State Thomas Neighborhood: An Urban Bartram Park
Now that we've had a chance to take a close look at Bartram Park, Metro Jacksonville takes advantage of Google Earth Streetview to illustrate the impact of modifying land use and zoning policies to encourage human scale development patterns. Today, we take a look at the revitalization of Dallas' State Thomas neighborhood, an urban version of Bartram Park-style housing stock.
Overview of the State-Thomas T.I.F. (Tax Increment Financing) District (1989)
Before we start of visual comparison between Jacksonville's Bartram Park and Dallas' State Thomas neighborhood, here is a brief look into the history of State Thomas' revitalization process over the last two decades.
From its genteel beginnings as the first Dallas streetcar suburb and its subsequent history as a thriving African-American neighborhood, this area gradually suffered severe decline from suburban flight, disinvestment, and decaying infrastructure. In the 1980s developers begin acquiring and clearing properties in the expectation of building more office space but those plans were halted by the market downturn. Much of the area was vacant, blighted and crime-ridden through the end of the 1980s.
In 1987, a coalition of property owners commissioned RTKL to guide the rezoning of the are as a planned development district of 130 acres. The State-Thomas Special District was the first district in Dallas with design standards that promoted urban neighborhood-making. The development greatly extended the range of housing types available in downtown Dallas, while enriching the neighborhood environment of the historic State-Thomas district.
In 1989, to promote reinvestment in the area, the City of Dallas created the State-Thomas Tax Increment Financing District, the first TIF district in Dallas. TIF funds were used to improve the area infrastructure including water and sewersystems, burying utilities, and paving streets. The first residential project, the Meridian, was built in 1990 and was quickly followed by others
Also in 1989, the historic streetcar was returned to Dallas streets, at least in a modest way. The first electric streetcar system was begun in Dallas in 1889; streetcar service was ended in the 1950s. When the original rails were rediscovered under the asphalt, local private business owners and rail enthusiasts bought and restored antique trolley cars and returned them to service under a private non-profit organization called the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority (MATA). This timely addition in a time-honored form of ‘light transit’ helped with the restoration of urban form and pedestrian scale to this historic streetcar suburb.
The success of State-Thomas, as evidenced by high urban density and low vacancy rates, proved that there was a pent-up demand for quality urban living in Dallas, and spurred further development. In 1993, the City created the Uptown Public Improvement District (PID) and the Cityplace TIF District. PIDs are created at the request of property owners, who pay an assessment forservices beyond existing City services. Activities eligible for public improvement fundsinclude marketing the area, providing additionalsecurity, landscaping and lighting, cleaning the streets within the district, and providing cultural and recreational improvements
Development continues in Uptown around the Cityplace DART station. The trolley line was expanded to connect the Cityplace station to Downtown, creating a true transit circulator and a model that every Dallas neighborhood developing around transit looks toward. MATA is franchised by the City and receives some operational funding from DART and from the Uptown and Downtown Public Improvement Districts.
State Thomas Neighborhood - 1995
State Thomas Neighborhood - 2013
Results
By 1998, there were 56 restaurantsin the 128-block Uptown area.By 2000, population in the entire downtown (or‘intown’) area had increased by 54 percent over 1990 figures.Current land prices are over $70 persquare foot.
