Mayor Rawlings' GrowSouth plan hinges on investor dollars

Mayor Mike Rawlings presents initiatives for the second year of his GrowSouth plan.

It's been more than a year since Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings first presented his GrowSouth initiative, a $1 billion plan to grow and develop southern Dallas' economy.

Today, Rawlings held a press conference at Texas Discovery Gardens in Fair Park to highlight progress and announce this coming year's key initiatives, including going after $200 million of warehouse space deals circulating in the market.

"It takes a while to lay the foundation and push forward," Rawlings told local developers, residents and government officials Tuesday evening. "I do believe southern Dallas is a major growth opportunity for us."

Part of southern Dallas' wins include tearing down 250 vacant and rundown homes, continuing to redevelop the Farmers Market and rebranding the area with the help of the Trinity Forest Golf Course.

But there's still a lot of work to be done, Rawlings said, as he walked the crowd through a presentation highlighting 10 focus areas which include strengthening neighborhoods and redeveloping Jefferson Avenue and the area of southern Dallas known as the 'Education Corridor' to the International Inland Port of Dallas.

The redevelopment of southern Dallas largely rests on a partnership with North Texas investors to bring capital into much-needed retail and mixed-use projects, Rawlings said. Even though it's been a year since GrowSouth started, there are investors unaware of potential development opportunities, he said.

The city would like to see a mixed-use development near the University of North Texas Dallas campus off Camp Wisdom Road get underway in the next year.

With the DART Blue Line feeding into the campus in the next few years, there's an opportunity for a transit-oriented project, which could provide retail and housing to students and build up the so-called Education Corridor, he said.

Candace covers commercial and residential real estate and sports business.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_56/~3/FambrlvkB4U/mayor-rawlings-highlights-key-projects.html

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