Articles for June 18th, 2009
‘Falling Knives’ At A Dallas Property Gathering
When several hundred commercial property types gathered yesterday at Dallas’ Hotel Palomar for a “mid-year real estate investment roundtable,” the mood was so gloomy you wanted to shoot yourself. Organized by Andrews Kurth LLP, the roundtable featured panelists from outfits like Invesco and Holliday Fenoglio Fowler who said things like, “We’re not seeing much deal flow anywhere,” and, “There’s a lack of liquidity in the market.” If you think things are bad now, though, someone said, just wait until all the office leases start to deteriorate–and it really gets ugly. The market needs stability, somebody else added, but “no one’s willing to catch the falling knife at this point.” The gathering’s zenith probably came when the panel broke up and everyone repaired to the lobby, where they proceeded to drink heavily. Which was understandable.
Streetcars in Downtown: Let’s Do This!
A newly arrived FrontBurnervian tells us:
I just moved back to Dallas from Seattle. The great thing about the trolley system that Angela Hunt visited there is not the fact that it revitalized the area, or that it provides mass transportation. It is the name or more importantly the acronym: South Lake Union Trolley — or S.L.U.T.
Genius. There is a RidetheSLUT.com website. Given this information, I hereby suggest that our downtown trolley cars be nicknamed knockabouts. The system would be called the Dallas Inner-City Knockabouts. (Yes, I am 14 years old.)
Streetcar Vs. Trolley
A column-writing FrontBurnervian asks what the difference is between a streetcar and a trolley. The difference is a trolley looks like a trolley. A streetcar looks like this. And carries more people. And is quieter. And rides easier.
Streetcars: The City Is Already On The Case
How far behind on this story are we? Pretty far. The city has already applied for $80-100 million dollars to rebuild an urban streetcar system. This new system is not to be confused with the bond money already committed to the extension of the McKinney Ave. trolley, which some people, including Wikipedia, call a streetcar, but which isn’t really.
NBA Development League Coming Back To North Texas
The Colorado 14ers have been purchased and are relocating to Frisco. It won’t be until 2010, and the team name is still TBD (my choice: Squares), but it’s happening. More details after the jump.
Time To Revive Dallas’ Streetcar System?, Ctd.
Main Street, 1951. From “Dallas at 150: A Look Back,” D Magazine, February, 2006. Courtesy of Dallas Public Library. (This time, can we do something about all those ugly wires?)
Energy Transfer Partners Partners Snap Up Big Dallas Houses
Over on DallasDirt, Candy breaks the news of a just-completed $30 million(ish) residential sale on Park Lane. The buyer? Kelcy Warren of Energy Transfer Partners. Perhaps ol’ Kelcy is trying to one-up his partner in Energy Transfer Partners, John McReynolds. In our July cover story, “The 100 Most Expensive Homes in Dallas,” you’ll learn that the latter owns the 19th-most-expensive home in Dallas, Chateau de Triomphe, the 73,000-square-foot Strait Lane mansion destroyed in a 2002 blaze. Lesson: it pays to be in the business of transferring energy.
Bill-Signing At UTD Marks New Era for Texas Higher Education
I hope. At least it means new money to build the research capabilities of the second-tier universities. For a full description of HB 51 and what it means, read Rodger Jones’ post here. But this is only a beginning. At some point a governor (by that, I mean a new governor) is going have to lead the Legislature in making a choice of which university will be promoted to Tier One status. And that university needs to be where the research it does will do the most good. That means Dallas. Meanwhile, congratulations to Dallas Rep. Dan Branch for getting things in motion.
D Magazine Moves Downtown: Update
As has been noted, we are moving our offices downtown, across from the DMA, in the St. Paul Place tower. We’re shooting for September. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to this change of venue. Okay, I can tell you. Yes, working in the Arts District will be cool. Yes, working downtown will be a thrill (right?). But here’s why I’m most looking forward to the move: the roaches. Our current space has too many of them. Very much off-brand.
I’ve got a few golf clubs in my office. A Wilson 9-iron, a Spalding 6-iron, and a Northwestern-brand putter. Old, lousy clubs. They found their way to my office via some PR effort or the other. (”This new product is a hit!” Something like that.) So this morning, when I was talking with Wick and Eric about the July issue (on newsstands this weekend), and when a cockroach scurried out from under my couch, I leaped up and grabbed the 6-iron. Manfully yelling “hii-YAH,” I hacked at the roach like I was chopping wood, but I kept missing. At which point Zac wandered in, sized up the situation, and said, “You’re using too much club! Go with the putter!” I can only assume that the new space will feature less fauna.
