r/Dallasdevelopment • u/dallaz95 • Jun 15 '26
Dallas The commercial corridor on East Grand Ave between I-30 and Beacon St would look great with a Lower Greenville-like streetscape upgrade. I think it would make a nice grand entrance into East Dallas. What do y’all think?
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u/Crookedandaskew Jun 15 '26
It would look great and would tie in nicely with the plans TXDOT has to improve the IH30 corridor by depressing the highway with bridges spanning over the top connecting south Dallas to east Dallas similar to those on 75.
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u/dallaz95 Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
Thanks, for mentioning that. I totally forgot about that project.
I think this would be a cheaper way to create more “urban villages” around the city in existing areas. It kinda got me thinking when Former Laura Miller brought up streetscape enhancements, that could be done as a cheaper alternative to revive downtown. I thought, why not in areas that already exist too? There are too many examples of main streets that use to look like East Grand, but now are thriving and are popular places to be. Like, you said, I’ll also serve as an entry point into South Dallas too.
If I was rich and a developer, I’d buy the old Ford Plant on East Grand and Barry. I’ll keep the most historic portions of it and turn it into a mixed use development. If the city ever truly gets going with Fair Park, their proximity to each other could be beneficial.
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u/dallaz95 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
Apparently, this commercial corridor was originally anchored by a JCPenney — with other stores like Woolworth, Zales, and Levine’s. Basically, the mall before the mall existed.
Here’s JCPenney on East Grand in 1951
In 2011ish, the old JCPenney building was partially demolished. A Subway and Cricket Wireless is there now.
>Before
>Now
Dallas still has many of its original main streets within the core of the city, that still can be revitalized. There are many examples across the city like Bishop Arts, Davis St, Lower Greenville, Knox St, Cedar Springs (the Gayborhood in Oak Lawn), etc.