Oak Cliff's Future Boom?

According to this release today, over $2 billion in development plans are in the works for Oak Cliff, just north and east of the Bishops Arts district, in striking distance of the Trinity River project.

Incap Unveils Full Scope of $2B Plan for Dallas
By Connie Gore

Incap's Vision
DALLAS-With 300 acres of entitled land now ready for development, Incap Fund is pulling the cloak of secrecy off its plan after two years of market speculation and limited details. The $2-billion build-out is a vision to reshape the landscape of Oak Cliff.

"We had a blank canvas for master planning," says Alan McDonald, managing director of Dallas-based Incap. "Now we're starting to take offers on this." Incap has divided the assemblage into four districts, investing $240 million into the land acquisitions, scraping roughly 2,000 apartments and prepping the dirt for resale, he tells GlobeSt.com.

Incap has nearly 100 acres of the ready-to-go mixed-use land under contract or under negotiation, with closings set to start in July. The dirt is bringing $30 per sf to $35 per sf, McDonald says.

Kessler Woods Plan
First out of the chute will be an 8.93-acre sale to Dallas-based Sky Modern Homes, which will develop 96 zero-lot line homes and row houses as the third phase for its Kessler Woods, according to McDonald. The developer is getting the sites of the Acorn Tree Apartments and Gulf Latin Church along West Davis Street.

In October, McDonald says Gus Woehr of Dallas will buy four acres for an 80-unit residential project. Woehr's site once held the Kings Highway Apartments in the city's oldest conservation district.

Closing in November will be 4.3 acres that once held the Chateau Crete Apartments along Stevens Forest Drive. McDonald says the development partnership is Beck/Holley, with Dallas-based Beck Group at the forefront of the deal.

Another 10.15 acres near Methodist Hospital will be sold in November to a national homebuilder. The hospital controls another 5.44 acres, also earmarked for development. McDonald says he can't release the homebuilder's name due to a confidentiality clause, but the build-out plan calls for 200 multifamily units, 200 senior housing apartments, 150,000 sf of medical office and 150,000 sf of retail.

A 4.9-acre site at 1836 W. Davis St., once Cliffwood Apartments, is being marketed to retail developers for $32 per sf. McDonald says the vision is to create another eclectic shopping district like Knox-Travis. Another 5.34-acre tract along Cedar Hill Drive also is being marketed.

The lion's share of Incap's land assemblage is earmarked for a sustainable mixed-use urban campus spanning 100 acres. Marketing begins next month. The Westmoreland urban campus tentatively calls for 200 single-family lots, 400 townhouses, 1,800 condos in mid-rise towers, 4,800 apartments, 450,000 sf of retail and possibly 30,000 sf of office space atop some street retail.

The urban campus is "the largest undeveloped tract in the inner city," McDonald says. And, he quickly points out that it's just 3.5 miles from Downtown and Uptown.

McDonald says Incap's tracts aren't contiguous like other massive redevelopments that he's undertaken in Dallas. "But, the unique part of these tracts is they are in the most fabulous neighborhoods in the city and the oldest ones in the city," he says. Many surrounding homes were built in the 1920s and 1930s. "They are little jewel boxes," he says. In the past five years, he says the various neighborhoods have transitioned from an aging population to the Gen Y age crowd, spawning eclectic emerging pockets like the Bishop Arts District.

Incap's land bank is situated within the 589-acre Davis Garden District Tax Increment Financing District. McDonald labels it a "new generation TIF" because it is so broad-based and focused on residential redevelopment, including affordable and seniors housing, unlike TIFs of Downtown and Uptown. Interstate 30 is Incap's northern boundary; Davis Street, southern; Methodist Hospital, eastern; and Pinnacle Park, western.

But for the veteran McDonald, the assemblage is another opportunity for him to reshape a Dallas neighborhood like he did with projects in Uptown and Knox-Travis.

Typical Site View
He says the second-story view from all the assembled tracts will be the city skyline, the Trinity River and the to-be-built Calatrava bridge trio. "That's the view corridor from every single site on the second floor," McDonald stresses, "and it's unobstructed because of the Trinity River's flow. The river is coming back with the Calatrava bridges and town lake plan and it connects to the original neighborhood that was the birth of Dallas."