Pearl C. Anderson Learning Center was shuttered by Dallas ISD in 2012, sat vacant for seven years, then was sold as surplus property to Watermark Church.
At the time, the church sought to reassure district trustees that it intended to use the building on Garden Lane, just off Elsie Faye Heggins Street, for worship services and as a place to provide social and medical support for the surrounding community. Even then, the community questioned Watermark’s intentions, wondering if the church was aware of the already present supports in the community that it could collaborate with.
Last fall, the church asked for a zoning change that would allow it to build a mixed-use planned development. A story published in the Dallas Free Press indicated that the community felt the church had not adequately explained why it needed a zoning change. In fact, it submitted plans for the 10-acre space less than two weeks before it held its second community meeting, which was meant to be an opportunity for the church to collaborate with its neighbors.
“It feels like an arranged marriage,” Ken Smith, president of the Revitalize South Dallas Coalition, told the Dallas Free Press. “It seems like we were brought into Watermark South Dallas’ plans.”
Tabita Wheeler-Reagan was co-chair of the South Dallas/Fair Park Area Plan Task Force and now sits on the city’s Plan and Zoning Commission. She said last summer that she felt the church wasn’t being transparent with the community. Everything it wanted to do, she argued, could be done without rezoning.
“You’re asking for us to give you your own planet,” Wheeler-Reagan said at one of Watermark’s community meetings.
The developers changed the application to a special use permit that would allow for a commercial kitchen, youth development center, grocery store, and a healthcare clinic.
South Dallas still has questions. Now, according to Councilman Adam Bazaldua, the earliest the matter will be heard by the city’s zoning board is April 20.
“Upon final review of the case, there were still issues pertaining to allowable uses in the staff recommend zoning change,” Wheeler-Reagan said in a statement last week. Bazaldua agreed, saying it was important to be certain that Watermark’s proposals “are able to be completed with the community’s interest at heart.”
Anderson shut down in 2012 because of low attendance. When it was sold in 2019, the community wanted reassurances that it wouldn’t be shut out of any plans the church might have for a building many had attended, watched their children attend, and then watched as it fell into disrepair. The community fought for this pause after feeling like its input was not considered in the church’s future.
Dallas ISD’s board of trustees voted in 2018 to sell Pearl C. Anderson, along with the former Billy Earl Dade building and Phillis Wheatley Elementary. Trustees discussed whether selling those surplus lots was the best thing for the communities in which the buildings are located. At the time, trustees Joyce Foreman and Justin Henry asked staff about possible partnerships, and were told that a “handful” of requests had come in over the seven years since those schools closed, but “nothing ever panned out.”
Former Trustee Jaime Resendez, who now represents southeast Dallas and the Pleasant Grove area on the Dallas City Council, said he felt the board should be “thoughtful” about the properties and their value to the neighborhoods beyond their dollar amounts.
Ultimately, Watermark’s $211,111 bid was successful, and the church spent more than $2 million on asbestos abatement and renovations. A portion of the space was to be used for Sunday services, the Watermark Health Mobile Clinic, and Watermark Community Development Corp.’s job training and business development courses.
But in a Facebook post in 2019, Henry apologized for not giving the community more information about the sale of the property. He also outlined plans to work on some community recommendations for the board moving forward when it came to engaging with communities during the process of selling surplus properties.
That may soon be tested. Although the board has not taken action, in its March briefing, three new surplus properties were on the agenda: the Tom Field Elementary campus in a mostly industrial area on Royal Lane (it most recently was the quarters for Walnut Hill International Leadership Academy as the school waited for its new campus post-tornado); a lot at 1210 Belleview St. that sits among mostly commercial lots; and the former Wilmer Early Childhood Learning Center, which sits in the middle of a residential neighborhood.
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