Richardson Creates a Land for Future Giants

by Shawn Shinnenman

 

In June, the city of Richardson joined the Better Block Foundation to throw a party in a burgeoning neighborhood. Inside what’s for now being called the Collins/Arapaho Transit-Oriented Development and Innovation District—a place filled with generally uninviting, aging, one-story manufacturing buildings—workers trotted out food trucks, brought in live music, and invited anyone who works in, lives in, or visits the area.

  

More than anything, the block party served as a preview of what the city wants this pocket to become. It was held behind the buildings on grass, where a couple of temporary bridges brought together both sides of a stream that has long split the development with the other. Employees have been known to walk around the area’s many parking lots after lunch for exercise, but here, they were made privy to a new trail the city plans to install, weaving back and forth across the stream. Chairs and picnic tables added some needed life to the green space. “I was incredibly impressed with the turnout,” says Krista Nightengale, managing director at the Better Block. 

 

The vision crystallized. Among the efforts, the city is pushing to redevelop massive parking lots that sit adjacent to the Arapaho Center DART Station, rethinking that station as a multi-use entry point to the district. 

 

Greenville Avenue, which runs by the station, will have lanes taken out, pedestrian touches put in, and a nice, wide bike lane added, likely to be set off from the street with a median. Doug McDonald, planning projects manager at the city, says he’s already getting calls from developers. For good reason—studies show these walkable spaces provide more bang per developer buck.   

 

 

To read the full article on D Magazine's website, click here.