The city of Dallas is seeking to turn parking lots by six DART light-rail stations into transit-oriented developments.
The stations, all located south of Interstate 30, with the exception of Royal Lane station in northwest Dallas, include adjacent parking areas that have been deemed underutilized by the city. The city entered into a memorandum of understanding with Dallas Area Rapid Transit in November that allows the parcels to be marketed for development, according to city documents.
A request for proposals is being finalized by the Office of Economic Development and should be released to the development community before the end of the city’s fiscal year Sept. 30, according to city documents.
Each RFP will be customized per site, and the winning proposal will align with the city’s vision for that area, Assistant Director in the Office of Economic Development Kevin Spath said during an Aug. 1 briefing. Mixed-income housing is a prioritized use within the RFP, he said.
“We are requesting proposals for what the proposers think the market can bear,” Spath said. “If rezoning is required to accomplish the selected proposal, we will work with that selected proposer to expedite the rezoning process.”
If all goes well, the strategy could be applied to more DART stations, Mayor Pro Tem Chad West said. Ensuring that applicants are quickly ushered through the city’s permitting process is a crucial piece of this test run, he said.
“If we do a good job on these we may have a lot of interest in more of them,” he said. “These are parking lots we could convert into housing. We need it.”
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