{"id":372,"date":"2017-05-16T19:51:11","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T19:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/?p=372"},"modified":"2017-05-24T16:16:34","modified_gmt":"2017-05-24T16:16:34","slug":"in-west-dallas-development-has-been-booming-for-years-and-its-not-slowing-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/no-place\/2017\/05\/16\/in-west-dallas-development-has-been-booming-for-years-and-its-not-slowing-down\/","title":{"rendered":"West Dallas Has Been Booming For Years And It’s Not Slowing Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Dallas has been an afterthought for the better part of a century \u2014 today it\u2019s booming. The last four years have been a construction frenzy of new restaurants and upscale apartments. Some of the oldest residents don\u2019t recognize the place. And development in the area is just getting started.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022 The latest:<\/strong> Landlord offers to sell rental homes to longtime residents; judge extends move-out deadline<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The ‘New’ West Dallas<\/h5>\n

Roll down the window in West Dallas, and there\u2019s no escaping the cacophony of construction.\u00a0Excavators and forklifts are ubiquitous, carving out space for development and hoisting the bones of new apartments.<\/p>\n

Like everything else near the bridge, the Trinity Groves administrative offices are under construction, too. An edgy concept bar is in the works on the first floor \u2014 one that will require an app for entry and help young professionals network.<\/p>\n

\"Phil<\/p>\n

Phil Romano is the founder of Trinity Groves. Photo\/Courtney Collins<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Trinity Groves founder and restaurant titan Phil Romano sketches out the scenario: Say you\u2019re looking for a patent attorney.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust press attorneys and [the app] tells me all the attorneys in there; it tells me all the attorneys that belong to it, like our own private Craigslist, our own private Facebook,\u201d Romano says.<\/p>\n

Romano and his partners own 70 acres in West Dallas. The restaurant incubator is theirs and they have pretty much all the land where newly built and under-construction apartments sit. Luxury hotels and multi-story office buildings are down the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf everything pans out right, this is going be the most recognizable destination in Dallas,” Romano says. “Where are you? We\u2019re on the other side of the bridge. What bridge? … Point up in the air and you can see it.”<\/p>\n

The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge is the beacon of the \u201cnew\u201d West Dallas. At first, critics rolled their eyes, nicknaming it “The Bridge To Nowhere.”<\/p>\n

The building boom on the other side has silenced the scoff.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A view of the Margaret Hunt Hill bridge from a West Dallas neighborhood. Photo\/Allison V. Smith<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘It’s A Different Culture Now’<\/h5>\n

The new development butts up against aging homes, and families who\u2019ve lived there for decades.<\/p>\n

Romano thinks that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, I think it\u2019s cleaned up the area for them. We hire as many as they want to work here; that\u2019s no problem,” Romano says. “Even some of these neighbors down here next to us, the people that own their own buildings, we go down there and fix their porches, cut their grass, the older people. We help them out \u2014 they\u2019re our neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ronnie<\/p>\n

Ronnie Mestas. Photo\/Jessica Diaz-Hurtado<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

One of those neighbors is Ronnie Mestas, a community leader who grew up in West Dallas. He sees what\u2019s happening \u2014 the wave of new restaurants, open air patios, sleek studio apartments. He hopes residents won\u2019t fight the tide.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a different culture now, and it doesn\u2019t mean that you have to be afraid of it or run from it,” he says. “Learn from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He likes cleaner streets and nicer sidewalks. He appreciates the vacant lots now humming with construction activity. He admires newer homes popping up between weathered rent houses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new ones being built are really nice and they\u2019re helping us to, I guess, just make our neighborhood kind of blend in with what\u2019s coming,” Mestas says. “Because you go up down this street, Rutz Street, has the most HMK homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those HMK homes are central to a conflict that\u2019s been building for months. Families living in these homes pay\u00a0as\u00a0little as $300 a month in rent. Mestas is worried about them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose that have, have. And those that have not, have not,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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  • \"West\n
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    An older home shares the street with the The Austin at Trinity Green apartments under construction. Photo\/Allison V. Smith<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  • \"The\n
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    A view of The Austin at Trinity Green under construction off Singleton Boulevard. Photo\/Allison V. Smith<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  • \"West\n
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    A home on Sylvan Boulevard and Duluth Street. Photo\/Allison V. Smith<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
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    An architectural rendering of West Dallas that includes future plans for hotels and office buildings. This rendering is from the Trinity Groves corporate office. Photo\/Courtney Collins<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n