DART is replacing a parking lot with a pocket park between the American Airlines Center and its Victory Station.
Victory Plaza, as it will be known, will be a one-acre space that abuts an upcoming 350,000 square foot office building. It’s a great move for DART. Victory is one of the best stops in the system, putting you in the heart of amenities and, on certain nights, attracting the ridership that makes the line feel vibrant. The problem was always that parking lot across the street. You were dropped off into an expanse of concrete, and that was your welcoming to the American Airlines Center.
The pocket park will be built in tandem with Anland North Commercial’s 15-story class A office building, which is being built by Hillwood. That will bring an additional 13,000 square feet of retail space, and Anland will maintain the plaza for 10 years after it’s built. DART has owned this tract of land since it built out this portion of the light-rail line. It’s long planned to open to build such a thing here, and the DART board approved the go-ahead to enter into an agreement with Anland. Which also means there is not yet any sort of cost estimate or timeline.
One thing we need to work on—Anland is expected to hire 12,000 employees. DART anticipates just 180 new daily riders.
