I’m going to have more on this in my October magazine column, but I wanted to make a few points now about the proposed $40 million apartment-retail complex at Gaston and Garland roads.
• One of the problems that developers have in dealing with our neighborhood is that they don’t understand the passionate attachment we have for it. They figure they can do whatever they want here, because they can do whatever they want in Frisco or Allen or even other parts of Dallas. So when they see that we pay attention, and that we’re concerned about what goes in our neighborhoods, they get confused. And confused developers usually turn into angry developers. See the failed Emerald Isle project for a perfect example of this. Gaston/Garland developer Zad Roumayo has apparently learned from many of his predecessors, and has gone out of his way to say all the right things.
• One of the ironies about Emerald Isle is that it was two years before its time. Propose it if and when this Gaston/Garland deal gets done, and a less ambitious Emerald Isle might have had a better chance of being approved. Wamre has written about this, and his words bear repeating: “Within 15 years, Garland Road will be unrecognizable from what it is now. It’s close to downtown, close to the lake, close to the Arboretum and close to retail and commercial areas. The land is relatively inexpensive. And people will want to live and work there.” When I talked to Roumayo, he used the same words to describe development on Garland Road.
• This means that a sensible, rational development at Gaston and Garland will set the tone for development up Garland Road. I don’t think anyone would object to that. It’s turning Garland Road into Uptown –- try driving McKinney between Lemmon and Maple at 5:30 p.m., and you’ll get the idea — that might make many of us crazy.
