Dallas County Medical Society is moving its headquarters from its current Oak Cliff home to a 7,000-square-foot space on Fairmount in Uptown.
The 1964 building will be retrofitted for the medical society’s needs and was originally built as a residence. Later, it was a commercial art gallery and studio for local artist David Dike. The building will have upstairs offices for the Dallas County Medical staff, and downstairs there will be a community room for society business and social gatherings and a small museum space.
“It’s about how we inspire and grow the next generation of Dallas physicians. We can pull from all points of the county and include students who never thought of themselves as future doctors. They can come to our new home where our current members could lead them in activities to inspire them.”
The move north was a combination of factors. DCMS has been in its current headquarters, a stone’s throw from the Southern Gateway deck park over I-35, since 1983. The society received a lot of interest in the property because of all the development in the area in anticipation of the park. Additionally, the group began to look at where its members lived to create a heat map that would be the most convenient to locate. DCMS CEO Jon Roth said the bullseye landed on Preston Center at Northwest Highway and the Tollway, some of the city’s most valuable land.
DCMS worked with its realtor to draw concentric circles from that point and landed on the Fairmount property, which wasn’t on the market at the time. The new location will save most of the society’s members significant driving time to attend meetings. The quiet, tree-lined street is home to several other Victorian houses and is walkable to numerous restaurants and bars on McKinney avenue.
The new building will also be home to the DCMS Foundation History of Medicine Museum, which will include medical artifacts and documents dating back to the 1800s. The hope is to create a display and digitize old records to provide educational opportunities for society members and school children. The goal is to share how physicians have shaped the history of Dallas.
“Dallas has a rich history of physician leaders throughout the community, and we want young people to come and explore the possibilities of medicine as a career,” said Dr. Samuel Chantilis, 2022 DCMS President, in a statement. “Through interactive exhibits and volunteer physician-led programs, we hope to inspire children from every corner of Dallas County to become the next physicians serving our community.”
Joe Santelli of Marcus & Millichap assisted DCMS with finding the property and facilitating the transaction. Inwood National Bank provided financing for the purchase and renovations of the property. GFF Architects and Interiors designed the new space.
DCMS plans to move into the new HQ in March 2023.
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