Pedestrian neighborhoods in cities and towns in metroplex area? (Dallas: hotel, house)

[bale002]

Hi All,

Please, for someone who's been to Dallas only once for a few days and never visited the metroplex area, are there any neighborhoods in the cities and towns of the area that can be characterized as "pedestrian", a real "downtown" in the old-fashion sense?

Is there a downtown neighborhood in Dallas, Ft. Worth, Irving, Arlington, Frisco, Plano, etc., where hundreds, maybe thousands of people can be seen in the daytime, workdays and weekends, walking around, shopping, dining, sipping coffee, talking business, going to church, in open air, on the streets, not in a shopping mall?

Or is it like most of the US where the main social gathering and shopping areas, if not the only, are the malls which have driven most of the "downtown" shops out of business?

Thanks

[TrueDat]

Most of the Metroplex is car-oriented but there are small pockets of pedestrian activity. In Dallas, you've got Uptown/West Village, Bishop Arts District, Knox-Henderson, and Cedar Springs Avenue in Oak Lawn. The new, upscale Victory Park development, with the House of Blues and W Hotel, near downtown might turn into an actual walkable neighborhood though it's too soon to tell. And perhaps one day the West End and Deep Ellum (especially when the light rail line through Deep Ellum is completed in a couple of years) might see a revival. In Fort Worth, the downtown area near Sundance Square is pretty lively, especially on weekends.

[lh_newbie]

There are a lot of cities that are rebuilding their town centers. Old Lewisville is one that pops to mind. Plano has been building out also - it's much larger. Southlake has a towncenter also - it's not a historic area, but it's pretty large. There are a lot of open-air mixed use places on the board or in construction in the DFW area. Park Lane place is a pretty large one being put together at Park Lane and Central Expressway (aka 75). It's across the expressway from a mall. Seriously, it looks pretty cool. It'll also be very close to the DART light rail system, where you can ride down to Mockingbird station - another open-air, mixed use facility, or continue on to downtown or even further to the Dallas Zoo - or transfer to the TRE and go over to Fort Worth.

[aceplace]

Yes, the mixed-use Town Center neighborhoods are being built all over the metro. Downtown Dallas is getting more pedestrian itself, along Main Street, in the West End and on to Victory Park. As was stated before, Victory Park is currently only semi-complete, many of its shops are still unoccupied, but it is beginning to have an urban vibe. I was there last Thursday and the plaza was filled with people listening to a concert, the shops and restaurants were open... it's well on its way.

So far, the Knox-Henderson area has not been mentioned as a good pedestrian zone. I like it because its shops are directly on the street rather than behind a parking lot. As is much of LoMac (McKinney Ave). Preston Center is also another good place to see pedestrian activity.

For a pedestrian-oriented downtown in an outlying suburb, try downtown McKinney or downtown Denton.

[stargazer]

downtown Mckinney which is historic. Many people live down there in renovated homes and walk to all the neat restaurants and shops. One of my daughter's friends does that daily with her parents.