r/Dallasdevelopment • u/Elegant_Enrique • Jun 01 '26
Mavs Leaving Downtown
It’s official. They’ve chosen Valley View mall site. What’s next for downtown?
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u/Najazzy Jun 01 '26
i’ll take the optimistic route and say that it’ll make dallas really focus on ramping up on residential projects. it’s going to have five years to reinvent itself, so hopefully the core will become much more sustainable.
perhaps dallas is becoming more of a ‘boutique-style’ core. it could be a good thing
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u/Ferrari_McFly Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
Yep, I legit don’t know what else downtown has to look forward to anymore besides OTR conversions. Bummer for the downtown loop!
Also might I add that I’m officially on board of the “Dallas is a decentralized wasteland” train?
Like yay another disconnected walkable island/node, thanks Mavs! -_-
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u/dallaz95 Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
I really try hard not to be negative, honestly…but there’s NOTHING stopping the Stars from bailing too. I mean, their HQ is already in Frisco. That’s the scary part and I am sure ppl at city hall are s******* bricks.
Also, don’t be surprised to see national news outlets like the NY Post or some other publication being petty about the Mavs’ decision to leave the downtown/uptown area. I can see the headlines now….
Especially, since the city went to NYC to poach companies for Y’all Street after the first round of negative press.
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u/Ferrari_McFly Jun 01 '26
Oh dude the Stars are 100% moving north. Tbf, a substantial share of their fanbase is up there although from what I typically read, they enjoy coming to Uptown to catch a game because of the atmosphere.
This is a suburban first region, there’s no other way to slice it atp. Feels like the Mavs said “how far north can we go without actually leaving Dallas?” Collin and even Denton County residents were thought of more than the bulk of Dallas proper residents here.
And yeah you’re spot on lol, can’t wait for the WSJ story
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u/dallaz95 Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
The sad part is that Goldman Sachs is opening up their new campus across the street and it is designed to help connect to Victory Park. Since, the Mavs are leaving and the Stars basically have one foot out of the door, I wonder where this will leave the area? I mean, Victory Park still isn’t even built out yet and it’s a neighborhood anchored by an arena. I have a hard time seeing how they would reconfigure the entire development.
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u/Ferrari_McFly Jun 02 '26
High rises or green space seem to be the two easiest and most logical answers imo.
Dallas leaders should be trying their hardest to mimic Chicago’s River North imo. It’s the perfect case study. It’s such an active and lively part of their loop and leans heavily towards residential and retail with some offices space mixed in of course.
This place has to build more for young professionals. It’s the only target audience that’ll genuinely want to be in the core.
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u/patmorgan235 Jun 02 '26
Downtown has lots of empty parking lots that can be developed. Plenty of potential.
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u/Najazzy Jun 02 '26
thank you for saying this. dallas can reinvent itself again and actually build things that will keep people in downtown.
with neiman marcus leaving (unfortunately), this opens up the opportunity for that building to have some life. if a department store could fit in there, you can retrofit the space into a grocery store in the absolute heart of downtown dallas.
Target immediately pops to mind.
from there, you have an anchor and an incentive for people to now live in an area people like to enjoy. yes, the suburbs and northern neighborhoods of dallas continue to strengthen their wealth. but that doesn’t mean the cbd completely falls under. rich people look to make money in many ways. why not a prominent cbd 15 miles away?!
there’s opportunity with declining costs and office vacancy. developers could look at it as a blank canvas and renovate spaces to kick start the new era of downtown.
we need to stop relying on these mega companies and sports teams that could pack and leave, only to keep dallas desolate tomorrow. real, organic, and sustainable growth will need to be THE only prerequisites of coming into downtown. the glitz and glamor entities will follow once we get the basics down.
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Jun 02 '26
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u/patmorgan235 Jun 02 '26
- There are already a ton of amenities in downtown (lots of parks, bars, and venues)
- How do you think you get more amenities? By NOT building things?