All of which I offer by way of a setup for these images, taken by Gustav Schmiege. Here’s what our new space high atop St. Paul Place looks like right now. Because we know you care, we’ll keep you up to date on construction progress.
Time To Revive Dallas’ Streetcar System?, Ctd.
To Tim’s point, a FrontBurnervian wonders if the tracks even exist:
I just remember when the city reconstructed Main street in deep ellum back in the late 80s, all the rails pulled up and put in a field. I think its a great plan. people need it. it just is not usable without new construction. too bad.
Maybe that was just in Deep Ellum. These and other questions could be resolved fairly easily. Peter, go for it.
Lonely Coyotes Near White Rock, Ctd.
A nature-loving FrontBurnervian tells us more about the wild things around White Rock:
I live near the spillway, and I spot more coyotes near the lake than I ever have before. If I’m up early enough, I’m almost guaranteed to either see or hear them rustling through the brush of the trails of the old Fish Hatchery. I also see them about 25 percent of the time if I run around the lake at dusk. At night, they sometimes howl so loudly that I can’t fall asleep. They’ve become a part of my life in Dallas.
A few weeks ago, my dog and I saw three coyotes. I started to clap my hands to scare them off, and they kind of — figuratively speaking — shrugged their shoulders. We started to hurry away, and they followed us. The coyotes didn’t chase us off, but they made it clear that we had encroached on their turf (approximately 100 meters from the well-traveled Winsted Rd.), and they wanted us to leave the premises. We complied with their demands.
The city says that there are no more coyotes than ever, but this is what I know. I’ve lived at the Winsted Apartments two separate times: February 2007 through December 2007 and August 2008 to present day. During my first stint, I think I saw a coyote once. During my second stint, I don’t go a week without seeing them.
Time to Revive Dallas’ Streetcar System?, Ctd.
Without knowing anything about anything, I’m going to go ahead and say the following: no way would new, modern railcars run on those old rails under the asphalt. The gauge of the tracks, distance between them — stuff like that. Again, I don’t know what I’m talking about. But I’m certain of this.
Time To Revive Dallas’ Streetcar System?
Peter Simek sees DART as a regional necessity but wonders about its utility as an inter-urban system. He then raises an interesting point:
…if Dallas really wants to build a walkable urban vision, if it wants to create an intersecting web of multi-use districts, if it wants a more vibrant street life, if it wants its touted future urban spaces – the Woodall Rogers Park and the Trinity River Project among them – to function according to their planned visions, eliminating the need for all of our city’s offerings to be surrounded by sprawling parking lots or expensive underground parking garages, then an alternative to DART must be on the table. Luckily, there is a model.
The model is the streetcar system, whose tracks still lie under the asphalt, that was built in 1927. I vaguely remember streetcars still running in the 1950s. They were replaced by a new! modern! airconditioned! gasoline-powered! thing call the bus.
Simek is on to something. Of course, the city was much, much smaller then, so the grid would only serve the inner core. Still, it might provide, as Simek says, the connectivity that the inner core needs. (Forget the budget deficit for now. We’re talking 5-10 years from now.)
Lonely Coyotes Near White Rock
My wife returned from a neighborhood association meeting last night with this story, told to her by a neighbor: we live in the Eastwood neighborhood, on the northeast side of White Rock. Our neighbor goes out to a nearby greenbelt to play fetch with his dog. He throws a ball. The dog retrieves it. Good times. Then the craziest thing: the neighbor throws the ball, but before his dog can chase it down, a coyote dashes out of the creek bed, snaps up the ball, and disappears back into the brush. Our neighbor and his dog both looked at each other like, “Did you just see that?” Thus ended the game of fetch.
Leading Off (6/18/09)
1. Mayor Leppert says what anyone who’s paid a visit to the municipal courts anytime in the last couple of years knows all too well: “Clearly, we have something that’s not working.” When should everyone expect that to change? Ah, well, hmmm…let’s see here..carry the two…how does “eventually” sound to everyone? Good? Okay. Good talk. I’ll see you out there.
2. Everyone do yourself a favor: block off about 10 minutes and watch this tour of the new Cowboys Stadium hosted by Martellus Bennett, aka Marty B, aka the most interesting backup tight end in the history of ever.
3. This isn’t necessary local, but whenever someone/thing purporting to be Governor Rick Perry’s hair starts a Twitter page, I feel it is my duty as the guy tasked with (usually) writing the Thursday morning Leading Off to bring it to your attention. (via)
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