Revitalization brings life back to downtown

For at least two decades, Dallas has had to battle the same urban blight and central city population loss that afflict many other major American cities. However, unlike many of its contemporaries, the city has mounted an effective counter-attack through the establishment of a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District.

While the city’s population grew by 19.2 percent from 1970 to 1990, the population intown, defined as downtown and the one-mile area surrounding it, declined by 38 percent, according to a 1996 study.

Additionally, in years past, Dallas has led the state in office vacancy rates, with 35 percent of its space unused. Downtown land prices had dropped from $150 a square foot to as low as $6.

To draw people back downtown, the city created its first TIF District in State Thomas, an underdeveloped neighborhood just north of downtown, to allow a layering of uses, including higher density residential areas. Revitalizing State Thomas, officials figured, could provide a link between downtown and its arts district and the trendy McKinney Avenue area with its restaurants, antique shops and entertainment.

Capitalizing on zoning changes and the State Thomas TIF, local developer Columbus Reality Trust undertook the first major residential project, the 132-unit luxury Meridian apartments. Completed in 1990, the Meridian complex has maintained 100 percent occupancy and has led to the development of more than 1,500 units in nine additional projects in the same area.

Taking its cue from downtown’s success, the uptown area created an Uptown Public Improvement District (PID). It allowed the city to levy special assessments against property in the district, turning those proceeds over to a nonprofit management entity to spend on special improvements such as landscaping, lighting and services.

The uptown district is now becoming part of a larger downtown family of districts called Central Dallas.

To provide housing for those interested in the newly revitalized area, the city, in partnership with business organizations, the Central Dallas Association, developers and lenders developed the Intown Housing Program.

The program uses tax abatements and $25 million in “gap financing” through loans made under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 108 program. (Gap financing allows cities to borrow against future Community Development Block Grant entitlements.)

With that financing, renovation of the 1900 Elm Building, a neo-renaissance structure that housed the Titch-Goettinger department store, was completed with 129 apartments and a waiting list. Additionally, Pan American Capital Corporation’s Deep Ellum Lofts (124 units) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in May 1997.

In order to receive a 15-year Historic Tax Abatement and Historic Tax credits, the developer restored the Elm Building to reflect its original style. The center was cut out from the top to the second floor, leaving an open air atrium. Other buildings are slated for redevelopment as well.

This housing initiative is attracting individuals who work in the suburbs to the downtown area for living, as well as play and entertainment.

In fact, people are leasing properties faster than construction can be completed.

By 1997, the city had exceeded its goal of 5,000 new housing units by 1,447. One developer has estimated that 30 percent of uptown residents are traveling daily against the traffic flow to jobs in suburban Richardson and Las Colinas.

According to the city’s 1996 study, 74.3 percent of the current intown residents previously lived outside the Dallas city limits.

In June, a Hong Kong Consortium announced plans to convert the old Mercantile Securities building into 140 apartments and a health club, while a Toronto-based developer announced plans to turn a six-story warehouse into downtown’s first condominiums.

Another developer unveiled plans to renovate a building into an artists’ gallery, and a private investors group bought an old Sears store, with plans to convert it into apartments and a possible hotel.

Who helped: Centre Development, PanAmerican Capital, Hall Financial Group, Southwest Properties, Carleton Residential, SouthFair CDC