Commercial apartment developers have their eyes on the south side of the golden LBJ Freeway corridor, running between Preston Road to the west, and Hillcrest/Coit to the east. They aim to replace aging late 1970s-era office buildings — occupied most recently by Brinker International — with two seven-story apartment complexes totaling 420 apartments, or 57 per acre. This is upzoning in an area dominated by mostly single-family homes, many of them luxury. The nearly 7.5-acre property currently holds three black glass office complexes on the north side of Hillcrest Plaza Drive. They are adjacent to the new county government center and tax office, finished in 2018, at the intersection of Hillcrest and 635/LBJ.
The applicant is RD Investment Properties (also known as Related Group). For the increased density and height, RD is requesting a zoning change for a planned development district. The firm is represented by Jackson Walker. Skyline Pacific Properties, headquartered in San Francisco, is the current owner. Related Group has built and managed more than 100,000 condominiums and apartment residences. Their portfolio is impressive and includes high end, five-star high rise properties mostly across Florida. I have seen their St. Regis Residences in Miami, as well as their Ritz Carlton Residences in Tampa, both are luxury condominiums.
For this spot, Related Group plans luxury apartments. They are seeking neighborhood input and advocating transparency in the process. The company is sinking more than $200,000 into an LBJ corridor study to convince adjacent neighborhoods and stakeholders that the area just inside the LBJ corridor, nestled into an established neighborhood, needs density.
However, their initial application for the zoning change was unanimously denied by the city planning commission on Dec. 2, but they hope to come back.
Residents wonder whether North Dallas really needs more apartments, especially in this location, with Midtown’s soon-to-come 10,000 rental homes, food and entertainment options, 20-acre park and (eventually) a DART light rail connection down the road?
“With million dollar homes behind this, it’s like the developers just stumbled upon a pot of gold,” says Bruce Wilke, a stakeholder who resides in the Hillcrest Forest Neighborhood Association and is a former Dallas Plan Commissioner.
In what may be a first test of her brand new leadership, District 11 City Councilwoman Jaynie Schultz began polling those homeowners as part of a 635 Corridor Study. On Feb. 22, the process began. In a Zoom meeting, Schultz made it crystal clear that she is not, as many have said*, an advocate for apartments:
Next came a Town Hall meeting Monday, March 7. For both meetings, Schultz enlisted help from two consultants/urban planning firms to run the floor, which some residents say they found curious:
AECOM is a huge infrastructure consulting firm, which recently relocated its national headquarters from LA to Dallas. Clients include One World Trade Center and The Port of Los Angeles Waterfront, among others.
Rayo Planning is a young, progressive, urban planning group boasting female and minority leadership, that has been very active and effective in parts of South Dallas, including the battle of the horrific Shingle Mountain. The firm is also heavily invested in social justice causes and neighborhood determination: Rayo’s co-chairs are Jennifer Rangel and Evelyn Mayo
“It’s really just cruel that it’s taken them this long. We don’t know what clean-up means,” Evelyn Mayo, chair of Downwinders At Risk, said in September. “We don’t know when they are talking about it, and we don’t know how long this is going to take. So without that level of detail it’s just words.”
Brinker’s quiet, wooded, almost secluded office property is hardly a Shingle Mountain. Rayo also seriously underestimated how many would show up to the meeting in a small room at Churchill Recreation Center.
Note to Rayo: North Dallas Homeowners Show Up for Meetings
At least 75 turned up, but the room would only hold 49 by fire safety rules. Thus at least a third were turned away. Schultz says another meeting is planned for March 27 at 4:30 p.m., at King of Glory Church 6411 Freeway.
It was also unclear as to who exactly attended the meeting: There were no name-tags depicting addresses or neighborhoods.
From the start, Schultz made it clear this was exploratory mode: a collaborative process to determine what the stakeholders — property owners — want. Off the record, some homeowners have said Schultz is asking them if they might tolerate apartments.
Most property owners at this meeting said they do not want apartments. At one point, Schultz even asked, sounding a bit parental, “So we don’t want anything different? We only want the same?”
“There are very valid reasons for not wanting apartments on the south side LBJ Freeway,” said Wilke, president of the Hillcrest Forest Neighborhood Association. “58 of 60 emails I received were opposed to it.”
The buildings Related Group are looking to replace with apartments are zoned for a maximum height of 30 feet and are considered to be a relatively low impact use near single family homes, especially million dollar plus single family homes. Related Group wants seven stories.
“I don’t think any of those residents, when they bought their homes, thought there would be seven-story apartments behind them,” said one stakeholder.
The three Brinker buildings are currently unoccupied. However, with active leases still in place, the owners are covered until at least November.
Schultz heard from a slice of stakeholders who attended the meeting. Their objections, noted below, range from disturbing the tranquility of a highly-valued, residential single family neighborhood to more traffic and noise, to less security. One of the more interesting requests was for a sound wall barrier from LBJ.
Homeowners shared their concerns during the meeting:
Property values: Homeowners say apartments tend to lower nearby homes’ property values. Previously, a prospective apartment builder who was eyeing a set of offices on Hughes Lane, located midway between Preston Road and Hillcrest Road, tried to sell a plan for building apartments clustered to the freeway edge and place parking lots behind the buildings as a buffer. But homeowners retorted then that apartment parking lots can be noisy 24/7 and detrimental to nearby homes and its values.
Traffic: Apartments will bring more people and traffic to the area with the addition of approximately 800 new living units. This will force more traffic onto the side streets like Hughes Lane and Churchill Way, which would be objectionable to the neighborhood, residents in attendance said.
Noise: Hinke Schroen on Churchill Way, president of the Preston Citadel Neighborhood Association, said: “After 6 o’ clock, and on weekends, we feel we have our neighborhood back.” Offices prior to Covid operated mostly on 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. schedules; apartments operate 24/7.
Precedent: If the city says yes to apartments on one or two properties, the city will probably have to say yes to more, which could result in a solid apartment stretch from Hillcrest to Preston Roads, and the potential addition of 3,000 apartments to this corridor, homeowners estimated.
New Building Heights: The current commercial properties are zoned as maximum two-story neighborhood offices, a relatively low impact. Neighbors never dreamed tall office towers or restaurants would be neighbors, they say, adding it’s unfair to current homeowners to change the zoning.
Occupancies and crime: Stakeholders were concerned that high rental rates on a one-bedroom apartment could require residents to double up. Rents have risen 18.7 percent in Dallas this year and could require tenants earn incomes of at least $72,000 a year. Would extra cars parked in parking lots induce crime and car thefts, which have risen in Dallas and District 11?
This story will continue…
*Full disclosure: I ran against Jaynie Schultz for the District 11 City council seat she won in 2021.
