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Lyda Hill gives nearly $120,000
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Turtle Creek Association president and CEO J.D. Trueblood admires Lauren Lewchuk’s new mural around the Lemmon Avenue bridge. (PHOTOS: TAMYTHA CAMERON
By Rachel Snyder
rachel.snyder@peoplenewspapers.com
The Turtle Creek corridor has seen plenty of activity recently – from installing a mural and lighting under the Lemmon Avenue bridge to new landscaping – and that’s before the addition of a 240-room Four Seasons high-rise.
The Four Seasons will go on a 3-acre site bounded by Cedar Springs Road and Dickason Avenue, being acquired from a Perot family enterprise.
The man with the plan for improving the Turtle Creek corridor in hopes of attracting new businesses like the Four Seasons, it could be said, is Turtle Creek Association CEO, J.D. Trueblood.
Turtle Creek Association is a nonprofit that advocates for the preservation, enhancement, and protection of the Turtle Creek corridor founded more than 35 years ago.
“We want to do everything we can to make sure that it’s attractive, clean, and safe so that we are attracting the right types of businesses and residents for the area,” Trueblood said.
The Turtle Creek Association had a master plan commissioned in 2003 that Trueblood described as “very aspirational” and came with a $50 million-$70 million price tag. A nearly $120,000 grant from Lyda Hill Philanthropies – the largest in the association’s history – will fund a master plan update to be completed this summer, in time for consideration in the city’s 2024 bond program. It will focus on the creek’s
Unofficially, it’s health (including bank stabilization, always been known enhancing the creek as Dallas’ front yard, flow, and addressing trash and pollution right? So, let’s clean issues), eliminating up our front yard. graffiti, restoring historic bridges, and J.D. Trueblood safety with additional patrols by off-duty officers and improved lighting. In the meantime, the association hired Aqua Clean to clean the creek, a nearly $4,000 per month undertaking, Trueblood said. “We want to keep this a vital part of Dallas,” Trueblood said. “Unofficially, it’s always been known as Dallas’ front yard, right? So, let’s clean up our front yard.”
Trueblood also hopes to make the Turtle Creek corridor a destination for art-loving Dallasites by creating art throughout the corridor.
To that end, the Turtle Creek Association commissioned artist Lauren Lewchuk, who recently completed a mural around the Lemmon Avenue bridge at Turtle Creek Boulevard. The area was formerly covered in graffiti. Trueblood said part of the grant from Lyda Hill Philanthropies also has already helped add lighting under the bridge.
Fourteen azalea beds were restored at the end of last year. The Turtle Creek Association paid for installing more than 5,000 azalea bushes in collaboration with the Dallas Park and Recreation Department.
