L LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP DALLAS:
Helping others and crazy fun make a great life Justin Parscale, principal in the Corporate and Commercial Studio of the Dallas office of Perkins and Will BY SANDRA ENGELLAND
How do you turn a good life into a great life? According to Justin Parscale, you find a job where you can have “crazy, stupid fun,” then you find a mission where you can “do something badass” to help others. Parscale, principal in the Corporate and Commercial Studio of the Dallas office of Perkins and Will, is finding ways to put his passion for architecture to work to improve the lives of others. And building relationships, like he did in the Leadership Dallas (LD) Class of 2019, has been a key part of the process. “You get one shot at this whole big life,” he said. “Leadership Dallas helped me realize I can do more, and it’s less about me and more about others.” Two of the future projects Parscale is most passionate about involve helping others. He’s working on a 15-story apartment complex that will provide low income tax credit housing for service industry workers in the CBD. The complex, located right next to Perkins and Will’s own office in the historic Dallas High School building, will designate a little more than half of the 217 units as low income, but the overall design and the remainder of the units will be competitive market rate. “This is about getting affordable housing into the CBD,” Parscale said. “It doesn’t exist right now.” The other project also is low income tax credit housing. He’s working with Cece Cox from the Resource Center to design a complex for LGBTQ senior citizens. Many in the LGBTQ community don’t have children to help care for them in their later years, so a designated retirement living complex can help fulfill that need. He calls Cox, another Leadership Dallas grad, “the coolest client ever.” Having the common LD experience helped him connect with her right away. A piece of the renovation and repurposing of Red Bird Mall is another Perkins and Will project where Parscale connected with developer Peter Brodsky through their involvement in Leadership Dallas. The firm is working with UT Southwestern and Children’s Dallas to develop
6 4 / 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
SUMMER 2020