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Downtown Dallas is the central business district (CBD) of
Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...
, United States, located in the geographic center of the city. It is the second-largest business district in the state of Texas. The area termed "Downtown" has traditionally been defined as bounded by the downtown freeway loop, bounded on the east by I-345 (although known and signed as the northern terminus of I-45 and the southern terminus of US 75 ( Central Expressway), on the west by I-35E, on the south by I-30, and on the north by Woodall Rodgers Freeway. The strong organic growth of Downtown Dallas since the early 2000s and continuing into the present has now resulted in Downtown Dallas, Inc.'s expansion of the term "Downtown" to include the explosive growth occurring immediately north of the Woodall Rodgers Freeway in the Victory Park and Uptown/Turtle Creek Districts, as well as past Central Expressway to the east in the Deep Ellum and Bryan Place Districts, past Interstate 30 to the south with the Cedars District, and jumping over Interstate 35E to the west to include the Design District and Lower Oak Lawn. In total, 15 districts now form "Downtown". Downtown Dallas is now viewed as an interconnected grouping of dense and urban center city districts, that while unique in their own right, also share strong urban linkages to each other and collectively participate in their role as Downtown Dallas.


History

Downtown Dallas achieved notoriety on November 22, 1963, with the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle with ...
. Both President Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally (who survived) were shot as their motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in what is now the West End Historic District. Part of the former
Texas School Book Depository The Texas School Book Depository, now known as the Dallas County Administration Building, is a seven-floor building facing Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. The building was Lee Harvey Oswald's vantage point during the assassination of United Sta ...
is now the Sixth Floor Museum, with exhibits about Kennedy and the assassination. Nearby is the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Memorial. The building boom of the 1970s and 1980s produced a distinctive contemporary profile for the downtown skyline influenced by nationally prominent architects. At the same time, the establishment of the West End Historic District in the 1980s preserved a very large group of late 19th-century brick warehouses that have been adapted for use as restaurants and shops. With the construction of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts in the Arts District of Downtown, Dallas will be the only city in the world that has four buildings within one contiguous block designed by four separate and distinguished Pritzker Architecture Prize winners. Downtown Dallas has also gained more recent national attention for the 2016 shooting of police officers and the 2019 courthouse shooting.


Expansion

The area has been undergoing a transition as dozens of residential conversions and new high-rise condominiums bringing more permanent residents to the downtown area. (See: North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG).) As of 2017, an estimated 10,766 residents lived within the area. Its redeveloped Main Street has recently become more of a place for Dallasites to play after several restaurants, hotels, and residential towers opened their doors along the strip. Downtown's growth can partially be attributed to
Dallas Area Rapid Transit Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is a transit agency serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex of Texas. It operates buses, light rail, commuter rail, and high-occupancy vehicle lanes in Dallas and twelve of its suburbs. In , the system ha ...
's four light rail lines and one commuter line Trinity Railway Express that run through Downtown and an aggressive stance taken by the city to drive development at all costs. The city has invested $160 million of
public funds Government spending or expenditure includes all government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. In national income accounting, the acquisition by governments of goods and services for current use, to directly satisfy the individual o ...
in Downtown Dallas for residential development that attracted $650 million of private investment. Two of the first new-construction office building projects downtown in over 20 years broke ground in 2005—
One Arts Plaza One Arts Plaza is a 24-story skyscraper located at 1722 Routh Street in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas (USA). The mixed-use building stands at a structural height of and contains of class A office space, of retail space, and 60 r ...
, a 24-story mixed-use office, retail, residential development in the Arts District, which is the new home of 7-Eleven's world headquarters; and the vibrant, 17-story Hunt Consolidated office building, with its spectacular, state-of-the-art LED exterior lighting, which is the national headquarters for and fully occupied by Hunt Oil. Additionally, the $200 million, 42-story Museum Tower residential skyscraper in the Downtown Dallas Arts District was completed in 2013. Importantly, the Trinity River Corridor is poised to undergo a significant transformation (the
Trinity River Project The Trinity River Project is a public works project undertaken in the 2000s in the city of Dallas, Texas, United States. Its goal is to redevelop the Trinity River. The project aims to turn the river's path into a collection of sports fields, trail ...
) into a giant urban park. The park is expected to include an equestrian center, lakes, trails, and three bridges designed by
Santiago Calatrava Santiago Calatrava Valls (born 28 July 1951) is a Spanish architect, structural engineer, sculptor and painter, particularly known for his bridges supported by single leaning pylons, and his railway stations, stadiums, and museums, whose sculp ...
. Funding over the years, however, has been a constant problem, though serious work on the project now appears eminent, with the first two bridges having received significant private backing.


