed-use development here should continue, Hand says. “Texans are bold, and there will be countless opportunities to compose, reshape, and refine many areas into those coveted and sought-after memorable places that tie the community to particular neighborhoods and districts.”
SPRING 2015
D A L L A S - F O R T W O R T H R E A L E S TAT E R E V I E W / 5 1