Redevelopment helps revitalize Southern Dallas

Red Bird Mall in southern Dallas was an emptying relic of the 1980s and 1990s boom times. The redeveloped Shops at Red Bird is now so busy that new highway exits are being planned to help ease traffic flow.

The mall was renamed Southwest Center Mall in the late ’90s, and developers discussed whether to adopt the legacy Red Bird Mall name, since it had come to represent the rash of emptying shopping malls across the country. But the project’s investors said they now hope to make Red Bird synonymous with the kind of revitalization they’re bringing to life in southern Dallas.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Lorie Logan met with leaders of the redevelopment to tour a reimagined Red Bird Mall at the intersection of Interstate 35 and Interstate 20. Investors bought the property eight years ago with a vision of a mixed-use commercial and residential hub, and the City of Dallas pitched in support. The property now boasts a hive of retail staples, office space, apartments and medical services that locals long had to travel north to access.

Project leaders told Logan they are raising new capital for more development in the area. A new call center will bring additional jobs. More apartments with community spaces and a pool are going up. A UT Southwestern medical facility has expansion plans for specialized care. At a recent job fair, 75 prospective workers were offered positions in a single day, leaders said.

After many grocery stores shunned southern Dallas for years, residents are collaborating on homegrown retail.

Recognizing the need for access to fresh groceries in the southern Dallas food desert, Cornerstone Baptist Church and The Real Estate Council Foundation opened Southpoint Community Market in the summer of 2021. This grocery store serves an area where nearly 30 percent of residents do not earn a living wage, providing fresh produce and even offering a commercial kitchen where entrepreneurs can create food items to sell at the market.

Creating employment opportunities involves more than attracting companies to the region. It requires a local workforce with the skills employers need.

UNT Dallas is the city’s only public accredited four-year institution and serves predominantly students of color and women. President Logan visited the school’s president, Robert Mong, and met students in the Trailblazers program, designed to guide first-generation students into new careers. Mong said about 95 percent of UNT Dallas students are local to the region and typically graduate with no debt or debt they can repay within 10 years. A new science facility is projected to open in 2025 to help grow Dallas’ pipeline of science, technology, engineering and math professionals.

Another barrier to work for southern Dallas residents is transportation. Curtis Corbins spoke with President Logan about his transportation company that connects the southern Dallas workforce to higher-paying jobs across the region. His organization, Southern Dallas Link, operates a job board and a fleet of 22 vehicles that help applicants and employees from southern Dallas access jobs that pay living wages.

Bounded by Interstate 30 and the Trinity River, West Dallas was historically dominated by industrial buildings and a concentration of public housing. When redevelopment occurs, the neighborhood’s longstanding residents do not always share in the benefits.

Builders of Hope Chief Executive Officer James Armstrong told President Logan he aims to fill the missing middle, a term used to describe clustered homes priced below market rate but above traditional low-income housing.

Research from the Dallas Fed early in 2023 shows that inflation disproportionately hurts low-income people, and particularly those who rent. Builders of Hope intends to help people buy their homes. The Dallas-certified community housing development organization partnered with Greenleaf Ventures to build a complex of 20 single-family homes priced around $200,000 each for families making 80 percent or less of the area median income of roughly $58,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Private banks and the City of Dallas also provided funding alongside federal government dollars.

As part of the deal, buyers will immediately receive equity upon purchase and access to a neighborhood empowerment center, which will provide financial services, credit counseling and potentially even workforce training. While the development is still in the works, this project hopes to make homeownership accessible, in addition to building upon the existing sense of community by providing valuable resources to its residents.