What is holding back the Dallas International District?

What is happening with the Dallas International District?

Valley View Mall. The Galleria District. Midtown. The Dallas International District.

A fire hazard. A concrete wasteland. A ghost town. Untapped potential.

There’s no shortage of names for the 450-acre stretch bordered by Preston Road, Spring Valley Road, the Dallas North Tollway and Interstate 635. But what there is a shortage of, after more than a decade of planning, is a timeline for completion.

Once envisioned as a vibrant cultural and commercial hub, the Dallas International District today remains mostly a collection of unrealized dreams and partially finished projects. While significant progress has been made in some areas, others are much slower to provide a timeline or visible progress.

From Promise to Parking Lot

The ’60s and early ’70s was a renaissance of shopping centers. The post-war baby boom brought mass migration to the suburbs, which needed town centers aside from downtown areas. Preston Forest Shopping Center opened in 1960. Medallion Center in 1963. NorthPark Center in 1965. Oak Cliff’s RedBird Mall opened in 1975.

But the story of the Dallas International District begins in 1973 with the opening of Valley View Center. Nine years later, Galleria Dallas arrived just next door, bringing a newer shopping experience with major retailers and an indoor ice rink.

The Galleria’s recognizable brand, abundance of activities and regular updates from mall ownership juxtaposed with Valley View Center (formerly Valley View Mall), which changed ownership half a dozen times. The Galleria thrived. Valley View eventually withered, closing its doors in 2015.

That same year, the City of Dallas launched the Valley View-Galleria Area Plan and designated a tax increment finance (TIF) district to incentivize redevelopment. The area’s challenges were laid bare in the plan: outdated commercial properties, unusable parking lots, high vacancy rates, and no parks or green space.

To combat these issues, the city proposed a bold vision — an 18-acre central park, a walkable street grid, and nine mixed-use “subdistricts” with housing, offices, retail and entertainment.

Among the planned zones were the Midtown Center Core — a pedestrian-friendly dining and retail center — and Midtown Green, which would bring mid- and high-rise residential buildings around the new park. The Peterson Lane extension would connect to Preston Road, and a signature tower was anticipated at the LBJ Gateway.

The idea was ambitious — and even community-centered, a rarity in major development plans. But nearly a decade later, despite progress in some areas, the Valley View Mall site remains stalled.

The Mall is Gone — So What’s Left?

In 2023, the long-abandoned Valley View Mall building was finally torn down — but not before a fire injured several Dallas firefighters. The site is now an empty lot. Developers cite multiple ownerships and say they’re waiting for more commitment from the City of Dallas. City officials, in turn, have been slow to provide meaningful funding.

One tangible sign of progress is the nearly completed Montfort Drive reconstruction. The project aims to improve walkability and bike access, a key component of the original plan. And in March, the City acquired a park parcel.

The district has also been named a regional transportation innovation zone, winning a $10 million grant to plan an automated transit system. But there are no concrete plans or visuals for what that system will be or when it might launch.

“International” in Name — and a Bit in Practice

In an effort to live up to its new name, the City of Dallas purchased the Prism Center, which now hosts the European American Chamber of Commerce, the French Trade Office and other international groups. The space is also home to occasional pop-up events such as Europe Day and night markets.

Why “international” to begin with? The development was intended to serve the diverse population surrounding the area, with only 31% identifying as white, 21% two or more races and 31% ‘other’ races, based on available census data.

But outside of the Prism Center, the international vision is sparse. Other than about half a dozen Mexican or Latin restaurants, international doesn’t seem to frame the area itself either.

The park remains unbuilt. Few of the planned subdistricts have taken form.

What About the School?

One of the more unique pieces of the plan was a vertical STEAM school — the only one in the area — with a public library shared between the City of Dallas and Dallas ISD. It was supposed to open in 2025. But choice school applications for the 2025–2026 school year have already closed, and no school in the Valley View-Galleria area is listed.

“The timing is more likely to be (20)26 or (the 20)26 school year,” District 11 Council member Jaynie Schultz says.

Where Things Stand Now

Today, the district includes the Galleria Dallas Mall, the AC Hotel Dallas, a Target, fast food chains, diverse restaurants, dozens of apartment complexes, strip malls and the Prism Center. And, of course, a vast lot where Valley View Mall once stood.

After more than a decade, the Dallas International District has held night markets, broken some sidewalks for better walkways and torn down a mall. That’s about it.

Schultz has been one of, if not the, largest supporter of this project for years. But she’s not seeking a second term, and for now, we aren’t sure who will replace her.

“Throughout my tenure as council member for District 11, I have seen this project go from being an ambitious concept to being a reality in progress. With the recent City Council approval of the Montfort parcel for the Central Park, the near completion of the reconstruction of Montfort Road, the secured 2024 bond funds for economic development, two new apartment buildings, future road improvements to Montfort by the City of Addison, and the support of my constituents and the residents themselves, the Dallas International District is on a trajectory of steady progress, and this will continue for years beyond my time in office. The Dallas International District is a visionary project which will give Dallas an opportunity to compete with the northern suburbs for large development and international investment in a place designed to create a sense of community, where everyone from all incomes and backgrounds can flourish. The people of Dallas deserve this, and I am proud to have ensured a better future for the city, which has given so much to me,” Schultz says.

A runoff will take place on June 7 between Jeff Kitner and Bill Roth, who have quite opposing views. Roth opposes additional multifamily housing. Kitner says multifamily housing in some areas is appropriate.

“The International District is our best opportunity for redevelopment and growing the tax base in District 11 and will be high priority for me as the council member. I am pleased that in 2024 the voters approved $20 million for park land acquisition funding in this area, and the city’s acquisition of park land will help serve as a catalyst for private development in the area,” Kitner says. “Because of my work on the City’s Park and Recreation Board, I am particularly excited about this park-oriented development. We have seen tremendous success with park-oriented development before in the district at Hillcrest Village Green Park, and this project will be at a much larger scale. Additionally, it was good to see that the different property owners of the old Valley View mall area site are coming together to sell to one master developer, and I look forward to working with the new purchaser once the property is sold.”

Bill Roth did not respond to a request for comment.

The Valley View site is for sale, though an announcement of a purchase has not yet been made. Representatives of the sale did not respond to a request for comment.

With a lack of news on the remaining, albeit key, pieces of the project, everyone in and around District 11 is asking the same question:

What is happening with the Dallas International District?

More importantly, will the big dreams of a development made for its residents actually be completed at all?