where I had watched the complex being build from my office before retiring completely. From the distance, of a couple of blocks, I had watched the old mid rises fall to the demolition implosions to the rising frames of the Iron Structural Skeleton of what I saw from my parking lot and had even made an abstract from one of the images, where I had shot a sunset shinning through the I-beams as the structures grew. Then, I had it blown up in size and framed, which I still look at daily.
When the first part of the development was complete, I had driven into the maze of parking structures and stores that opened initially shopping at Dick's Sporting Goods and Whole Foods, which at the time, Whole Foods was the largest Whole Foods in total square footage in the system. It was set up to where it had parking below the store and parking up on top that was raised above grade level by some twenty feet more or less.
The two core buildings that were there before the mid rise fell are still there today. One being the Art Institute of Dallas and the Culinary School next to the Art Institute, behind or across the way originally, but now is right in the heart of all the residential mid-rise living, shops, restaurants etc. The landscaping is exciting and one of the neighboring buildings (a high rise on the south side of the complex now is home to A&M Commerce, part of the Texas A&M University's Commerce,Texas campus which now has a presence in Dallas besides the Dental School near Deep Ellum and the new campus being created in Ft. Worth.
If any of my readers are familiar with the fabled North Park Mall, this complex sits across North Central Expressway on the East Side connected directly from North Park with a bridge crossing US 75 (North Central) between the two complexes. So, in short, the complex is Park Lane south to Blackwell, between US75 and Greenville Avenue. Dart has a rail station across Park Lane at Greenville that runs a shuttle bus to North Park Mall. I walked the blocks just mentioned plus I walked down Blackwell to Shady Grove to a bus stop just before Park Lane and rode it back to the train station. That was 7,000 steps for a total of 2.8 miles. It felt good to be out and walking again.
