Dallas is an absolutely phenomenal city, with true men and women of vision, and nowhere has this been more apparent than our amazing skyline. In just the past couple of years we have built or are under construction on The Merc, the largest urban Arts District in the country, the Calatrava bridge, the Convention Center Hotel, Museum Tower, the Woodall Rodgers Deck Park, Main Street Park, the Trinity River Vision, and the largest light rail system in the country, just to name a few.
And yet a truly inspiring city is not really made up of iconic structures. People love Portland and Washington D.C., New York, and Boston, whether to visit or to literally live in their urban cores, not so much for large-scale physical structures but rather for the emotional, almost spiritual responses they elicit from many of their smaller details—the walking curb appeal more than the drive-by “wow” effect. The desirability of these great cities, really of any great city, is dependent on its livability—how the fabric of the city is knit together at the human level.
Downtown Dallas has incredible venues spread out across the city. But rather than continuing to build more great edifices, we should now focus on the connectivity of those places. Do our streets work for pedestrian access from place-to-place? How do these buildings/venues interact with sidewalks and how do sidewalks interact with cars? Should we eliminate most or all of the one-way streets? Do we need more trees on the streets for summer shade (given our recent temperatures—yes!)? Should the sidewalks be demarcated with a different material? Should all new buildings and redeveloped buildings on major connector streets be required to “address the street” with awnings and seating and ground floor retail or restaurants? What role should the downtown tunnels play?
These are all granular, ground-level issues that cannot be seen from the 50th floor of the newest Dallas office or residential tower.
The economics of development in old downtown are not complicated. Unless the old urban core (Commerce-Main-Pacific) becomes a desirable, livable, walkable place, residents won’t want to live in downtown, and people living outside the city won’t come to eat, play and shop. And without those built-in customers who are willing to pay a premium to live and recreate in downtown, the city will be forced to continue to heavily subsidize development in these areas, which is increasingly more difficult in times of budget constraints.
What to do? Quite simply, we should spend the next couple of years focusing on the little things that would make the walking experience in Downtown more pleasant (think of strolling the streets of DC, Boston or San Francisco). Initiatives such as the Better Blocks experiments in North Oak Cliff and Ross Avenue and the Complete Street initiatives for Lower Greenville should be imported into more of downtown—and not just on a Sunday afternoon. We should experiment with some downtown streets during the week, and let’s see how it works.
Our leadership also needs to commit to “traffic calming” in downtown; in a city that is really only 4 square miles, there is no reason that cars should race through at 40 miles per hour. If the old downtown core has become less office-oriented, there is not the same level of need for road capacity. Temporarily “deconstruct” excess road lanes and expand sidewalks and create tree islands with chalk-striped bike lanes or parallel parking or with large potted plants. Have outdoor art and music fairs in the Arts District so the spaces between these iconic buildings are activated on a more frequent basis. Invite the Booker T Washington students to perform outside. Allow food and coffee carts and newsstands at the downtown DART stations.
Some of these ideas are in the works, but we need to experiment, experiment more, learn, occasionally fail and learn more, and adapt. Only do the expensive permanent fixes when we really figure out what works.
Would downtown Dallas be transformed, revitalized and reenergized if we reimagined our streets and sidewalks? No matter how strong the amazing Dallas skyline appears, our real inner strength lies in the health of the connective tissue and arteries—our streets and sidewalks—and the ability of downtown residents, employees, and visitors to interact at this human level.
Bob Voelker, a shareholder at Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr PC, is the business development coordinator of the firm’s real estate group.
