It was interesting to meet with the City of Dallas. Firstly, we met with the director of the parks department, Paul Dyer, who wields much more power than you would initially think when considering the title he carries. His department is over the entire Dallas county parks, including white rock lake, all of the downtown parks and numerous other ones scattered throughout the city.
Eminent domain is one of the tools that he uses to construct new parks according to the master plan that they have invested in. There is a plan for the CBD and another for the city in general. A recent anomaly in the process is a park off of main street where the city has forced the sale of a parking site. The problem comes in where they have delayed the development to coincide with the planting season for the trees in the park. They have managed to gain $40k per month in revenues off the site in the mean time as it continues to operate. The city is not supposed to use eminent domain to raise funds so this is a source of concern for the prior owner.
If your property is too expensive for the city to afford, they will not be able to take it, an incentive to invest in more affluent areas if ever I heard one.
One project that has been launched to raise the value of the land adjacent to the parks is the new bridge park over Woodall Rodgers, a massive, one of a kind park that will span 6 acres of space, and include soil that is 4ft deep, allowing trees and larger plants to thrive. This will be a true park, the real impact of which will be to connect uptown and downtown into one larger area.
Mayor Tom Leppart was kind enough to pose for a photo with us after the time spent in the board room. He is very positive about Dallas's position in the nation with regards to growth, and green building standards. He also mentioned opportunities in the south of Dallas in areas that have traditionally been in the affordable housing price range.
Dallas is a changing city with the new trinity river project; a new bridge connecting the west side of Dallas with the CBD, the Calatrava Bridge; the University of North Texas building a new campus in the south, creating opportunity for a college town; and a growing population.
The Mayor is very progressive with these incentive and other development programs as he was the CEO of one of the larger building companies in the U.S. prior to his current office. He has an intimate understanding of the process and challenges that developers face day to day, and has taken steps to make the process easier and faster.
He was whisked away after his photo op, off to change the city for the better.
Teresa O'Donald, the director of sustainable development and construction came with many interesting ideas about the city's homeless, the economic future of the northern parts of Dallas and the contrast between responsible owners and irresponsible ones.
She mentioned the concept of "regional fair share" something which she feels the other cities' are lagging on. Many of the other cities solution to the homeless in their area is to send them to Dallas. This approach has been used recently in Hawaii with a controversial decision to provide one way air tickets to homeless people to Los Angeles. The cities around Dallas's approach to this is to limit low cost public transportation to their areas, thereby making it very hard for homeless to move around.
The future for Dallas is in redevelopment. The City has encouraged owners of vacant buildings to sell through a vigorous process of code enforcement, which typically carries a high cost. There are 40 vacant buildings downtown, 3 of which have sold under this policy. They hope to have these buildings redeveloped and offer numerous incentives.
These incentives include, Tax Increment Financing districts, Municipal Management Districts, Historic Tax Credits, Tax Abatement and others.
One innovative method of raising funds in the current economic climate is the introduction of EB-5 visa process. Traditionally this visa was one where an investor could invest $1m dollars and gain a green card. Requirements include creating 10 sustainable American jobs within 2 1/2 years. They now have reduced the investment rate to $500k per family, and have appointed a fund manager to expedite the process.
Karl Zavitkovsky is the director over this process and travels to Asia often seeking new investors for the program. The program pays back the $500k to the investor over 7 years, and is flexible in how the money is used, as equity, debt, secondary debt etc.
David Whitley is a city designer who is helping execute the new paradigm of "good design paves the way for the future." The City has shifted its focus toward design as an attraction to both commercial and residential owners and tenants in the CBD.
The City have a grand view of Dallas, and believe that we are the best city in the region, the most forward thinking in terms of green development and the best designed city. Holding 5 of the 10 top cites after the recession, this view is understandable.
Paul Dyer
David Whitley
Ms. Theresa O’Donnell
City Hall
No comments:
Post a Comment