Dallas Morning News, July 27th, 2007
By Steve Brown
Staff and board members at the Dallas Center for Contemporary Art probably did a double take when they drove over to look at their soon-to-be new home.
Down a scruffy street of warehouses that ends at the Trinity River levee, the gallery's collection of old brick and metal buildings looks anything but artistic.
"Fortunately, people in the art world have a lot of vision and creativity," said Dallas Contemporary board president Tom Lind.
The board plans to revamp the old buildings on Glass Street in Dallas' Trinity Industrial District into a complex of art and design space.
"It doesn't take a big leap to see how the whole area will evolve," Mr. Lind said.
Indeed, redevelopment is already happening in the old warehouse district northwest of downtown. Real estate investors and developers are scouring the blocks along Industrial Boulevard, looking for deals. A few early projects have already met with great success.
About three blocks from the Dallas Contemporary's future home, developer Jim Lake Jr. has converted a former International Harvester warehouse into a sleek design center.
The project - called International on Turtle Creek - is about 85 percent leased.
"We have tenants ranging from Margaux's restaurant - which moved from over near the Crescent - to Allan Knight and Associates," a large furniture and accessories showroom, Mr. Lake said.
"We've been amazed at the quality of tenants that have moved there," Mr. Lake said.
OFS Brands, a commercial furniture showroom, just signed a lease to more than double its space in the complex.
"When our company decided to put a showroom in Dallas we chose the International on Turtle Creek," said OFS' Robin Rucker. "We couldn't be more pleased."
The company just leased an additional 7,000 square feet next to its current showroom.
Demand for the project space has been so strong that Jim Lake Companies is preparing plans for a second phase of construction on 2 acres out back.
"In all likelihood it will be three to four stories and could have a loft housing component to it," Mr. Lake said.
Jim Lake Companies has had quick success with its Trinity Loft complex a few blocks away on Dragon Street. A combination of renovated and newly built space, the colorful complex of apartments and workspaces looks like it was plucked out of Uptown.
Opened in June, the 92-unit residential complex is more than 50 percent leased.
Monica Alaniz and her husband moved into Trinity Loft in April, after living in Bryan Place in near East Dallas.
"This is closer to work, and we always wanted to move into a loft," she said. "We really enjoy it."
"We thought we were going to get all people from the neighborhood, but we are not," Mr. Lake said. "Only about 30 percent of our tenants are people who work within the district."
He said renters in the project "want to have the downtown environment but not deal with the parking and traffic challenges."
But that doesn't mean that the folks moving to the Trinity Industrial District won't still have to dodge some delivery trucks and fork lifts.
The neighborhood crammed between Stemmons Freeway and the Trinity River is still mostly occupied by industrial and commercial users.
However, with the growth at the north end of the area by the Dallas Design District and construction at the south boundary of the first Calatrava Bridge, the decades-old business district in making a change. Just across the freeway, the Victory project's sleek new towers are a reminder that the area is about to be remade
"I think we are going to be moving at double time in the next five years," said Mr. Lake, whose firm is a longtime owner in the area.
The biggest shift is the sale of part ownership in more than 30 acres to a Houston investor.
Lionstone Group just bought a large stake in more than a million square feet of buildings in the Dallas Design District from Crow Holdings.
Lionstone and Crow Holdings have studied plans for a large scale mixed use development in the area along Oak Lawn Avenue and Hi Line Drive.
Another new player - Atlanta based apartment developer Wood Partners - has tied up two development sites.
One of the properties is across from Victory at Stemmons and Inspiration Drive. The other apartment development I planned farther north near Hi Line and Turtle Creek.
"We are still working on both sites and are very bullish on the area," said Wood Partners' Todd McCulloch.
Along with the high-profile deals, entrepreneurs have redone dozens of small building in the area to house art galleries, antique shops, photography studios, and creative firms.
"This will be an urban niche that is unique to Dallas," Mr. Lake Said. "It's become very diverse."
The promise of the Trinity River Park and construction of the Calatrava Bridge near Industrial and Singleton Boulevards have cranked up the volume for developers and investors.
Apartment developer JPI has bought land at the foot of the bridge for a future project.
"There's been a lot of hype, and people expect things to happen, said broker Newt Walker. "There are a lot of people talking about getting projects off the ground.
