By John English
Contributing Writer
The Downtown Arlington Management Corporation scored a major coup when it landed a $75,000 grant from General Motors to turn unused railroad land into a transformative public space.
Arlington, along with 69 other communities in the country were eligible for the grant, the funds from which will be used to redevelop a plot of land adjacent to the railroad tracks in central Arlington.
Maggie Campbell, President and CEO of Downtown Arlington, said it was a great accomplishment for her organization.
“It was pretty exciting,” Campbell said. “Our team worked very hard at applying for it. We’re pretty proud to have a good relationship with General Motors here, and it was kind of a shot in the dark. But we thought, ‘You know what, let’s apply,’ and it was exciting to be announced as the competitive winner.”
But this grant application was very different than others that typically require specific plans to be laid out for spending this $75,000.
“That’s why this was such an interesting grant process because they don’t want you to have a defined project,” Campbell said. “That’s part of what the grant responds to is that, yes, it’s a $75,000 cash grant, which is great. But what’s really valuable also are the consulting services that come from the Project for Public Spaces. They are an internationally known planning, design, and placemaking firm.”
Founded in 1975, the Project for Public Spaces advocates for the urban geography concept of placemaking, in which the community actively collaborates to design public spaces — often underutilized urban areas — that matter to them. These Community Placemaking Grants enable U.S.-based nonprofits and government agencies to address “the inequality of access by working directly with local stakeholders to transform public spaces.”
“We’ll be working as the partner and as the grant recipient to organize the coming meetings for the community,” Campbell said. “We will be articulating back to the city’s leadership what the consultants in that stakeholder-driven engagement process conclude and recommendations they have made. Ultimately, we will be the party that tries to sell and convince the railroad and the city that this is worth improving.”
The City of Arlington was founded in 1876 around the Texas and Pacific railways, and Union Pacific continues to run a daily route through the city to this day.
With the rapid population and economic growth Arlington has experienced in recent years, projects like these are necessary.
“We have a very active freight train that runs right through the middle of our downtown,” Campbell said. “So that’s part of the opportunity. The railroad bought way more land than they will ever need. There’s adjacent land that is part of our downtown, and they still own it. But they’re not using it for any purpose, so we are looking for ways to hopefully activate that. They’re going to be one of the biggest stakeholders that we will engage with.”
The next step in the process will be to begin preparations for all parties to meet.
“[GM] will come to Arlington and engage with the adjoining landowners and stakeholders and the city,” Campbell said. “And through that process, we’ll define how these dormant pieces of land can be used to serve the community.”
The grant will be used to redevelop a plot of land adjacent to the railroad on Mesquite and Center St., and construction on the project is scheduled to begin in the late fall of this year.
“Because of the history of the railroad being an integral part of why downtown Arlington even exists today, and then just walking around and looking at the opportunity and the challenges, we have a real need for connectivity,” Campbell said. “We have development happening on both sides of the railroad, including residential, entertainment, and our first professional office building, which is almost finished. So that’s why we decided on this development. It’s right here in the middle of our downtown, it’s dormant, and it’s exactly what the grant asked for.”
