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It’s location, location, location at DART line
BY SARAH BLASKOVICH, Staff Writer
People don’t walk much in Dallas, said Peter Braster, transit-oriented development manager for the city of Carrollton.
But when Dallas Area Rapid Transit comes through town in 2010, he hopes Carrollton will become a “walkable city,” with the three rail stations surrounded by retail stores, offices and homes.
It all may become a reality if Braster can convince realtors to buy and redevelop the more than 300 acres of land surrounding the DART stations at Downtown Carrollton, Trinity Mills and North Carrollton.
Braster has suggestions as to how each of the stations may look, but he hopes that developers will take his zoning standards and make it their own.
“Quite frankly, our position is that we have no vision, and we do that because we do not want to limit the developer and their vision,” he said. “When you have a great architect — and we want that really good architect — obviously we have parameters, but other than that, we want them to use their imagination.”
The city has set out three zones for some of the stations so that the developments match the surrounding architecture and meet city standards.
The first zone is “urban core,” which is a building with a minimum of four stories.
“If someone wants to come in and put a 20 story building in, they can do that,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s preferable. It doesn’t mean that in 20 years, we wouldn’t.”
Urban core is zoned at the Trinity Mills station and at the Downtown Carrollton station.
The second zone is “urban center,” which include buildings between four and six stories tall. Urban center is zoned at the Trinity Mills and the Downtown Carrollton DART stations.
The third zone is “urban fringe,” which looks like a dense group of townhomes. Braster hopes to see these crop up in the Downtown Carrollton DART station.
Karen Martin, realtor for Sigma Properties in Carrollton, said that the Trinity Mills station is the most attractive to realtors.
“It’s a bigger area,” Martin said. “They will be able to get the community effect that they want.”
Martin said she’d definitely be interested in developing areas in and around the DART stations, and that she’d also be interested in using it as a tool for commuting.
“I’m really excited about it,” she said. “I already take DART now, and I think the outlying towns will use it.”
Braster hopes that the rail stations will become their own districts, similar to Mockingbird Station at Mockingbird Lane and Interstate 75 in Dallas. But not all stations would have a similar feel, he said.
“Would [Mockingbird Station] fit in Downtown Carrollton? Probably not,” he told some realtors. “Would it fit at Trinity Mills? Sure.”
The vision for Downtown Carrollton is very historic, complete with black and white fixtures, historical timelines and artwork on the station’s platforms.
“We want to keep the flavor of downtown there,” Braster said.
The other two stations will be more modern, with silver fixtures and more modern-looking architecture.
The city also purchased almost 13 acres of land near the Trinity Mills station. The city could like to sell the property, or even do a long-term ground lease, Braster said.
One thing they won’t do is add much more parking in many of the districts. Although all of the stations will have a parking lot for commuters to leave their cars, he doesn’t expect that any developers will need to account for huge parking lots.
“I think we’re overparked,” Braster said. “Why would we require [developers] to build a sea of asphalt?”
The DART rails in Carrollton will be officially finished in December 2010. The main construction will begin Sept. 8 at the groundbreaking ceremony.
Contact Sarah Blaskovich at 972-628-4074 or at SBlaskovich@acnpapers.com.
Landing a deal
City of Carrollton developers hope that realtors will begin buying and selling property around DART rail stations to develop a new feel for the areas. The following stations have either developable land or redevelopable land available:
Downtown Carrollton: 230 acres
Trinity Mills: 80 acres
North Carrollton: 15 acres
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
Bill wrote on Aug 31, 2007 11:39 PM:
" I worked for the city of carrollton, And guess what. They are putting all the eggs in one basket. If this fails to work as planed get ready for higher taxes. They told the city workers that durring a meeting with us. So you better keep an eye on this. "
Another former worker wrote on Sep 5, 2007 12:52 PM:
" I agree with Bill. As a former employee, the city has brushed off all potential future problems with this magical vision of the city coffers flushed with cash after these stations are built.
Carrollton's values and demographics do not support this type of community. Why do people live at Mockingbird Station? Because there are things to do close by (Greenville Ave, downtown Dallas). What is in Carrollton that will attract the people that could afford to and want to live in a mixed use development? Not much.
"
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