Culture

Downtown Dallas has undergone a series of important changes that city officials believe will drastically improve the city's core. These changes are located in four downtown areas: Victory Park, the Arts District, the Trinity River, and the Convention Center corridor. Victory Park, named one of the nation's most successful brownfield reclamation projects, is home to the
American Airlines Center The American Airlines Center (AAC) is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Victory Park neighborhood in downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena serves as the home of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association and the Dallas St ...
, built in 2001, and several new high-rise hotels, residential towers, and office buildings, including the 33-story "W Dallas Victory Hotel and Residences" (2006), the 28-story "Cirque" residential tower (2007), the 29-story "The House" residential tower (2008), and the 20-story "One Victory Park" office tower (2009), and near Victory Park the new "Perot Museum of Nature and Science", a $185 million, 14-story, ultra-modern addition to Downtown Dallas that opened in late 2012. The Dallas Arts District, already one of the world's largest, recently completed the final stages of a massive 10-year construction project that resulted in a 2,300-seat opera house, a series of theaters, residential space, retail, parks, and a gleaming, 42-story residential tower known as Museum Tower that opened in 2013. One of the prominent attractions in the Arts District is the Dallas Museum of Art. Of all the changes in downtown Dallas, the Trinity River corridor is undergoing the most dramatic. Currently, the river runs in an artificially straight line a large distance from any part of downtown, but Dallas is in the process of returning the river to its natural course, creating two large lakes to border the downtown area, and has commissioned two large cable-stayed bridges to be built across the river and new lakes. Dubbed the
Trinity River Project The Trinity River Project is a public works project undertaken in the 2000s in the city of Dallas, Texas, United States. Its goal is to redevelop the Trinity River. The project aims to turn the river's path into a collection of sports fields, trail ...
by local officials, plans are also in place for improved levees to protect downtown from possible flooding. Separated from Victory Park and the Arts District by the Downtown CBD is the Convention Center corridor, which hosts the over 2 million-ft2
Dallas Convention Center The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center (KBHCCD) (formerly Dallas Convention Center) is a convention center in the Convention Center District of downtown Dallas, Texas. The "Dallas Memorial Auditorium" was a standalone multipurpose arena, de ...
. The Omni Dallas Hotel is a new, 23-story, convention-center hotel that opened in 2011. Dallas hopes these changes will bring more permanent residents into the downtown area; as of the 2010 Census the downtown population has grown to 5,291 from the 1,000 citizens who lived in downtown at the end of the 20th century. The City of Dallas, along with several nonprofit organizations, constructed a $110 million urban deck park over Woodall Rodgers Freeway to create a physically seamless
Uptown Uptown may refer to: Neighborhoods or regions in several cities United States * Uptown, entertainment district east of Downtown and Midtown Albuquerque, New Mexico * Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina * Uptown, area surrounding the University of Ci ...
/Downtown District; the urban deck park opened in 2012. The 5.2-acre urban green space, named the Klyde Warren Park, further strengthens the existing synergy between the Uptown real estate market and the booming development occurring in the Downtown Dallas Arts District, which together help further the continuing growth and redevelopment of Downtown Dallas. The park is often called an "urban oasis" due to its unique location and features.


