HighPoint Family Living

The HighPoint Family Living development will celebrate its grand opening in late August!

The multi-family complex, the latest in the portfolio of our sister organization, the Central Dallas Community Developmnet Corporation, offers great high quality housing for families and individuals.

Congratulations to John Greenan and his team.

And, a big thank you to Bank of America CDC, our partners in this great endeavor.

Drive by the development at 414 W. Louisiana Avenue here in Dallas.
 

"Not in my back yard". . .and it is a large yard we have!

Dallas housing developer and urban planner, Bob Voelker presents valuable information on a consistent basis from his blog, Fair Housing for Developers.  Voelker pays attention to trends and market realities. 

Recently, he has noted the difficulty experienced by affordable housing developers from all across the country with NIMBYism ("not in my back yard") among neighbors and neighborhood groups who oppose placement of various kinds of affordable housing in proximity to them and/or their property. 

Fact:  no matter how much preparation, advance notice or participation that developers invite, almost every development anywhere near market rate housing or properties faces neighborhood opposition.  That certainly has been true here in Dallas, Texas.

In view of these stories, and many more just like them, from across the U. S., in may be time to modify the Fair Housing Act and other state statutes to define the availability of decent housing as a basic human right. At the end of the day our current experiences as a nation beg the question, "Where are poor people to live?"

Take a look at this limited litany of discrimination and opposition to low-income persons and families.  Many more examples could be produced, but these provide  real insights into the problem. 

Medford, Oregon

Highland Park--Minneapolis, Minnesota area

St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana (racial slurs painted on buildings)

Schereville, Indiana

Durham, North Carolina

Montclair, New Jersey (housing for people with mental health issues)

Clovis, New Mexico

Westchester County, New York

San Francisco, California

Thanks, Bob for the enlightening, but disturbing reports.  Keep up your good work.

Press Release: Love Downtown? Live Downtown!

City Walk @ Akard Offers Opportunity for High Quality, Affordable Housing


Apartments in the heart of downtown, conveniently located near transportation, business, and entertainment are now available, offering a unique opportunity to live downtown, where residents can enjoy high rise living without the high prices.

Dallas, TX., September 21, 2010 --- City Walk @Akard is more than a recently renovated 15-story apartment building. It is a unique opportunity – an opportunity for moderate income wage earners to have a convenient, new apartment home set in the heart of downtown – an opportunity to live in a historic building that offers many of the same amenities found in upscale, urban high-rises but at a range of affordable prices.

Marble lobbies welcome residents and guests. A 24-hour doorman and on-site management provide worry-free living. City Walk @ Akard provides fun with an on-site activity director and a community room complete with organized youth activities, a fitness center, library, computer room, game room and music sound room.

Available now, loft-style apartments are being offered by Central Dallas Community Development Corporation, Central Dallas Ministries’ nonprofit, housing developer. “Central Dallas CDC's goal is to bring beautiful, sustainable design to housing for people at any income level,” explained John Greenan, Executive Director at City Walk. Units come furnished with appliances, stainless steel lighting fixtures, painted accent walls, cabinets, and polished floors, plus free WiFi access and on-site laundry facilities. Electricity, Heat/ & Air conditioning are included in rent. Most apartments have spectacular views of the Dallas skyline!

City Walk @ Akard has easy access to all major thoroughfares and is a short walk to the DART Rail and all public transportation. According to Andrew Fortunato, executive consultant to City Walk, “affordable housing is an asset to residents and our community.” Residents can enjoy downtown shopping, dining and entertainment all right outside their “front door”. For those individuals who work downtown or who are looking to live close to transportation, City Walk offers convenience and affordability.

City Walk is more than an opportunity to live in a beautiful high-rise building. It is an opportunity to “move-up”! To learn more about all that City Walk has to offer, go to www.citywalkatakard.com or call 214.468-8826.

# # # #

For more information on contents of this release, please contact: Lou Ann York 214.343.1599 or lapub@sbcglobal.net

Dallas Observer reports on Grand Opening. . .

Check out the report from The Dallas Observer today. . .

Great media coverage of CityWalk Grand Opening!

We enjoyed great media coverage on last evening's "grand opening" at CityWalk!

Check it out. . .

here. . .

and here.

Possibly more later!  Thanks to all who supported us through this entire process!

Check out article in The Dallas Morning News today about CityWalk@Akard!

Great story by Kim Horner in this morning's edition of The Dallas Morning News concerning our CityWalk development!

Here's how it begins:

Low-income development is changing minds in downtown Dallas

By KIM HORNER / The Dallas Morning News
khorner@dallasnews.com

Skeptics envisioned a skid row when developers first proposed 200 downtown apartments for low-income and formerly homeless residents.

Sharon Denise Tillis, who used to live in a shelter, was among the first to move into CityWalk@Akard, a new low-income housing development. The waiting list has 300 people on it.

