Downtown Dallas is embarking on a transformation. If you work, live, play, or even commute through downtown Dallas, the changes in the coming years will impact you.
On Wednesday, interim city manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert sat down for a candid conversation at Moody Performance Hall to share some new insight on the projects and plans for a place that 15,000 people call home.
The "State of Downtown" is an annual gathering of Dallas's biggest stakeholders. It’s organized by the nonprofit Downtown Dallas, Inc., which is spearheading many of the projects, new parks, and other changes in downtown.
"I'm interviewing interim city manager Kim Tolbert, who's our chief partner at city hall, but I'm also going to be sharing the findings from our perception survey, which we do every two years," said Jennifer Scripps, CEO of Downtown Dallas, Inc. "So we go out and we talk to the community. We are a growing, vibrant, authentic neighborhood, but we want to know -- what do the people who live down here have to say?"
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Scripps said that the survey has revealed a few key details about the direction downtown is going.
Dallas is leading the nation as one of the top three cities for return to work. Office space is back in demand, and therefore, there is a demand for amenities for those workers in the downtown environment.
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Scripps said the survey also reveals a noticeable uptick in downtown residents' satisfaction. Four out of five are extremely satisfied with downtown life. Downtown is also leading the region in multimodal transit, where people commute around downtown in something other than a car.
"We really believe if you look at demographically, that's the way we'll be moving as a region and continuing to grow our services to daytime workers. Three out of four are in the office almost every day a week, per week, which is great and they want places to go to lunch, entertain clients, or have team events after hours,” Scripps said.
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DDI’s to-do list in the coming years includes adding more greenery, trees, and landscaping. Recently, about 20 acres of green space have been added so far.
There’s also a need for more residential developments as demand increases due to more people moving to North Texas. A couple of residential construction projects are underway right now.
There’s also a focus on other types of commuters than cars, such as buses, trains, walking, biking, and scooters. DDI is looking at a study to perhaps one day connect the Uptown trolley to the Bishop Arts trolley through downtown.
"We have a lot of those ingredients right now, but they will be better sewn together and connected in 10 years,” said Scripps. “So we still have a lot of surface parking lots. We can do better to add more pedestrian connections. More vibrant street front retail, cafes, and bars in more areas so that you get all of that together and say, ‘Gosh, that's the place I want to be.’”
There are also big, exciting projects like the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center expansion to connect downtown to the Cedars neighborhood and the revamp of the I-30 canyon.
"It allows us to redevelop pretty much the southwestern quadrant of downtown and to connect downtown better to the Cedars. And I think things like high-speed rail are more feasible right now than they've been in a while if we could connect with Houston on a high-speed rail link. That will come into the Cedars likely,” said Scripps.
The convention center project is steadily underway, with an estimated completion date sometime in 2029. Click here for more details.
DDI is also preparing the downtown area for the FIFA World Cup in 2026.
"We are going to be welcoming the entire world to Dallas. The city is hosting nine games. It's like nine Super Bowls and downtown is the logical place for people to stay,” said Scripps. “But to think that we're going to hear Portuguese, Spanish, French, German, and Dutch all over the streets of Dallas and welcoming people to all of our hotels, our restaurants, and our parks. Even if you can't get tickets to the game, They'd be able to go watch a watch party at one of our parks or the AT&T Discovery District. Getting the city ready to be on this global stage is something that we're really excited about and it'll be here before we know it.”
One of the biggest challenges is also addressing the homeless population in downtown.
"Right now, we've been working extremely in close partnership and extremely hard on helping our unsheltered neighbors. In partnership with the City of Dallas Office of Homeless Solutions and Housing Forward, we've made real strides in helping people get housed,” said Scripps. "But that will be something that I believe in a growing economy, downtown is going to continue to contend with."
Tolbert has been a longtime resident of downtown Dallas, which Scripps said is an exciting part of working with the city.
"She has a tremendous, decades-long experience in public services and brings all of that, plus she's a downtown resident, so how could it be any better?" said Scripps.
