UT Arlington and the city join forces to revive downtown "College Park Center" Very nice (Houston: apartments, condo)

[Exult.Q36]

Nice to see Arlington has finally realized UTA is the key to the cities future. College Park Center is just the beginning of many great things in stored for Downtown Arlington. You got to love the fact Arlington is moving towards a more urban feel with emphasis on downtown Arlington revitalization. Los Colinas watch out!!!


http://media.star-telegram.com/smedia/2012/02/01/22/36/1nI5AG.St.58.jpg (broken link)

http://media.star-telegram.com/smedia/2012/02/01/22/38/PgAE4.St.58.jpg (broken link)


http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/02...city-join.html

[Squirl]

Las Colinas (Spanish words that end in "a" are preceded by Las, end in "o" are preceded by "Los") is not worried about Arlington stealing their downtown area. Although I bet Valley Ranch is a bit worried about the long term viability of the Cowboys training camp staying in Irving.

Arlington and Irving are several miles apart. They are in different counties and attract different types of residents.....those who want to live close to Dallas vs. those who want to live close to FTW. And I always think of the section of North Arlington that's north of I-30, as more like Euless/Hurst in character.....not like the rest of Arlington.

[k_s]

I went to UTA, so I'm very happy with where the campus and city are going. I do agree with Squirl -- Arlington and Las Colinas residents are not the same, so I don't think the latter is going to be affected by the advances.

There is more information about the development here: College Park District - The University of Texas at Arlington

[Exult.Q36]

Originally Posted by Squirl

Las Colinas (Spanish words that end in "a" are preceded by Las, end in "o" are preceded by "Los") is not worried about Arlington stealing their downtown area. Although I bet Valley Ranch is a bit worried about the long term viability of the Cowboys training camp staying in Irving.

Arlington and Irving are several miles apart. They are in different counties and attract different types of residents.....those who want to live close to Dallas vs. those who want to live close to FTW. And I always think of the section of North Arlington that's north of I-30, as more like Euless/Hurst in character.....not like the rest of Arlington.

Ok...Now that was not meant to be taking so literally....

[sywi]

What are the other college-town-like enclaves in the DFW area? (I'm slightly more interested in FW.) College Park-Arlington sounds appealing but also like they just broke ground on it.

[Squirl]

Originally Posted by sywi

What are the other college-town-like enclaves in the DFW area? (I'm slightly more interested in FW.) College Park-Arlington sounds appealing but also like they just broke ground on it.

TCU and SMU areas are the most notable. Texas Christian University (FTW); Southern Methodist University (Dallas)

[flyntexn]

Ten years ago I went to school at uta along with my wife, lived in the dorm next door to college park, lived in the now demolished apartments where a park is now, and still live in the neighborhood about two miles away. What UTA has done with just Pecan, Mitchell to downtown is pretty neat. It used to be a ghost town on weekends as the few that actually lived on campus ALWAYS left to Houston, Ellis county, or whatever locale they called home it certainly was not Arlington. Nobody cared about uta ever unless it was academically related (the school seemed to have a more prevalent image in some foreign countries than other parts of texas) . The college life just didn't happen. I have been very excited and skeptical during this transition but overall the face of the city center is drastically improving. Restaurants along downtown was just unheard of years ago when all you would see is an old man pedaling his ice cream bike down the road and junk cars sitting around apartments from the 1960s.

I have some reservations about all the buying of image and not creating cultures. Will uta ever have an Austin drag, it doesn't seem like it? That was built over decades of creation and festivals that are attended by the entire world. It will take more than some light retail shoved under resort condo dormitories and a once a year oozeball as long as we are not in a drought. And don't forget our president has vowed to never have football while he is in position.

A couple key things for helping this village center grow: Our davis st neighbor coalition that hates bikes and anything that changes their street from 1965, if you want people to walk more and bike more keeping them very near and local you have to facilitate it. Arlington needs to work on getting transits from using Davis for a commute across town along with a couple other streets. This is key for opening the neighborhood access up for students, professors, and other professionals (gasp) walking to work and school. I know they hate the new dorm/apartments too and I sort of agree with them, though its dumping hundreds of students into the neighborhood. If there are more things to do, a local grocer to buy food for less than the 5/box wallgreens cereal, and open areas people will have less and less need to drive and create traffic diminishing the village feel.

Go downtown and get a pizza, mellow mushroom is great! Come support our village

[sywi]

I won this fellowship to study at the Centers for Disease Control for two weeks and they spent an entire day on how crucial walkable communities are to public health. Sidewalks and crosswalks to start with. It can be done. And it's important. We die of lifestyle diseases these days. The lifestyle being "sedentary." It's hard to avoid, when you can't walk across the street because there's no crosswalk.
I think these plans are a great idea. My home town was designed that way and it was an amazing place to grow up. No traffic problems; we kids rode our bikes everywhere; town had its own center and restaurants and bookstores; going for a walk was a pleasure.
It can be done. Just needs a little vision and planning.

[naterator]

I went to UTA for undergrad as well. My wife and I currently live in a great neighborhood in SW Arlington, not far from the lake. It had been a while since we drove through Arlington, and yuck!!

I forgot how gritty the inner part of Arlington is. Taking the scenic route going south from 183, you get to see the landfill, topless "entertainment", miles of unkempt storefronts, old, unkempt housing, two very nice, very expensive, and very empty stadiums, then more miles of unkempt storefronts, ancient apartments and, tragically, what look to be - almost NEW (within the last 10-15 years) - falling apart fences and subdivisions...it doesn't break until you hit Mansfield.

I'd like to say I was surprised. But not really. Arlington has historically been a case study in poor planning. I was hoping the tide had turned in the 15? or so years since I graduated from UTA, but it looks like not. I guess this is what people think when you say you live in "Arlington". Which explains the looks of confusion and sympathy. And when they visit our neighborhood, some have actually said, "this is Arlington? It looks more like Connecticut".

I really hope the College Park idea takes root, much like Sundance Square did in Fort worth almost 30 years ago. Arlington has the best location in the metroplex. They need to find a way to create a place where people actually want to live, not just attend professional sporting events.

[JJG]

I was in Arlington the other weekend and I have two things to say:

- I LOVE CPC and what they're trying to do.

- Arlington has NO downtown what so ever. So this should help a ton.