Photography by Sam Gillespie.
Casa View Court, a “pocket neighborhood” of 60 homes, is proposed for the current location of Garland Road Thrift Store, just off the southeast corner of Garland Road and Peavy Road.
Larkspur Capital, fresh off its redo of Gaston Tower at Gaston and La Vista, has submitted a request to the City of Dallas to change the current zoning from community retail to a planned development district for MF-2(A) uses.
The “pocket neighborhood“ concept is new to East Dallas. The site plan shows a combination of structures with one, two and five units combining single family, duplex and apartment living in one unique neighborhood. Units will range from 1,100 to 1,400 square feet. The buildings with one and two units will have covered garage parking. Four of the five unit structures have stoops directly facing Garland Road with surface parking behind the buildings. The center of the site will be a community lawn with grills, benches, play areas and shade coverings.
Carl Anderson, president of Larkspur, says new development along Garland has currently stopped at Peavy, and this project is a natural extension. He sees young families moving into Casa Linda, Casa View Oaks and Casa View Haven and a “cool retail vibe” with GAPCo and Goodfriend close by.
The Greater Casa View Alliance, a group of East Dallas neighborhoods, supports Casa View Court.
“Several leaders of the various Casa View neighborhoods met with Larkspur Capital representative Rob Baldwin to go over the potential plans, and from what we saw, we are very excited,” said Tami Beck Fowler of Casa View Haven along with Lee Barron (Braeburn Glen), Brad Boiling (Alger Park/Ash Creek) and Mike Nurre (Casa View Oaks).
“We’ve found that it’s extremely rare that you find such an agreement across the board for new development,” she said. “We are so pleased that the developers are eager to hear from and work with us on their vision for this location. This project is yet another stepping stone in the continual transformation of the Casa View area.”
The Garland Road Thrift store has been open for decades, replacing a Handy Dan hardware store in the late 1970s. It’s part of the Prime Thrift chain with San Antonio origins in 1951. Started to support the American veteran, Prime Thrift has 13 other location in the Southwest and mid-Atlantic regions. There is currently another Dallas store at 4640 S. Second Ave. Neighborhood chatter is that Prime Thrift is looking for another location in East Dallas.
More improvements are planned for the area. One-half block south of Casa View Court is Reinhardt Elementary. The 2020 DISD bond election will bring new air conditioning, new plumbing, new paint, new lighting, a new security system, new signage and new landscaping to the neighborhood school. A Cool School park was just opened at Reinhardt in May.
The rezone request for Casa View Court is on the Aug. 5 City Plan Commission agenda.