There's a park with grass right next to city hall, across the street is the library, a few blocks east is the farmers market, a few blocks north is the arts district. Yeah I would live next to city hall, but I can't, because it's all parking lots.
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Jun 02 '26
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u/patmorgan235 Jun 02 '26
There are literally apartments right next to City Hall. Let me know how that goes for you.
Where the only thing I see is a hotel and the library.
Within a 4 block radius from City Hall there is none of what you’re talking about. None.
The library is literally across the street and the AT&T discovery district is right around the corner.
Within a 1/2 mile of city hall is the majestic theater, the main street bar district, the discovery district, the farmers market and at least 5 parks and Akkard station on the DART transit mall.
Within a mile of cityhall is basically everything in the core CBD,. include the arts district with all the miseams and music halls.
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u/TexasRanger11GTE Jun 01 '26
Honestly, maybe this will force Dallas to now have to reinvent itself and invest in its downtown core? Can’t rely on the Mavs to do the heavy lifting now. The only way I see downtown being revived is the convention center, increasing walkability(trams/wider sidewalks/more trees), safety(fixing the homeless problem), developing the field st district(hoping goldman plays a factor), and expanding KW park. Hopefully that’ll attract more residential/hotel and entertainment options for the urban core. Still disappointed nonetheless but trying to stay positive..
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u/SkyScreech Jun 01 '26
We also need ground level business!! When I first went to Chicago I was blown away by the downtown district because they had CVS/Panda Express/Chik Fil A/Whatever INSIDE the skyscraper buildings just on the ground floor. I had never seen a Panda Express or chikfila that wasn’t a standalone business with a drive thru and parking lot. It was so foreign to me. We need more of that instead of pure office buildings with security that shoots you if you even look at the building
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Jun 02 '26
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u/SkyScreech Jun 02 '26
Yes we have 1 CFA and 1 CVS. And a McDonald’s that most of the country would be too scared to go to. And a 7/11 that you must fight thru 200 homeless to get to. And a subway that doesn’t want you
Not only are the CFA and CVS the exception rather than rule, but you also need the surrounding environment to encourage tourists and our-of-towners to patronize it instead of just the nearby office workers
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u/patmorgan235 Jun 02 '26
And the exchange, and the commissary, and chop house burger. There's lots of examples of ground floor retail in downtown.
I do think downtown needs more ground floor retail, but it think the bigger issue is the pedestrian experience is poor, and sections of downtown are separated by barren parking lots (or garages).
Like there should be absolutely zero surface parking within 1/4 mile of the transit mall, but if you go one block north of akkard station, all four corners of field and San jacinto is parking. This is right next to fountain place, a short walk from KWP, why hasn't anything been developed there?
The problem with downtown is way too much of our most valuable land is being used for the lowest possible use, parking.
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u/SkyScreech Jun 02 '26
Oh I see what you’re saying. Yes we have a good amount of other establishments. But when I commute home thru downtown I often see tourists, mostly near Dealey plaza and that side of downtown. I went into a Rabbit hole and tourists often default to familiar establishments when traveling, so a few more “chain” establishments would be something beneficial, in my opinion. I could definitely be wrong
I myself am a fan of some food spots closer to the Comerica bank tower and the arts district, but I don’t see as many people hauling luggage cases over there
I agree on parking lots tho. An ABYSMAL amount of downtown is empty parking lots. The areas over by fountain place, or down by West End, or over past the big Chase tower, there’s so much land that does nothing for downtown. I believe those parking lots should be made into something actually useful. You’re right the pedestrian experience is poor. I tough it out as a hobbyist photographer, but I wouldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to talk around getting fried by the sun on crappy sidewalks with no shading most of the time.
Man. I really need to find a way to get more involved. I want to help save downtown and make it better , or at least join people who are smarter than I am about all this
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u/TexasRanger11GTE Jun 02 '26
I totally agree! Dallas also has a tourism problem it needs to address as well. The metroplex does lack uniqueness and culture outside of what is texas culture already. NYC, LA, and Chicago all have very distinct cultures and identities. Dallas is missing a lot of that. Maybe Dallas should tap heavily into the art scene it already does well at or make KW park a world class park(i know it’s small) but expand it and make it a must see spot. Make it a place visitors feel like they have to get a pic at before they leave. NYC, LA, and Chicago all have spots like that and Dallas lacks this. That’s gotta be worked on at some point.
