Downtown - Pacific Plaza Park

[willyk]

Kids’ area?

[mdg109]

I'm really liking how the old Aston Park section is looking.

[cowboyeagle05]

Aston Park finally gets the design and attention it deserves as a more welcoming grove of trees people can enjoy.

[lakewoodhobo]

Opening date set for October 14

Screen Shot 2019-09-13 at 10.41.44 AM.jpg

[exelone31]

Wow, it's only a month from opening? That seems quick, great news!

[DPatel304]

Thanks for sharing! Excited to see how much energy this brings to this part of town, and also excited to see how quickly they get started on the next park to be constructed.

[Cord1936]

Pacific Plaza proposal, 70 story and 60 story residential towers

Wish these two would have come to fruition overlooking Pacific Plaza Park ... with the park's completion it may still spur something significant in the future.

These would have been spectacular though ...

[Cord1936]

1900 Pacific (overlooking Pacific Park Plaza), 700 ft, 57 story residential tower proposal

Pacific Park Plaza has really had its fair share of significant skyscraper proposals in the past. It bodes well for potential future major development to surround it since it has already had this level of proposed activity in the past, just based on the expectation of Pacific Plaza Park being built.

This is yet another residential tower that was proposed to overlook the Park at 57 stories and 700 feet tall from around 2007. 1900 Pacific was designed by world renowned architect Michael Graves & Associates.

It would have replaced the Corrigan Tower, which fortunately was redeveloped into residential and is a cool building itself. Although I think I would have preferred seeing this puppy built!

The 700 foot skyscraper was planned by Rita Sweeney's development company, Pillar Group.

Rita was a major developer from Toronto and so fell in love with Dallas and saw so much untapped potential, she and her husband moved her and she immediately sat about to transform Downtown Dallas. Rita went head-to-head against Laura Miller at differing times as Rita felt the City should be doing more in the late 2000's to further growth in Downtown so that it could become a truly world class urban environment, like Toronto.

Rita's untimely and truly unfortunate death from cancer threw a monkey wrench in this specific project as well as her other grand plans for Downtown Dallas.

I knew Rita personally and I cannot tell you how saddened I was at her passing .... a true visionary and leader for Dallas' growth and development was lost forever!

Rita took me on a personal tour of her projects in Downtown Dallas on one occasion, including the renovation of the Hart Furniture Building which housed her own offices at the time. And on another occasion she was at my place of business in Deep Ellum trying to recruit my retail business to move into one of her buildings Downtown.

https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2007/10/rita-sweeney-rip/

[dfwcre8tive]

Here's the original plan for Dallas Centre.

tumblr_mr2mb3bctE1qe0nlvo1_500.jpg

Dallas Centre_01.jpg

[Hannibal Lecter]

Unfortunately, probably I. M. Pei's least distinguished work.

[cowboyeagle05]

Yet it looks like more OCP HQ kinda stuff.

[dfwcre8tive]

Unfortunately, probably I. M. Pei's least distinguished work.

The original 1977 plan had all phases designed by Henry Cobb and the shapes were more cohesive. Two Dallas Centre was to be a chevron-shaped tower with 30 floors of office space topped with 21 floors of hotel space. Three Dallas Centre was envisioned to contain 400 luxury apartments across the street.

Site plan:

pei01.JPG

This plan was later revised in 1981 AFTER One Dallas Centre completed successful leasing and construction.

The revised Two Dallas Centre was designed by Araldo Cossutta (who worked with Pei and later designed the Tower at Cityplace). It included the 1.7 million-square-foot office building (twin towers joined at the 16th and 23rd floors) and a separate 500-room hotel.

Land planning was done by Vincent Ponte, designer of the underground walkway system. It was to include a truck terminal, parking garage, and additional underground retail beneath the entire complex. 50% of the surface was open space.

Site plan:

pei02.JPG

It all fell apart in 1982 due to leasehold issues on the property -- RepublicBank controlled the 99-year leases but each of the twelve pieces of land had different characteristics.

[lakewoodhobo]

The revised Two Dallas Centre was designed by Araldo Cossutta (who worked with Pei and later designed the Tower at Cityplace). It included the 1.7 million-square-foot office building (twin towers joined at the 16th and 23rd floors) and a separate 500-room hotel.

