Klyde Warren Park Expansion to Bring $4B in Real Estate Value

Klyde Warren Park, which marks the transition from Downtown Dallas to Uptown, is set to expand by nearly two acres.

The park’s chairman, Jody Grant, said that the 1.7 acre expansion of the park could create around $3.5 billion in new real estate value in the area via investment and tourism, according to the Dallas Business Journal. Grant also claims that the park has added $5.9 billion in real estate value for the Arts District and Uptown. The added value has filled the pockets of the city, Dallas County, and DISD to the tune of $957 million in incremental tax revenue, he added.

The park is set to expand westward, adding 37,000 square feet of green space dubbed Jacobs Lawn, according to the outlet. During the winter months, the space will transform into an ice skating rink.

A two-story, 24,000 square-foot event and reception space with a ground floor earmarked for retail space will also be constructed, according to the outlet. Archer & Wester Construction will helm up the building, with Gensler and HKS working on the design front.

The park bisects two of Dallas’s most important areas at a crucial time for both, but for wildly different reasons.

Downtown Dallas’s struggles are well-documented. The area lost its Neiman Marcus anchor store in its shopping areas, telecom giants AT&T are moving out, and the pair of sports teams that play in the area are moving to either the suburbs or just outside of the suburbs. Recent leases in the area show some signs of life, but the body blows Downtown Dallas has taken are reverberating from the real estate community to the wider public.

Uptown, on the other hand, is thriving. The burgeoning financial district is set to welcome Morgan Stanley, a newly-minted Texas Stock Exchange is moving in, and financial tenants are being enticed from all over the world. The momentum the area is undergoing has been enough to revive a mixed-use high-rise residential tower from Austin-based developer Ari Rastegar in the area, complete with a height increase from previous plans.

— Hunter Cooke