$30 Million Project Will Keep South Dallas Growing
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) -- Carrin Owen remembers the drug-infested buildings that littered the neighborhood along Lancaster Road near the VA Medical Center.
She says her uncle worked hard to knock them down. "It's been a long process. When they actually tore this down, it was like all the community was happy."
And now, two years later, both she and the community are happy again.
On Thursday developers shoveled ceremonial dirt and unveiled a $30 million dollar project called Lancaster Urban Village.
Right along the DART rail line across the street from the VA, developer Sherman Roberts says they will build a 200 unit apartment complex, along with shops and offices, and expand the Urban League's office.
Roberts, CEO of the City Wide Development Corporation, says "It shows that economic dollars are here too. People don't have to drive across town North."
Half of the project's cost comes from public money.
It's all a part of what Mayor Mike Rawlings calls his "Grow South" initiative.
He says three other projects along DART rail lines are in the works, including in Fair Park and Pleasant Grove.
Mayor Rawlings says, "I think the way we grow South is neighborhood by neighborhood."
The Mayor believes these kinds of projects will not only revitalize this neighborhood, but will attract eve bigger developments.
He says he's spoken with multi-national corporations about the possibility of coming to Dallas' southern sector.
"There's several things we're working on right now. Obviously, I can't speak about it. If we do more and more of this, that's going to happen."
The Lancaster Urban Village will open in a year and a half, and Carrin Owen couldn't be any happier.
"Wouldn't have missed it for the world. I lost my uncle in 2010. this is his dream."
A dream shared by many others here too.
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