Major employers

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile ...
is headquartered at the Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas; AT&T moved to Dallas from
San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...
in 2008.
Mayor of Dallas The Mayor of the City of Dallas is the head of the Dallas City Council. The current mayor is Eric Johnson, who has served one term since 2019 and is the 62nd mayor to serve the position. Dallas operates under a weak-mayor system, and a board- ...
Tom Leppert Thomas Chris Leppert (born June 15, 1954) is an American businessman and politician who is the former CEO of Kaplan, Inc., one of the world's largest education providers. He had oversight of the company's operating divisions (Kaplan Test Prep an ...
said in 2008 that he hoped that AT&T would stay in the central city. Comerica is headquartered in the Comerica Bank Tower.
TM Advertising TM Advertising was an independent brand creative agency in Dallas, Texas. It closed down in 2019 after 85 years in business. History The company was founded in 1934 as Glenn Advertising, which was then renamed to Glenn, Bozell & Jacobs in 1973. ...
has its headquarters in the same building.Hethcock, Bill. "Large ad agency cites area's vibrancy in decision to return." '' Dallas Business Journal''. December 9, 2007. p
2
Retrieved October 17, 2010.
Tenet Healthcare is headquartered in the
Fountain Place Fountain Place is a 60-story late-modernist skyscraper in downtown Dallas, Texas. Standing at a structural height of , it is the fifth-tallest building in Dallas, and the 15th-tallest in Texas. (If the antennas and spires of the Renaissance T ...
building in Downtown Dallas. The company announced in 2008 that it was moving from the northern suburban areas of Dallas to Fountain Place due to high gasoline prices and the revitalization of Downtown Dallas. Belo and A. H. Belo have their headquarters in the Belo Building. 7-Eleven has its corporate headquarters in the
One Arts Plaza One Arts Plaza is a 24-story skyscraper located at 1722 Routh Street in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas (USA). The mixed-use building stands at a structural height of and contains of class A office space, of retail space, and 60 r ...
building. Energy Future Holdings Corporation has its headquarters in the
Energy Plaza Energy Plaza is a skyscraper in the City Center District of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States, north of Thanks-Giving Square at 1601 Bryan Street. Designed by I.M. Pei and Partners, the building is and 49 stories, making it the ninth-talles ...
complex. Greyhound Lines is located at 350 North St. Paul Street. '' The Dallas Morning News'' has its headquarters in Downtown. Neiman Marcus has its headquarters in One Neiman Square in Downtown. The Trammell Crow Company has its headquarters in the
Trammell Crow Center Trammell Crow Center is a 50-story postmodern skyscraper at 2001 Ross Avenue in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas. With a structural height of , and to the roof, it is the sixth-tallest building in Dallas and the 18th-tallest in the ...
. The
KPMG Centre 717 Harwood is a skyscraper in Downtown Dallas, Texas. The building rises . It contains 34 floors, and was completed in 1980. 717 Harwood currently stands as the 22nd-tallest building in the city. The building is well known for its sloping e ...
in Downtown Dallas has the Dallas offices of
KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...
and
Sidley Austin Sidley Austin LLP is an American multinational law firm with approximately 2,000 lawyers in 20 offices worldwide. The firm's headquarters is at One South Dearborn in Chicago's Loop. The firm specializes in a variety of areas in both litigati ...
.
Which Wich? Which Wich Superior Sandwiches is an American fast casual restaurant chain specializing in sandwiches and salads. It has its headquarters in Downtown Dallas, Texas. , it has 404 locations open in 36 U.S. states as well as the District of Colum ...
has its headquarters in Downtown Dallas. Deloitte has its offices in the JPMorgan Chase Tower.
Visitdallas VisitDallas, formerly known as the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau, is a 501(c)(6) contracted by the City of Dallas to market Dallas as a convention and tourist destination. In January 2019, the Government of Dallas released an audit ...
, the 501(c)(6) contracted by the City of Dallas to increase tourism and attract conventions, is headquartered in downtown
Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...
.


