Street Scenes

We love grand ideas, but it is the small ideas that move the world- and make a city. These ideas are bringing Dallas an urban sensibility it has never known before. Here are four projects in the works that will help change our city forever.

THE AWALT BUILDINGS

MARKET AT PACIFIC A string of old warehouses, long vacant and unkempt, have separated the West End with its popular restaurants and events from the test of downtown. But then came the DART line, and these buildings are now at the epicenter of urban renovation. They are being rehabilitated by Southwest Properties for multipurpose uses- including restaurants, retail and residential.

The Neiman’s Block

MAIN AT ERVAY Elegance and fun will return to Main Street, with upper-end retail filling our a block now mostly shuttered and empty. Valet parking and a destination restaurant are two elements under consideration, and Trammell Crow has offered to provide a canopy of trees. The tall building, 1530 Main, is slated for residential, with remodeling to begin next year.

THE TITCHE’S BUILDING

MAIN AT St. Paul The Titche’s Building will open for residential leasing of its 130 units later this year, with completion scheduled for April of next year, The interior is as impressive as the facade, with an inside courtyard and sunlight-filled spaces. Across the street. Bank One Center is redesigning its plaza and adding an indoor/outdoor restaurant. One improvement begets another, and the city changes.

THE SEARS BUILDINGS

LAMAR AT BELLEVIEW This mammoth building, designed by Richard Scars himself in 1913 and laid with 800.000 square feet of maple flooring, has long lain dormant. Its new owners plan to convert the entire block into a new neighborhood of apartments, lofts, retail and a possible hotel. This project is one more example of DART’s impact on downtown: A new station sits one-half block away.