Dallas looking at transit-oriented development for medical district

Final plan still months away

Steve Hawley, Feb 17, 10.

The City of Dallas is working on a large-scale plan to turn the area around the city’s medical district into a mixed-use, transit-oriented community, according to the Dallas Observer.

The idea was hatched two years ago, and since then officials from UT-Southwestern, Parkland Health & Hospital System, Love Field, and developer Crow Holdings have been working with local residents to determine the best course of action. The Dallas City Council Economic Development Committee was briefed on the efforts on Tuesday, although any final plan is still months away. The city hopes to turn the area into a gateway to Dallas.

The Dallas Observer notes:

Whatever the plan’s end result, it’ll be a mammoth undertaking divided into four parts labeled, respectively: the Inwood/Denton DART Station Area, the Southwestern Medical District/Parkland DART Station Area, the Hi Line Corridor: Victory-Design District Connection and the Wycliff/Sylvan Trinity Portal Area. Among the improvements identified as necessary: “Implement complete street design improvements on Inwood and Maple to foster pedestrian and bike between between the DART station, area destinations and trails”; “use TIF incentives and urban design standards to encourage mixed use development south of Medical District with street activating ground-floor uses along Medical District Drive and Bengal”; “establish a linkage from Design District to Victory along the Hi Line Trail connector from Katy Trail to Trinity Strand Trail”; and “explore feasibility of a streetcar route along Irving Boulevard linking Trinity Meanders to Downtown.”

The corridor is currently home to 8 percent of all the businesses in Dallas County, 11 percent of all the county’s employees, and 17 percent of the county’s tax base.

Background, Stemmons Corridor-Southwestern Medical District Area Plan (pdf, 962 kb)
City Council committee presentation (pdf, 11.6 mb)