TOWN CENTER TIPPING POINT BY THE NUMBERS

$3.4 MILLION for streets, bridgework and thoroughfare assistance (Dallas County)

$5.2 MILLION for transit, pedestrian and bicycle connectivity and thoroughfare work (North Texas Council of Governments)

$4.7 MILLION

Infrastructure improvements, (City of Dallas 2006 Bond election)

$10 MILLION

DART station and rail

$23.3 MILLION total public sector investment as of 2011

Abrams and Walnut Hill were beyond repair, better razed than improved.

The first committed developer, Prescott Realty, realized they couldn’t afford it alone. To lay the economic groundwork for the ambitious town center project, the City of Dallas created the Skillman Corridor TIF in 2005, which funnels incremental property tax dollars above a base from neighborhood commercial property owners into improvement projects identified by the city. The city designated 40 percent of the Skillman TIF to the town center — a total of $23 million — but reimbursement was tied to work completion.

Prescott’s commitment, outlined in a 2007 development agreement, was to build a dense, urban, walkable project including parking structures to accommodate shoppers and diners patronizing its 280,000 square feet of retail, those liv- ing in the 1,719 residential units and others using the 25,000 square feet of office space or 20 acres of parks and trails.

The master plan had the look of a transitoriented development, and a successful one would rely heavily on the construction of a DART rail station.

Enter Jerry Allen. Before replacing Blaydes on the city council, lifetime Lake Highlands resident Allen served on DART’s board of directors, where he championed the center’s DART station that was completed in 2010, the first infill station along an existing line in DART’s history, at an expense of $10 million. One irony is that the station was built at the same time the surrounding area lost thousands of potential riders when 1,300 apartment units were demolished to make room for the proposed town center. (See below for an illustration of Lake Highlands DART usage compared to local DART rail stations.)