In our neighborhood, there’s debate around tearing down older, smaller homes to build newer, bigger ones in their place. There’s not much-undeveloped land close to the heart of our city. But recently, other kinds of construction, specifically townhomes and pocket neighborhoods, have been appearing. Here are a few ongoing residential developments in East Dallas.
Lakeside living:
Construction is underway at the Lakeside project off Gaston Avenue.
In 2020, the development at the former Edge at White Rock site was known as Eastside Trail and included 127 single-family units for sale, with 45 flats and 82 townhomes. Then it was renamed to Connecticut at White Rock. Now, it’s called Lakeside.
There are plans to build 107 townhomes at Lakeside, which is sandwiched between the Winsted at White Rock apartments and Arboretum Village shopping center. The Santa Fe Trail runs near the eastern edge of the property.
Phase One will include 44 townhomes priced at the mid-$400,000s to the mid-$600,000s. The first homes will be available this fall.
Residents will have pocket parks for green space, and representatives from the real estate groups marketing the homes told The Advocate that the mature trees at the 5-acre site are expected to remain.
Get in the grove:
Reporting by Sam Gillespie
Highland Grove is a community of 23 single-family homes planned for a former mobile home park on a 4.16-acre site.
The development was met with pushback from neighbors who complained about plans to remove trees and build in a floodplain, as well as potential parking issues in nearby driveways and along the shared private drive.
Jim Moore, the developer, initially applied for a rezoning of the property from single-family to a planned development district. That would allow for 26 homes, four more than allowed in its single-family zoning.
After negotiations, Moore agreed to limit the number of planned homes to 23.
At a City Council meeting, District 9 City Council member Paula Blackmon, whose district includes the property near Highland Road and Barbaree Boulevard, motioned to approve the rezoning with a stipulation that the garage doors be set back 20 feet from the sidewalk so cars could park in driveways. She also noted that Plan Commissioner Michael Jung had worked with the developer to identify which trees needed to be saved.
Homes will range in size from 2,000-4,000 square feet and are expected to be priced between $675,000 and $1 million. The residences are planned to be available next year.
Retail to residential:
The development on the former Garland Road Thrift Store site is planned to have 56 units.
Initially called Casa View Court, it was approved by the City Plan Commission and proceeded to the City Council, where it was approved in March.
Of the 56 units, there will be duplexes, free-standing residences and four six-plexes. Two-story homes, each with a private backyard, will line the perimeter. And the three-story structures will be in the middle of the property, surrounding a community pool.
The developer of the project, Larkspur Capital, also worked on the Faulkner Tower in Lakewood.
“In our view, this is a really good fit,” Carl Anderson of Larkspur Capital said at a January neighborhood meeting. “It’s pretty consistent with the Garland Road Vision Study. It doesn’t overlap perfectly, but it basically called for this section to be high-density residential.”
Some neighbors were concerned about potential traffic issues that could result from this development. But Christy Lambeth, a traffic engineer, said during the peak morning hours, about 30 vehicles are expected to leave the community in a one-hour period. In the peak evening hours, the same amount of vehicles are expected to enter in a one-hour period.
Lambeth also compared the traffic flow to that of a retail or restaurant development, which would have about five times the amount of traffic expected for this pocket neighborhood.
Bonus property:
Construction has started on Alexan Cathedral Arts, a 384-unit apartment complex from developer Trammell Crow Residential. Criticism was raised earlier this year when workers clear-cut over a dozen live oak trees on the Ross Avenue property near St. Matthew’s Cathedral.