• + 2700 Units over 14 years
• 32 projects, 19 utilizing TIF funds
• 90% complete,seed for “Uptown”
• + $300,000,000 invested (tax value)
• + $25,000,000 TIF funds authorized
• Highest market rates in North Texas
State-Thomas property values:
• 1989: $47,506,802
• 2004: $307,693,707
• 547.68% increase
Cityplace property values:
• 1992: $45,065,342
• 2004: $291,065,959
• 545.88% increase3
Lessons Learned
• T.I.F. – pays public improvements up-front;repaid over a period of years from tax revenues
o Rezone – Planned Development District, 130 acres
o Develop Design Standards
o New standard for urban density in Dallas, first time used
• Urban Design features:
o Revitalizing a run-down area
o True urban scale and density
o Diverse mix of uses
o Streetsfor walking as well as driving
o Public/private partnership
source: https://www.reconnectingamerica.org/assets/Uploads/2005todtifrenewal.pdf
Aerial of developments within Bartram Park
NEXT PAGE: Bartram Park/State Thomas Visual Comparison
Bartram Park/State Thomas Visual Comparison
Site Layout
While the building styles are similar, zoning regulations between Bartram Park and State Thomas are significantly different. One (Bartram Park) forces all traffic from every little development onto one arterial street. The other (State Thomas) is infill within an existing multimodal friendly street grid.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Roadway Infrastructure
With Bartram Park Boulevard being the only roadway serving thousands of housing units, the number of roadway lanes becomes a more important issue than making sure shade trees are uniformly spaced along sidewalks for human scale comfort and protection. In Dallas, Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District funds were used in the 1990s to improve the area infrastructure including water and sewer systems, burying utilities, and paving streets in State Thomas. Coupled with context sensitive street design and urban land use policies, the result is a different type of pedestrian scale environment.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Streetscape
The Bartram Park streetscape has little interaction between the sidewalks and adjacent gated properties. In State Thomas, all individual developments are required to interact with the surrounding street network. As a result, residential units and retail stores open onto the sidewalk.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Residential - Townhouse
Townhouses are dominant residential types in both Bartram Park and State Thomas. However, exposed off-street parking along the front setback is not allowed in State Thomas.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Rear of townhomes in Bartram Park
Rear of townhomes in State Thomas
Residential - Apartments
Both Bartram Park and State Thomas are home to multiple rental developments. However, State Thomas requirements to engage the streetscape and conceal off-street parking combine to create a different human scale setting.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Developed Public Space
Neither Bartram Park or State Thomas include significant developed public space. In Bartram Park, streetscapes are designed to also serve as linear greenways. In State Thomas, infill development has been built around pre-existing public parks.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Off-Street Parking
Private parking is located in the front of buildings in Bartram Park. In State Thomas, off-street parking must be concealed from the street to enhance the pedestrian experience. As a result, building footprints tend to be closer to the property's edge.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
On-Street Parking
In Bartram Park, there are few public accessible streets and on-street parking is not included within their right-of-way. In State Thomas, all streets were rebuilt to include parallel parking opportunities, reducing the need for large off-street parking areas.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Commercial
Bartram Park's commercial centers are designed to draw from a population much larger than the development itself. Developments are similar to those found on any typical arterial highway. Being within the urban core of Dallas and accessible to streetcar and LRT lines, State Thomas is dominated by dense residential use. While there is a major commercial presence in Uptown, retail in State Thomas is regulated to Allen Street. These dining and neighborhood retail uses serve as the mixed use component of apartment and condominium structures lining the corridor. Having businesses such as the local barber or cleaners within walking distance of many residents, reduces the amount of automobile trips on surrounding roadways.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Adaptive Reuse
Since Bartram Park was built on undeveloped property, there was no need for new development to integrate with the surrounding community. Like Jacksonville's Eastside, Brooklyn and LaVilla, Dallas' State Thomas was a historically black neighborhood in economic decline. A historic district, like Springfield and Riverside, remaining older structures have been preserved, restored and put back to use, while new infill has been added. This creates an opportunity for a large pool of residents to take part in the growth of the community. The restoration of former underutilized properties to support the denser immediate population also creates a unique urban blend of old and new.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
State Thomas
Applying the State-Thomas Philosophy with Bartram Park-style density in the Urban Core.
An aerial of the southern entrance of urban Jacksonville's Eastside. During the 1990s, many blocks of the historic State Thomas neighborhood looked identical.
State-Thomas was everything neighborhoods like Brooklyn, the Eastside, LaVilla, Sugar Hill and the Northbank's Cathedral District are today.
The revitalization of State-Thomas has been largely credited to the combination of creating TIF and PID districts to improve public infrastructure and urban land use policies, feeding off the excitement of the area's new streetcar line.
An aerial of State Thomas infill from the same scale as the Eastside aerial above.
Over 14 years, 2,700 new residential units have been added within the State-Thomas TIF. Many of these multifamily units are no different in quality or construction material from what we see locally in suburban developments like Bartram Park.
The major difference is pedestrian scale land use and urban design policies, allowing these structures to be situated in a walkable urban setting.
Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com
Before we start of visual comparison between Jacksonville's Bartram Park and Dallas' State Thomas neighborhood, here is a brief look into the history of State Thomas' revitalization process over the last two decades.
From its genteel beginnings as the first Dallas streetcar suburb and its subsequent history as a thriving African-American neighborhood, this area gradually suffered severe decline from suburban flight, disinvestment, and decaying infrastructure. In the 1980s developers begin acquiring and clearing properties in the expectation of building more office space but those plans were halted by the market downturn. Much of the area was vacant, blighted and crime-ridden through the end of the 1980s.
In 1987, a coalition of property owners commissioned RTKL to guide the rezoning of the are as a planned development district of 130 acres. The State-Thomas Special District was the first district in Dallas with design standards that promoted urban neighborhood-making. The development greatly extended the range of housing types available in downtown Dallas, while enriching the neighborhood environment of the historic State-Thomas district.
In 1989, to promote reinvestment in the area, the City of Dallas created the State-Thomas Tax Increment Financing District, the first TIF district in Dallas. TIF funds were used to improve the area infrastructure including water and sewersystems, burying utilities, and paving streets. The first residential project, the Meridian, was built in 1990 and was quickly followed by others
Also in 1989, the historic streetcar was returned to Dallas streets, at least in a modest way. The first electric streetcar system was begun in Dallas in 1889; streetcar service was ended in the 1950s. When the original rails were rediscovered under the asphalt, local private business owners and rail enthusiasts bought and restored antique trolley cars and returned them to service under a private non-profit organization called the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority (MATA). This timely addition in a time-honored form of ‘light transit’ helped with the restoration of urban form and pedestrian scale to this historic streetcar suburb.
The success of State-Thomas, as evidenced by high urban density and low vacancy rates, proved that there was a pent-up demand for quality urban living in Dallas, and spurred further development. In 1993, the City created the Uptown Public Improvement District (PID) and the Cityplace TIF District. PIDs are created at the request of property owners, who pay an assessment forservices beyond existing City services. Activities eligible for public improvement fundsinclude marketing the area, providing additionalsecurity, landscaping and lighting, cleaning the streets within the district, and providing cultural and recreational improvements
Development continues in Uptown around the Cityplace DART station. The trolley line was expanded to connect the Cityplace station to Downtown, creating a true transit circulator and a model that every Dallas neighborhood developing around transit looks toward. MATA is franchised by the City and receives some operational funding from DART and from the Uptown and Downtown Public Improvement Districts.
State Thomas Neighborhood - 1995
State Thomas Neighborhood - 2013
Results
By 1998, there were 56 restaurantsin the 128-block Uptown area.By 2000, population in the entire downtown (or‘intown’) area had increased by 54 percent over 1990 figures.Current land prices are over $70 persquare foot.
• + 2700 Units over 14 years
• 32 projects, 19 utilizing TIF funds
• 90% complete,seed for “Uptown”
• + $300,000,000 invested (tax value)
• + $25,000,000 TIF funds authorized
• Highest market rates in North Texas
State-Thomas property values:
• 1989: $47,506,802
• 2004: $307,693,707
• 547.68% increase
Cityplace property values:
• 1992: $45,065,342
• 2004: $291,065,959
• 545.88% increase3
Lessons Learned
• T.I.F. – pays public improvements up-front;repaid over a period of years from tax revenues
o Rezone – Planned Development District, 130 acres
o Develop Design Standards
o New standard for urban density in Dallas, first time used
• Urban Design features:
o Revitalizing a run-down area
o True urban scale and density
o Diverse mix of uses
o Streetsfor walking as well as driving
o Public/private partnership
source: https://www.reconnectingamerica.org/assets/Uploads/2005todtifrenewal.pdf
Aerial of developments within Bartram Park
NEXT PAGE: Bartram Park/State Thomas Visual Comparison
Bartram Park/State Thomas Visual Comparison
Site Layout
While the building styles are similar, zoning regulations between Bartram Park and State Thomas are significantly different. One (Bartram Park) forces all traffic from every little development onto one arterial street. The other (State Thomas) is infill within an existing multimodal friendly street grid.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Roadway Infrastructure
With Bartram Park Boulevard being the only roadway serving thousands of housing units, the number of roadway lanes becomes a more important issue than making sure shade trees are uniformly spaced along sidewalks for human scale comfort and protection. In Dallas, Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District funds were used in the 1990s to improve the area infrastructure including water and sewer systems, burying utilities, and paving streets in State Thomas. Coupled with context sensitive street design and urban land use policies, the result is a different type of pedestrian scale environment.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Streetscape
