Sarah Erickson

Think of Dallas’ best restaurants, highest-end condos and most expensive office buildings.  Chances are you just pictured real estate that is all located within a half-mile radius of the Dallas Art’s District.  So how is it that many of our city’s finest amenities and most prestigious buildings became located within such close proximity?

It all began in the early 1970s, when a team of consultants studied where and how to locate the city’s arts and cultural institutions.  In 1978, the group recommended that Dallas relocate all of its major arts institutions to the northeast corner of downtown.  Over the next several years, boundaries were defined, creating a 68-acre contiguous space for Dallas’ Arts District, making it the largest contiguous urban arts district in the nation.
In 1984, the Dallas Museum of Art opened its doors. Today the Arts District is home 13 facilities, including four buildings designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects I.M. Pei, Renzo Piano, Norman Foster, and Rem Koolhaas.

As the Arts District developed over the last 30 years, Dallas also delivered the city’s finest-quality office buildings in close proximity to the district, including The Crescent, Trammell Crow Center, Rosewood Court, and Chase Tower, just to name a few.

The vast majority of the 68 acres in the Arts District has been developed; so what lies ahead for our city’s cultural center?  In the few remaining sites within the district, we can expect announcements for new office towers.  In the land within close proximity to the district, we will see more new amenities, many of which are already under way.

The highly-anticipated opening of the Klyde Warren Park will give Dallas something to boast about to New Yorkers and Chicagoans.  Furthermore, it will literally bridge Uptown and downtown Dallas, creating our city’s new “center ice.”