Site plan:
pei02.JPG

What a coincidence that this iteration included an Intercontinental Hotel by the designer of Cityplace Tower, which is now getting an Intercontinental Hotel.

[Cord1936]

Pacific Plaza Park, Downtown Dallas, 09-19-19

Courtesy of Parks for Downtown Dallas Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/parksfordowntowndallas/

[lakewoodhobo]

[Tnexster]

Nice looking addition to downtown, maybe that surface lot will get some attention soon. Great spot for a new tower overlooking the park.

[DPatel304]

Great shot! Excited to see this completed, and excited to see the next park get started.

[cowboyeagle05]

That parking lot is owned by a family fund out of Houston who uses the money they make on parking to donate to charities down there. Hopefully, the right developer will come along and talk them out of parking revenue and into property development value profits.

[Tucy]

That parking lot is owned by a family fund out of Houston who uses the money they make on parking to donate to charities down there. Hopefully, the right developer will come along and talk them out of parking revenue and into property development value profits.

DCAD says it (the parking lot overlooking Pacific Plaza Park from across the intersection at Pacific and N Harwood) is owned by someone from Athens, Texas.

[cowboyeagle05]

CAIN JOHN CHARLES
PO BOX 987
ATHENS, TEXAS 757510987

aka The Cain Foundation https://www.gordonacainfoundation.org/

The Gordon A. Cain Foundation is a non-profit philanthropic organization incorporated in the State of Texas in 2007. It was founded to provide financial support to charitable organizations primarily in the city of Houston, Texas.

[itsjrd1964]

Downtown Dallas Ready for ‘Refuge of Shade’ In Soon-To-Open Pacific Plaza

https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2 ... fic-plaza/

[Cord1936]

Downtown Dallas Ready for ‘Refuge of Shade’ In Soon-To-Open Pacific Plaza

https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2 ... fic-plaza/

Courtesy of David Wood for Parks For Downtown Dallas

[Tucy]

CAIN JOHN CHARLES
PO BOX 987
ATHENS, TEXAS 757510987

aka The Cain Foundation https://www.gordonacainfoundation.org/

The Gordon A. Cain Foundation is a non-profit philanthropic organization incorporated in the State of Texas in 2007. It was founded to provide financial support to charitable organizations primarily in the city of Houston, Texas.

Interesting, but where are you seeing a connection between John Charles Cain of Athens, Texas and the Gordon A. Cain Foundation, whose address is in Houston?
Edit: apparently John Cain of Athens is trustee of The Cain Foundation, different from the Gordon A. Cain Foundation, and based in Austin. https://www.athensreview.com/news/local ... 80718.html

[cowboyeagle05]

I little more research never hurt the facts^ Great follow up Tucy.

Also, I connected the dots by looking at Google Maps which has a dot on the parking lot for the Cain Foundation. Whoever actually controls the potential for redevelopment of that land now has a very attractive site where new construction has a chance to build its design around park access and views.

Capture.PNG

[exelone31]

I hope this park does well. I wonder if there will be plans for festivals/events in the open space, similar to Main Street Garden? There does not appear to be much in the way of amenities, not that that is necessarily a bad thing.

[lakewoodhobo]

According to this, there's a public restroom on the north side of the park. The ones at MSG and KWP can be somewhat monitored by staff at the food kiosk, but unless this has some Portland Loo technology I suspect it'll be locked and inaccessible after a couple of months.

[willyk]

West End Plaza next?

[cowboyeagle05]

Since Harwood Park just went to the Landmark Committee for design approval I imagine it's up next. The newly updated renderings are in the October 11 Landmark Commission agenda.

[cowboyeagle05]

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2019/10 ... _Kp6TyFDjI

Meadows said her group doesn’t envision Pacific Plaza and the still-to-come green spaces as Klyde Warren-like destination parks. “These are designed as neighborhood parks because people are actually moving back into the downtown core,” she said. “This is about work, live and play all together in one place.”

I am glad they can at least say this out loud. If only the public understood the same.

