Photography by Emil Lippe.

A 20-acre park surrounded by apartments, offices and stores. Events that bring together diverse populations. Autonomous transportation that moves people safely and efficiently.

These are a few of the visions for the 450-acre Dallas International District. But those are still years away.

Where others see empty parking lots, traces of demolition and the site of the Valley View Mall, stakeholders in this North Dallas development see potential, and lots of it.

Leading the project are Jaynie Schultz, the City Council member for District 11, and Suzanne Smith, the founder of consulting group Social Impact Architects, which has been helping shape plans and strategies.

Buy! Buy! Buy!

For over a year, Schultz has been holding office hours at the Prism Center. In late 2022, the building welcomed its first international trade office, the Trade Office of France. Talks with other groups about moving their offices to the center are ongoing.   

“It’s a first step in the direction of us continuing to get closer ties to those individual countries as well as those businesses that are popular in their countries and bringing them to the United States,” Smith says.

The Prism Center could also house offices for nonprofits and city departments, she adds.

Another property acquisition will allow Dallas ISD to open a school with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics. The school district plans to enroll around 900 students in pre-K through 12th grade. Its Construction Services department is still early in the programming and design process for the high-rise building at 5501 Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway, and as of publication, no other details were available. However, Smith says the Dallas International District is working with architects to determine if the property could have any other uses for the city.

Green space

For the first time, Dallas applied for an Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership grant, which is administered through the National Park Service. This program, targeted toward projects that will provide outdoor recreational activities, helps with the development of facilities and the acquisition of property for parks.

Texas Parks and Wildlife will review applications and make a recommendation to its national counterpart. Schultz says Dallas will know by the fall whether the grant will be approved, but as of publication, the application has received more than a dozen letters of support from individuals and groups including Rep. Colin Allred, the Dallas Regional Chamber and the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce.

If Dallas receives a grant, the city will acquire a 4-acre parcel that is currently a parking lot. Transforming a paved surface into a green space is exactly what the federal government wants to do, Schultz says.

Klyde Warren Park is about 3 acres. The park in the Dallas International District, envisioned to be similar to Chicago’s Millennium Park or New York’s Central Park, will be more than six times larger. It’s meant to serve the people who will live and work in the district and any visitors.

“As we’re positioning this whole area as the new regional downtown, that’s the key piece,” Schultz says.

Plus, it will help rectify the green space desert in North Dallas. Trust for Public Land has identified the future Dallas International District, the Galleria-Valley View area, as a very high priority area for new parks. Priority is assigned to areas outside of the 10-minute walk to a park, with the level of priority determined by population density, density of low-income households and people of color, community health, urban heat islands and pollution burden.

From left, Dev Rastogi, Jaynie Schultz and Suzanne Smith, discuss plans for future development in the conference room of AECOM in Dallas, Texas on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023. Photography by Emil T. Lippe.

In motion

The urban park is important for transportation plans coming from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, Smith says. The council has designated the Dallas International District as a transportation innovation zone. That, along with Dallas’ goals to become a smart city, means the district is the guinea pig for the latest transportation technology.

The plan is to have an automated transportation system shuttling people around the interior of the district, smart traffic signals and a connection to DART’s Silver Line all working together for safe, efficient movement.

Schultz says the district is collaborating with the city and Dallas County to improve Alpha Road and Preston Road. This year, construction will be ongoing to turn Montfort Drive into a complete street, a designation that refers to a roadway with wide sidewalks, plenty of landscaping and infrastructure to allow for a public transportation system. There’s an emphasis on slowing down vehicular traffic and increasing safety for pedestrians.

That’s the goal for the district overall, to keep cars on the borders and use automated transportation to move people within and to bus stops and parking areas. 

Social scene

Visions for the Dallas International District won’t be fully realized for years, but community activities are already happening there.

For example, Galleria Dallas, which was acquired by MetLife Insurance last year, is partnering with Texas’ European American Chamber of Commerce to hold “Experience Europe” in May.

And the Prism Center has hosted world night markets, showcasing food, music and art from different cultures. Schultz says they plan to have another night market this spring. In the fall, shortly before the State Fair of Texas, they want to have an international festival.

“What I’m hoping will happen with this festival is that it’ll become a taste of what it would be like to live there,” Schultz says.

From left, Suzanne Smith, Jaynie Schultz and Dev Rastogi, stand in the conference room of AECOM in Dallas, Texas on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023. Photography by Emil T. Lippe.

Tear down this wall

When demolition is involved, stories usually report Dallasites pleading for structures to be left alone. Not this time.

Headlines in November and December told of frustrated stakeholders waiting for the remnants of Valley View Mall to be torn down.

A recent squabble between the city and property owner Beck Ventures over the delayed demolition has been resolved, Schultz says. Crews are working on abating the asbetos, which should be completed by the end of March. The city is giving Beck Ventures until June 1 to complete demolition, though there could be a deadline extension to July 28 if there’s a provable reason to do so.

Beck will decide what is built in its place.

As for the rest of the district, neighbors should count on apartments being built or coming through the pipeline this year, Schultz says.

“You’ve got 400-plus disparate owners who’ve been doing their own thing for 40 years,” Schultz says. “Now, for the first time, we’re bringing them together, so they’re figuring out what that means and what that looks like.”