Casa View shopping center will be getting some much-needed upgrades after the Dallas City Council agreed to match a $1 million investment from property owner Waymon Levell in the form of an economic development grant. What’s more, the main road outside the center is getting a diet, shrinking from six to four lanes in an effort to slow down traffic to make it safer for shoppers.
“Both the shopping center and the road project were my highest priority when I came into office,” Councilman Mark Clayton posted on his Facebook page. “The shopping center is the centerpiece of the Greater Casa View area and will be the focal point for its continued redevelopment.”
As we reported last week, the money will be used to improve the look and walkability of the center, including new sidewalks, overhangs, signage, lighting and parking. Clayton said the deal was an example of a public/private partnership done right.
Gus Thomasson will soon shrink to four lanes instead of fluctuating from four to six through Casa View.
The city will soon begin work on the intersection at Gus Thomasson and Ferguson Road. Currently, Gus Thomasson is four-lanes around Garland Road, before growing to six lanes around Ferguson and then dropping back down to four lanes near Materhorn Drive. After construction is completed later this year, the street will stay four-lanes throughout Casa View.
“It’ll slow down traffic and maybe improve the attractiveness of the shopping center,” says Mike Nurre, founder of the Greater Casa View Alliance and the “unofficial mayor of Casa View.”
Nurre was thrilled to see the road diet get the blessing of the city last year, which he says is the first major roadwork project in the neighborhood in years.
“We’ve been well ignored out here,” Nurre laughs.
When Clayton was elected in 2013, he rallied the somewhat-untapped support east of the lake, promising to better attend to the needs of constituents there. Nurre said he’s lived up to that vow, made apparent in this project.
“He made some promises and, by god, he came through,” Nurre says. “He did a lot more than any other council member has done [for Casa View], my wife says that and she’s lived in this neighborhood for 45 years.”
Clayton is again in campaign mode, fighting for re-election this May against political newcomer Arthur Adam.