Also, I do think the city and Parks for Downtown Dallas are getting better at understanding what these parks need to be for people Downtown. Main Streets Gardens was an honest effort but it missed the mark in many ways and I think they are slowly evolving it as parks like this one take the pressure of it. Main Street Gardens will need a major remodel in the coming decade and hopefully, Parks for Downtown Dallas will be a part of that project. Belo Gardens to me is the biggest mistake in park design but I think until more stuff develops on that end of Downtown that isn't just 9 to 5 oriented it will always have a disconnect and be more or less a green parking lot.

[mdg109]

Speaking of Main Street Garden, I noticed that all of the shade structures along Main Street were cordoned off. I hope these get removed and better, hardier landscaping goes in.

[Tnexster]

Drove by Pacific Park on Friday afternoon, very busy place.

[tamtagon]

There was a 'live' shot from the park during the Cowboys game last night.

[muncien]

There was a 'live' shot from the park during the Cowboys game last night.

I saw that! So cool to see something other than the usual bronze sculpture and Dealey plaza put on national television. Go Cowboys!

[exelone31]

There was a 'live' shot from the park during the Cowboys game last night.

I saw that! So cool to see something other than the usual bronze sculpture and Dealey plaza put on national television. Go Cowboys!

Saw that too! How many people in the Dallas area do you think saw that and said "Where is THAT?!"

It gets me excited that hopefully as these new parks are brought online, there will be more unique views of our city on TV. Great stuff.

[DPatel304]

Saw that too! How many people in the Dallas area do you think saw that and said "Where is THAT?!"

I didn't get a chance to watch the game, but that is super excited that the park is already getting that type of exposure! I still have not made it out to the park yet, but I'm hearing good things about the park itself and the level of activity it has been generating.

[exelone31]

I drove by it the other day (prior to the grand opening), and it looks really nice. There are tables and chairs setup underneath the circular structure, which is pretty large.

[Tivo_Kenevil]

Passed by this afternoon. Saw children playing on the swings. Way to go Dallas!

[DPatel304]

Great news, and there are still three more parks yet to come!

[willyk]

Can we conclusively say that this turned out much better than the robotic car park?

[clcrash19]

Drove by today during work and it was very crowded, looks great.

[mdg109]

Having the swings and see-saws were a good call. I visited last night like at 7:30pm, and there were several people of all ages just hanging out.

[cowboyeagle05]

This park finally takes the pressure off of Main Street Gardens so they can both serve the larger resident populations better. I fear for Belo Gardens as more times passes because it just seems rudderless as far as purpose.

[exelone31]

This park finally takes the pressure off of Main Street Gardens so they can both serve the larger resident populations better. I fear for Belo Gardens as more times passes because it just seems rudderless as far as purpose.

Could Belo perhaps get a nip and tuck to make it into a better park? I'm not sure what it would cost to do that or what it would entail, but I would imagine it would be substantially less than demolishing a parking lot or building to install a park.

[cowboyeagle05]

I believe Parks for Downtown Dallas the same entity that built Pacific Plaza is now charged with Belo Parks future so I am sure they will make changes once the things get a little longer in the tooth. Right now to be honest nothing has changed around Belo Park to make it worth making a change. The amount of foot traffic circulating within it is mostly Greyhound Bus customers and West End Bus/Light Rail riders and the occasional federal courthouse employee. If something significant opens changing the potential for using the park then I am sure it will evolve like they have done with Main Street Gardens.

[Cbdallas]

Could be needed when they do the phase two of the streetcar and connect it in the area over to KWP.

[Tnexster]

There was a 'live' shot from the park during the Cowboys game last night.

It's fun that when a big game like that comes to town they do lots of cameral roll straight from Dallas.

[itsjrd1964]

Sometimes we get it right: Pacific Plaza Park is a victory for downtown Dallas

http://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertai ... wn-dallas/

[vman]

I got a chance to visit this park yesterday (early Sunday) afternoon. I must say, I was very impressed. It's not cluttered with stuff, very walkable and just has a relaxing vibe. Not to mention, it's surrounded by highrises, giving it a spectacular view. I also didn't realize how easy and quick the walk is from Pacific Plaza to the Main St. District. The only thing lacking is retail (restaurants) in some of the buildings overlooking the park.

[tamtagon]

^and another 3,000 dwellings...

[texasstar]

Urban Park