Neighborhoods


Within Loop

* Arts District * City Center District * Convention Center District * Farmers Market District * Government District * Main Street District * Reunion District * West End Historic District


Outside Loop

* Trinity/Design District * Victory Park (also considered part of the Stemmons Corridor or Oak Lawn) *
Uptown Uptown may refer to: Neighborhoods or regions in several cities United States * Uptown, entertainment district east of Downtown and Midtown Albuquerque, New Mexico * Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina * Uptown, area surrounding the University of Ci ...
(also considered part of Oak Lawn) * State Thomas (also considered part of Oak Lawn) *
Bryan Place Bryan Place is a neighborhood in Old East Dallas, Texas (USA). It is east of the Arts District of downtown and the State Thomas neighborhood, north of Deep Ellum, south of Cityplace and west of Munger Place. Its boundaries are generally consi ...
(also considered part of East Dallas) * Baylor-Meadows (also considered part of East Dallas) * Deep Ellum (also considered part of East Dallas) *
Fair Park Fair Park is a recreational and educational complex in Dallas, Texas, United States, located immediately east of downtown. The area is registered as a Dallas Landmark and National Historic Landmark; many of the buildings were constructed for t ...
(also considered part of East Dallas) * Cedars (also considered part of South Dallas)


Tallest structures

# Bank of America Plaza - # Renaissance Tower - # Comerica Bank Tower - # JPMorgan Chase Tower - #
Fountain Place Fountain Place is a 60-story late-modernist skyscraper in downtown Dallas, Texas. Standing at a structural height of , it is the fifth-tallest building in Dallas, and the 15th-tallest in Texas. (If the antennas and spires of the Renaissance T ...
- #
Trammell Crow Center Trammell Crow Center is a 50-story postmodern skyscraper at 2001 Ross Avenue in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas. With a structural height of , and to the roof, it is the sixth-tallest building in Dallas and the 18th-tallest in the ...
686 ft (209 m) #
1700 Pacific 1700 Pacific is a skyscraper located at 1700 Pacific Avenue in the City Center District of Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metrop ...
655 ft (200 m) #
Thanksgiving Tower Santander Tower is a 50-story, skyscraper at 1601 Elm Street adjacent to Thanks-Giving Square in downtown Dallas Texas. At its completion in 1982, it was the second tallest building in Dallas, surpassing Elm Place. One year later, with the ...
645 ft (197 m) # Energy Plasa 629 ft (192 mt) #
The Drever The National is a 52-story, skyscraper in the Main Street district of downtown Dallas, Texas, adjacent to the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Akard Station. It is the tenth tallest building in the city. In January 2010 the building was clo ...
628 ft (191 mt)


