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Walt Bialas: Driving the Reurbanization of Downtowns

In Dallas, 18,000 new residents have moved into downtown and Uptown since 2000—an increase of 79 percent.
By Walt Bialas |
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Justin Terveen

bialaswalt_jllI recently read an interesting report by the Urban Land Institute on the reurbanization of downtown Los Angeles. It is true that urban areas have taken their hits over the years as demand shifted to the suburbs. The article, however, did a nice job of pointing out the changes that have been taking place in L.A. and identifying the ingredients for its success. These included a resurgence in housing—critical to enlivening the streets—new commercial development, and reinvestment in the community.

I’m not going to detail L.A.’s experience, but as I thought about it, we have been seeing similar changes here in Dallas. Importantly, change of this magnitude takes time, sometimes decades, and we can often get lost in the things that still need to be done without celebrating our successes. 

If we look back to 2000 we have seen many changes in our “downtown.” I’ll call it that now because it is no longer the central business district versus Uptown. Even though the suburbs have taken the limelight in terms of new development, we have added more than 5 million square feet of office space in our downtown. That is not a huge number compared to our suburbs or our CBD of the early 1980s, but it still represents a commitment to our urban core—which continues today ,given the new construction we are seeing and companies that are choosing to stay or move to downtown.

The ULI article noted a variety of demographic factors that are driving these changes in L.A. One of the most significant metrics was population growth. For Dallas, we currently have 40,600 residents living in the core of our CBD and Uptown areas alone. In terms of change, this base reflects that 18,000 new residents have moved into the area since 2000—an amazing increase of 79 percent. Importantly, this urban housing commitment and investment continues given the 4,300 apartment units under construction, with another 2,000 in the pipeline. Also, similar to L.A., our downtown residents are younger individuals and couples (56 percent), highly educated (74 percent have a bachelor’s degree or better), and are generally affluent ($110,000 average household income).

Another key ingredient highlighted in the L.A. case study was the importance of connecting these downtowns with public mass transit. For Dallas, we have DART rail and the urban streetcars. Although full utilization is tough given our car-centric lifestyle here, these are investments that will pay dividends in the years ahead as our densities and traffic increase—and would be prohibitively costly to replicate if we were trying to build them now.

So, where does this leave us? The reurbanization of our downtown is happening. Businesses see value in congregating in the urban core—and residents want to be a part of the live, work, shop, and play environment. As we look to the future, new downtown projects being developed need to address these factors. Mixed-use, a concept that has been around since the 1970s, is more relevant than ever. New projects need to be integrated with neighboring uses, and with the street. 

The days of the retail being an afterthought or buried below grade or isolated internally in buildings are recipes for disaster. Today, street activity is crucial and the strategic integration of “authentic” neighborhoods, mixing commercial and residential uses, is the key differentiator. 

I’ve always disliked the concept of “location, location, location” because it is a vague cliché. I’ve always thought the idea of “location, access, and visibility” was strategically more descriptive. If we pay attention to the component parts of this approach, we have a better chance of creating projects that will meet with initial success and have staying power in our downtown.

Walt Bialas is vice president and director of research for JLL in Dallas.

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