The Standard Shoreline multifamily project attracted a lot of attention back in 2022 when it became one of the first proposals to be approved under the Dallas Public Facility Corporation financing structure.
Residents in East Dallas’ Lochwood Neighborhood Association raised concerns about what they called a 75-year tax break. They were worried that the 60-foot height would allow tenants to peep into their backyards. They raised concerns about traffic.
They acknowledged a need for affordable housing but said the project doesn’t provide much-needed missing middle housing.
Developers with Ojala Holdings responded. They changed the plan.
The City Plan Commission approved it, and in early November, the Dallas City Council unanimously followed suit.
Then, for several months, nothing happened.
Standard Shoreline Moves Forward
We heard from neighbors recently that plans for the project may have stalled. The property on Garland Road that Ojala agreed to purchase from Shoreline City Church was still holding Sunday services until Oct. 1, when a new temporary campus in Frisco opened.
Ojala Holdings’ website also has been down for months.
daltxrealestate.com reached out to Ojala partner Matthew Vruggink with several questions. He responded only that they have not yet closed on the land and are waiting on permits from the City of Dallas.
Thomas Buck, communications chair for the Lochwood Neighborhood Association, said he’s heard from a credible source that developers plan to break ground late this year or in early 2024.
LNA president Scott Robson said he’s still hoping for divine intervention on the church property.
“Lochwood and area neighborhoods continue to hope for our own miracle — that the existing, multimillion-dollar renovated, state-of-the-art, 66-year-old sanctuary on Garland Road will not be desecrated by the money men at Ojala but will be preserved and utilized for what it has been purposed,” Robson told daltxrealestate.com.
Shoreline City Church is “laser-focused” on raising $5 million to complete renovations at the former Highland Oaks Church of Christ facility on Walnut Hill Lane with the goal of moving into the new facility in March 2024, Robson added.
District 9 Councilwoman Paula Blackmon did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
Plan Commissioner Michael Jung said he didn’t have anything to add that hadn’t already been said. He was heavily involved in the process and negotiated changes with the developer.
Jung told daltxrealestate.com on Thursday that he’s stepping down from the CPC “imminently, as soon as my successor is nominated and confirmed” and will serve on the city’s Charter Review Commission.
A Public Facility Corporation Project
The Standard Shoreline project went through several iterations and compromises, and here’s where it landed.
Ojala is planning a 300-unit, four-story apartment complex with townhomes, an art park, and buffering to protect the privacy of surrounding neighborhoods. The planned height is 60 feet.
“After hearing that the traffic will not filter into the neighborhood and could be improved on Garland Road, the stormwater will be contained on the property, and everything has been done to protect the privacy of those on Yorkmont [Circle] and close by, I feel there is no reason to deny this zoning case,” Blackmon said in the Nov. 9 council meeting when the development was approved. “In addition, a good-neighbor agreement is in place to protect the quality of life.”
Through the Public Facility Corporation model, the city’s PFC leases tax-exempt land to a developer for 75 years in exchange for at least 50 percent of the units being offered to tenants earning less than 80 percent of the area median income. The Shoreline project proposes that 51 percent of its units will meet the affordable criteria.
Though the property will not contribute to the tax rolls for a long period, it’s not a loss considering that, as a church, it wasn’t contributing to the tax base anyway.