The Bartram Park streetscape has little interaction between the sidewalks and adjacent gated properties. In State Thomas, all individual developments are required to interact with the surrounding street network. As a result, residential units and retail stores open onto the sidewalk.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Residential - Townhouse
Townhouses are dominant residential types in both Bartram Park and State Thomas. However, exposed off-street parking along the front setback is not allowed in State Thomas.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Quote
Concealment of off-street parking. All permanent parking structures must be either underground or concealed in a building with a facade that is similar in appearance to the facade of the main non-parking building for which the parking is accessory. The parking structure facade is not required to be built of the same material, however. At least 12 percent of the parking structure facade (including openings, if any) must be covered with the same material used predominately on the first 24 feet of height of the main non-parking building. Openings in the parking structure facade may not exceed 52 percent of the total facade area.Source: https://dallascityattorney.com/51P/Articles Supp 5/ARTICLE 225.pdf
Rear of townhomes in Bartram Park
Rear of townhomes in State Thomas
Residential - Apartments
Both Bartram Park and State Thomas are home to multiple rental developments. However, State Thomas requirements to engage the streetscape and conceal off-street parking combine to create a different human scale setting.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Developed Public Space
Neither Bartram Park or State Thomas include significant developed public space. In Bartram Park, streetscapes are designed to also serve as linear greenways. In State Thomas, infill development has been built around pre-existing public parks.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Off-Street Parking
Private parking is located in the front of buildings in Bartram Park. In State Thomas, off-street parking must be concealed from the street to enhance the pedestrian experience. As a result, building footprints tend to be closer to the property's edge.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
On-Street Parking
In Bartram Park, there are few public accessible streets and on-street parking is not included within their right-of-way. In State Thomas, all streets were rebuilt to include parallel parking opportunities, reducing the need for large off-street parking areas.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Commercial
Bartram Park's commercial centers are designed to draw from a population much larger than the development itself. Developments are similar to those found on any typical arterial highway. Being within the urban core of Dallas and accessible to streetcar and LRT lines, State Thomas is dominated by dense residential use. While there is a major commercial presence in Uptown, retail in State Thomas is regulated to Allen Street. These dining and neighborhood retail uses serve as the mixed use component of apartment and condominium structures lining the corridor. Having businesses such as the local barber or cleaners within walking distance of many residents, reduces the amount of automobile trips on surrounding roadways.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
Adaptive Reuse
Since Bartram Park was built on undeveloped property, there was no need for new development to integrate with the surrounding community. Like Jacksonville's Eastside, Brooklyn and LaVilla, Dallas' State Thomas was a historically black neighborhood in economic decline. A historic district, like Springfield and Riverside, remaining older structures have been preserved, restored and put back to use, while new infill has been added. This creates an opportunity for a large pool of residents to take part in the growth of the community. The restoration of former underutilized properties to support the denser immediate population also creates a unique urban blend of old and new.
Bartram Park
State Thomas
State Thomas
Applying the State-Thomas Philosophy with Bartram Park-style density in the Urban Core.
An aerial of the southern entrance of urban Jacksonville's Eastside. During the 1990s, many blocks of the historic State Thomas neighborhood looked identical.
State-Thomas was everything neighborhoods like Brooklyn, the Eastside, LaVilla, Sugar Hill and the Northbank's Cathedral District are today.
The revitalization of State-Thomas has been largely credited to the combination of creating TIF and PID districts to improve public infrastructure and urban land use policies, feeding off the excitement of the area's new streetcar line.
An aerial of State Thomas infill from the same scale as the Eastside aerial above.
Over 14 years, 2,700 new residential units have been added within the State-Thomas TIF. Many of these multifamily units are no different in quality or construction material from what we see locally in suburban developments like Bartram Park.
The major difference is pedestrian scale land use and urban design policies, allowing these structures to be situated in a walkable urban setting.
Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com