Growing South Dallas!
~By: Lisa Lockwood
So, I was on the hunt for the
newest, greatest thing in commercial real estate in the DFW area. What's hot?
What's the buzz? What's going on Downtown, Uptown, North and South? I just
wanted to be "in the know" on something. I had no specific agenda,
other than to increase my knowledge of the Dallas commercial real estate scene.
So, I began hopping around the net, clicking on links, visiting the websites of
various Chambers of Commerce, etc...
In my research, I found some
interesting things that had already happened
... For example, there's the "LOL." The naming of which, I thought
was quite snazzy, and the marketing of which is mostly digital (website, Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn). LOL is the re-branded name for Lower Oak Lawn. It's an old
neighborhood with a new, hip name/acronym, vibrant retail and a unique living
experience.
After reading up, a few more
clicks away I came across Mayor Mike Rawlings initiative called "Grow South." As a lifelong Dallasite, when I think of "South Dallas"
I think of poverty, crime, the decomposing neighborhoods in the Fair Park
area and the Trinity River (and the river's
smell!). My mind pinwheels around all that south of Highway 30 and ultimately
lands on the neighborhood "Oak Cliff" and all the negative
connotations that go along with the name I've heard over and over again on the
nightly news since I was in grade school. Yes, South Dallas might have a PR
problem to overcome. On the economic side, the facts are sobering: South Dallas represents 45% of the population, but only
carries 15% of the tax burden. When it comes to land mass, you could fit the
entire city of Seattle into southern Dallas , twice. So, I was
intrigued. Unless there was something I didn't know, South Dallas is just the
area I pass through on my way to somewhere else and there wasn't much that
could be done about that. I kept scouring the internet for other commercial
real estate news, but "Grow South" kept lingering in the corner of my
mind. Eventually, I signed up to attend Mayor Rawlings breakfast seminar at the
Orion Ballroom on May 24th so that I could hear, from the man
himself, what this was all about.
As grave as all the above facts
about South Dallas may sound, Rawlings does not see this as a charity case or
something Dallas has to strive to overcome. On the contrary, he sees all this
as an opportunity and an investment. He has committed resources to re-branding South Dallas , demolishing blighted buildings,
strengthening the schools and revitalizing the neighborhoods. He wants commerce
to descend upon South Dallas via private investors and developers; ownerships
who will build retail, lease out the spaces, retailers who will hire workers -
all of which will help shore up that tax dollar deficit between the north and
the south. Rawlings knows some South Dallas residents commute to Irving to work
and he wants to change that. To help facilitate all this, his office is
creating a private investment fund for South Dallas
that includes: a creative loan program, a committment of $20MM, targeting small
to mid-size projects that will double the bottom line and result in a good ROI.
Now, I'm not an urban development
planner expert or anything like that, I'm not even a novice, in fact, I have
never even stayed in a Holiday Inn Express (I hope you got that joke), but when
Mayor Rawlings says he wants to turn Jefferson Blvd into South Dallas' Main
Street, I take notice. Who doesn't wish they could have invested in a strip of land before it was the "Main Street " of an economically
successful area hustling and bustling with commerce, nightlife, and shopping?
Who wouldn't have wanted to be the investor/developer who bought up and
developed the land that now surrounds SMU before it was called Highland Park?
I'm inspired by what this could mean
for Dallas and for those who’s prosperity and
growth depend on the Dallas
commercial real estate market. The revitalization and re-development of South
Dallas could eventually rank among the most pivotal events in Dallas' history -
along with the founding of SMU. I think its ultimate success is going to depend
on how inspired and then how heavily invested private development/real estate
firms are going to be in the Grow South model.
Contact Information for Lisa:
Assistant Property Manager
Venture Commercial Management
214.378.1212
