Dallas suburbs embracing transit-oriented development: Utilizing DART system
“And, based on the success of its downtown station, the city is confident that it can achieve that goal. Fifteen years ago, the area around 15th Street and K Avenue was a sleepy collection of craft shops. Then word came that DART planned to build a train stop in the area. The city updated infrastructure, expanded a park and partnered with a developer to build apartments with retail on the ground floor.
The station was completed in 2002, and the area has boomed. It is bustling with restaurants, art galleries and more than 1,000 apartments.
“I think downtown is a good case study of how to leverage transit as an economic development tool,” said Plano Planning Director Phyllis Jarrell. “It is a good case study of how a maturing suburban community can revitalize.”
Richardson hopes to emulate that success at its southernmost stations. Redevelopment has already begun around the Spring Valley Road stop, where the city updated the roads and sewer lines and built a park. Brick Row, an apartment complex with ground-floor retail, has opened. Patio homes are under construction nearby.
Johnson, the Richardson city manager, said similar development will begin at the Arapaho Road station “very soon.”
Both cities’ leaders say they harbor no plans of turning all areas into dense neighborhoods. Most of Richardson and Plano will remain suburban, they say. But they also recognize that only 8 percent of Plano and 10 percent of Richardson remains undeveloped, and most of that is being saved for major economic development opportunities.”
Dietrichson, Matt. Housing Tomorrow 11 February 2013.