But so far, the project, CityWalk@Akard, has not lived up to those fears.

The 15-story apartment building opened just three months ago, and only 10 residents have moved in so far. But neighboring property owners say the project has already improved, rather than hurt, the neighborhood.

To read the full report click here.

CityWalk@Akard: Photos

To get a glimpse of our newly restored, Downtown office tower, know at CityWalk@ Akard, click here.

The project is mixed-use: office and retail. . .

Mixed-income: 200 units of affordable housing with 50 units reserved for formerly homeless persons and 6 market rate, for sale condos.

Our grand opening will be Thursday, March 25 from 4:30 to 7:00 p.m.

Finally! CityWalk@Akard opens!

The "Green Tag" to the left allows us to begin moving into CityWalk @Akard after four years of hard work, peristence, creativity, and at times courage and great faith on the part of John Greenan, Executive Director of the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation, and his great team!

  Central Dallas Ministries will move headquarters to the new location on January 19!  Included in the move will be all our administration and development departments, our public interest law firm and, of course our partners, the Central Dallas CDC. 

It's been a long time coming, but the wait and the hard work finally paid off! 

I love what John wrote about receiving the authorization to move into the building:

  Central Dallas CDC’s Christmas Present is a Green Tag

This, friends, is a temporary certificate of occupancy for CityWalk, and there could not be a better Christmas present for us:

The temporary certificate of occupancy means the City of Dallas inspectors have now given us permission to occupy a portion of CityWalk—the basement through the fifth floor.

By the time you read this blog, we will have had at least one lease signed and before the end of the year, people will be living at CityWalk. Some of them people who are now living in their car or at a shelter.

Finally, after more than four years of work, we have found a place at the inn for some of our brothers and sisters to in out of the cold. There couldn’t be any better way for us to celebrate the season

Indeed, what a grand way to celebrate Christmas!

CityWalk@Akard "Topping Off" Celebration

On Thursday, August 6, 2009, KEY Construction hosted a traditional "topping off" celebration at CityWalk@Akard!

Well over 100 laborers have worked on the project to bring much needed workforce and permanent supportive housing to Downtown Dallas! Many of them sat down with a crowd of our guests for a meal to mark the completion of the basics inside the adaptive reuse project.

Central Dallas Ministries and our landlord, Central Dallas Community Development Corporation, will move into new 3rd floor offices in late September or early October.

By the end of 2009 we expect the building to be fully leased up!

The project has been complicated, challenging and difficult. . .but, completely worth it!

It was great to sit down with the workers who've made it all possible.

The video below is very low-tech with little artistic value!

It is a simple attempt to capture roving images of the men who have worked so hard on the project.

TACDC Features Central Dallas CDC!

The Texas Association of Community Development Corporations featured the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation on its "Spotlight Page" on its most recent website posting.

Take a look here.

Kudos to John Greenan and company for the great work and vision!

Really cool stuff. . .be sure and check it out and then, tell me what you think.

.

CityWalk@Akard: An Ongoing Report--Part 4

The CityWalk@Akard project contains a number of 2 bedroom apartments designed primarily for mothers with one or two children.

All of our apartments are great homes right Downtown for the people who work there and want to live nearby.

I wish you could see them.

Maybe this will help you get a better view of the development!

U. S. Housing: A crisis of affordability

With so much attention of media and business journalism focused on the current, and very fragile, housing value “bubble,” it is easy to miss another extremely important national housing story.

The United States faces a growing shortage in affordable housing. The shortage is reaching crisis proportions as it continues to grow.

Fourteen million American households now spend more than 50% of their income to cover housing costs or they live in substandard housing conditions. For some households it is both.

In 70% of the nation’s 200 largest metropolitan areas, middle class workers (nurses, teachers, janitors, retail clerks, firemen and police officers) don’t earn enough to qualify to purchase even a modest home.

In Dallas, Texas, one of the nation’s wealthiest areas, only 42% of the households occupy homes that they own.

Over the past ten years, the U. S. lost 2,000,000 affordable rental homes because of soaring markets, the decline of federal housing subsidies, owner divestment and age and deterioration.

Hard fact of life in the USA: For every new affordable unit built, two are razed, abandoned or redeveloped as high cost rentals.

The affordable housing crisis connects to a host of other urban challenges. Housing and community environment are crucial factors for success and vigor when it comes to public education, economic development, public safety, employment, transportation and health/wellness.

Current public policy regarding housing steps away from citizens at the bottom of the economic ladder in favor of homeowners at the upper reaches of the economy. The continuation of such an approach will only deepen and broaden the severity of a range of pressing urban problems confronting inner city neighborhoods.

We need a new vision and many new voices.

[Facts informing this post were found at In Focus—MacArthur Foundation, “Deepening Our Knowledge about How Housing Matters”]