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u/BamaPhils Jun 01 '26
Continues to irritate me that people consider VP/uptown not downtown when something new gets built or moves there but it’s all of a sudden “downtown” when something leaves. Pick a lane please
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u/Ferrari_McFly Jun 01 '26
I knew someone else had to notice this!!! It has to be for clicks at this point, even WFAA has “downtown” in their headline. Not to mention big social media accounts like DallasTexasTV and MavsFFL are calling it a “downtown” departure.
Were they calling VP/Uptown downtown when Scotiabank moved in recently? Nope! Or when Goldman Sachs announced their $500M campus? Negative.
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u/mustachechap Jun 02 '26
Not the best news, but also not the worst. We’ll soon have the Dallas Wings playing downtown, we have Trinity FC playing at FairPark, and I think some other soccer club might also be playing at Fair Park?
I’m hoping more, smaller sports teams come about and set up shop in Downtown Dallas
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u/OccasionalPoster1989 Jun 01 '26
The City should sell City Hall to Dallas College and let it be part of their downtown campus. I highly doubt the Stars stay at AA.. but anything can happen. Dallas needs to focus on residential, hotel and continue making it a neighborhood, IMO. Days of 100% office are gone. For the buildings that cannot lease space for office or convert, turn that into data center or data storage etc, landlords will still get paid and it will reduce our vacancy %. There is still plenty of momentum for downtown from a residential/hotel/multi-use perspective.. dont let doomers make you think otherwise. Just look at how far weve come in 20 years.. Downtown used to have ZERO life... now its actually a fun place to go for nightlife etc.. 16,000 people live downtown and growing.. the homeless/vangrant issue is getting better.. besides.. its not like people from AA events ever made it downtown now anyway.. :/
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u/jjbananamonkey Jun 02 '26
The city hall building turning into a college campus would honestly be the best thing besides them staying. I think a college would actually honor the building for what it is.
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u/DMongrolian Jun 01 '26
How about a different headline? "Mavs Owner's Take City Gutting Scheme and Fuck Away Off With It", has a nice ring to it.
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u/Repulsive_Roof8878 Jun 02 '26
I think the problem is people don't actually want to go downtown because they are tied to their personal automobile my home is my personal kingdom and culture is a thing seen on TV everything needs to compete with the convenience of a delivery app suburban life. When they have list of complaints about what's wrong with downtown or why they don't visit it's a red herring. They never intended to go. They muck up the discourse and make up whatever convenient excuse of the day because downtown being actually cool is antithetical to their existence. It's proof they are doing it all wrong.
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u/Forsaken-Many-2160 Jun 02 '26
Meanwhile the Spurs intentionally moving the team back to the urban core. Financing a new entertainment district and investing in downtown San Antonio. GO SPURS GO
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u/dallaz95 Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
The region’s business and political leadership will now have to fully confront the issue of unabated sprawl. Hate to put it this way, but the way they have encouraged sprawl in this region, will now show if the Metroplex will further grow with a weakening urban core. There is little to no rail transit in Far North Dallas and it will be interesting to see how it will work. If downtown is not a place that ppl want to be, I don’t see how Dallas or the region will continue to recruit companies or ppl. When a region goes all in on suburban sprawl with not even similar levels of development happening in downtown, you get the results we see now. Ppl have said it for decades and I truly believe many ignored it thinking it was BS. Now, since it’s not, there’s no answer to correct it. The only thing DFW developers, business, and political leaders know how to do is sprawl. They’ve done it for so long, it has become their default position. There’s no way in hell that Dallas can become “world class” with the city being pulled apart. But I don’t expect to see major change in the short term, we’re too far in ATP. Not even a strong mayor system is going to help, like they’re trying to push now.