By Mitchell Schnurman
mschnurman@ star-telegram.com
Downtown Arlington has the look of a revival, with new development, a flurry of funky restaurants and growing crowds. It's getting some nice reviews, even from usually snarky corners.
"Downtown Arlington isn't cool -- yet,"
D magazine declared last month in a flattering 1,200-word report.
A decade from now, if the momentum keeps growing, people will recall the turning points. They'll cite the opening of Levitt Pavilion, the start and heart of the movement, and the meteoric rise of the University of Texas at Arlington, an economic engine if ever there was one.
Add this to the list: the failure of Glorypark.
That was the proposal for a half-billion dollar development between Cowboys Stadium and Rangers Ballpark. Since the ballpark was built in the early 1990s, sports owners and city leaders dreamed of a town center with shopping, entertainment, hotels and high-rise condos -- an upscale money generator to justify the taxpayer subsidies that went into the stadiums.
That fantastic notion turned out to be a fantasy, at least for the first two decades. But the proposals also sucked all the retail oxygen out of north Arlington.
In spring 2008, Glorypark -- a development pushed by former Rangers owner Tom Hicks -- was officially scrapped, and not long after, downtown began to emerge with a style all its own just a mile-and-a-half away.
At least eight restaurants have opened, all within a short walk of UTA and with a distinct college vibe. The university launched its $158 million College Park project, which includes an impressive arena that tips off this week -- and was once proposed for the Glorypark area.
It's now the anchor for a mixed-use development that will have apartments and retail shops that bleed into the edge of downtown. Last week, the City Council also approved plans for a five-story, $35 million apartment building within throwing distance of College Park.
It's targeted at professors and grad students, and rents for the private housing will be roughly twice the going rate in much of Arlington.
Another private housing center opened last fall, and another is scheduled to be finished in August. They'll accommodate 775 students, and represent at least $35 million more in private investment. College Park will house 600 students starting in August.
By next fall, UTA expects to have more than 5,000 students living on campus and twice that number within a five-mile radius.
This is the kind of critical mass needed to support restaurants, bars and retailers. Many have popped up recently -- The Flying Fish, Twisted Root Burger, The Grease Monkey -- and more are coming.
"We had to wait for Glorypark to die," said Paul Geisel, who came to North Texas in 1970 and taught urban studies at UTA for almost 36 years. "Since I moved here, I've been hearing one plan after another for downtown Arlington, and a lot of people wanted another Southlake Town Square.
"That never was the right model for Arlington," said Geisel, retired at 78. "But it's their time now, and they can create who they really are."
One of those players is 35-year-old Ryan Dodson, who grew up in Arlington and attended the University of Oklahoma. He loved the vibrant restaurant-bar scene in Norman, and when he returned home, was surprised that downtown Arlington didn't have that kind of action.
He and his father bought an old furniture store on East Abram Street. Then they added a Latino church next door, which required buying a church building in Pantego so the congregation could relocate.
In rehabbing the building, they cut an alley in the middle. His "paseo" creates a unique setting that helped land Hooligan's, opening in about a month. Twisted Root Burger and Flying Fish are among his other tenants.
"What's happening downtown is growth from the ground up," said Dodson, adding that prospective customers are calling him now.
Dodson said he has invested more than $2 million and is looking for more land, at the right price. Through city incentives, he recouped some costs for moving a sewer line and adding parking, a nod to the role that tax breaks are playing in this emerging area.
Before beginning his renovation, Dodson took advantage of a program between the city and UTA. At the Arlington Urban Design Center, graduate students helped him develop ideas and draw site plans and renderings, all at no charge.
UTA says developers like Dodson saved more than $600,000 in design costs in the first year of the program. It's one example of how the college and community can come together and how downtown has hitched its wagon to UTA.
Downtown's resurgence was spawned largely by the growth of the university, both in students and ambition. Enrollment is nearly 34,000, an increase of more than a third since 2007, and 3,800 people work there.
More than $300 million has gone to UTA construction projects in the past two years alone.
Over the same time, UTA intensified its push to become a top research university. That led to a tripling of research dollars and a 16 percent increase in tenure and tenure-track positions.
This so-called creative class is more than just additional bodies; they're thought leaders who strengthen the school and city around it.
Mitchell Schnurman's column appears Sundays and Thursdays.817-390-7821Twitter: @mitchschnurman
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