Transportation

Downtown Dallas is surrounded by a major highway loop composed of, from the north and clockwise, Spur 366 (Woodall Rodgers Freeway), unsigned Interstate 345 (connecting U.S. Highway 75 (Central Expressway) to the north and Interstate 45 to the south), Interstate 30, and Interstate 35E. The loop is the center of Dallas's hub-and-spoke highway system, which can be likened to a wagon wheel. U.S. Highway 67 is carried through downtown on Interstate 35E to the south and Interstate 30 to the east, and U.S. Highway 175 and the Dallas North Tollway join with other major highways within a mile of downtown. Downtown is the center of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) light-rail system. The and light-rail lines run through, from south to north, Convention Center, Union, West End, Akard, St Paul, and Pearl stations. The commuter train, which connects Downtown Fort Worth with Downtown Dallas, terminates at Union Station. Union Station also has
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...
service, with trains connecting to
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
and
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
. The McKinney Avenue Transit Authority operates the M-Line, a free trolley service that runs down St. Paul Street from Uptown and terminates at Ross Avenue. North from downtown, it travels to McKinney Avenue from St. Paul, runs through the LoMac neighborhood, and finally loops around the West Village along Blackburn and Cole Avenues. A spur adjacent to the West Village runs to
Cityplace Station Cityplace/Uptown station (formerly Cityplace station) is a DART Light Rail station located in Dallas, Texas. It is located beneath North Central Expressway (US 75) at Haskell Avenue in the Cityplace district. As an infill DART station, it opened ...
. Greyhound Lines operates a terminal at 205 South Lamar Street. DART operates the West and East Transfer Centers as hubs for its public bus system. The Denton County Transportation Authority operates an express commuter bus route that serves two stops in Denton, one stop in Lewisville, and another that makes two stops, one in Denton and another in Carrollton. The Dallas Pedestrian Network is a system of grade-separated walkways covering 36 city blocks under Downtown Dallas. The system connects buildings, garages, and parks through tunnels and above-ground skybridges. The network contains an underground city of shops, restaurants, and offices during weekday business hours. The
Dallas CBD Vertiport Dallas CBD Vertiport is a city-owned public heliport/vertiport in the city of Dallas, Dallas County, Texas, United States. The facility is located at the south end of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in the Dallas Central Business D ...
, located at the south end of the Convention Center, is claimed to be the world's largest elevated heliport/vertiport. The facility has two 60 x 60 ft. (18 x 18 m) concrete helipads. Federal Aviation Administration. Effective 26 April 2018. and of flight deck, and is capable of handling tiltrotor aircraft such as the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey.


Media

'' D Magazine'', Dallas Morning News,
WFAA WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur-licensed Estrella TV affiliate KMPX (channel 29), w ...
, and KDFW are headquartered in Downtown.


Government and infrastructure

Dallas City Hall is located in Downtown Dallas. The Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals is located in the George L. Allen, Sr. Courts Building in Downtown Dallas. The
United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...
operates the Downtown Dallas Post Office at 400 North Ervay Street.
J. Erik Jonsson Central Library The J. Erik Jonsson Central Library is the Main Library Branch of the Dallas Public Library system. It is located at 1515 Young Street in the Government District of downtown Dallas, Texas, directly across from Dallas City Hall. About The struc ...
, the largest and main library of the Dallas Public Library system, is located downtown.


Education


Primary and secondary schools


Public schools

Downtown Dallas is served by the
Dallas Independent School District The Dallas Independent School District (Dallas ISD or DISD) is a school district based in Dallas, Texas ( USA). It operates schools in much of Dallas County and is the second-largest school district in Texas and the seventeenth-largest in ...
. Three schools:
Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (BTWHSPVA) is a public secondary school located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. Booker T. Washington HSPVA enrolls students in grades 9- 12 and ...
,
Dr. Wright L. Lassiter Jr. Early College High School Dr. Wright L. Lassiter Jr. Early College High School (LECHS), formerly Middle College High School, is a public high school located at El Centro College in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is a part of the Dallas Independent School District The D ...
at El Centro College, and the Pegasus School of Liberal Arts and Sciences are located downtown. The Pegasus Complex is also in downtown. The neighborhood schools for Downtown are outside of the loop. Almost all of Downtown (inside the loop) is zoned to Ben Milam Elementary School, with a small section zoned to Ignacio Zaragoza Elementary School. All residents of Downtown (inside the loop) are zoned to Alex W. Spence Middle School and North Dallas High School. City Park Elementary School in Cedars served southern parts of Downtown until it closed in 2012.2012-13 Martin Luther King Jr. Learning Center Attendance Zone
"
Dallas Independent School District The Dallas Independent School District (Dallas ISD or DISD) is a school district based in Dallas, Texas ( USA). It operates schools in much of Dallas County and is the second-largest school district in Texas and the seventeenth-largest in ...
. Retrieved on April 26, 2017.
Other elementary schools that formerly served Downtown include Martin Luther King Jr., Sam Houston, and Esperanza "Hope" Medrano. Middle schools formerly serving sections include Billy Earl Dade and Thomas J. Rusk. James Madison High School formerly served parts of Downtown. Luna Academy, a K-3, 6 charter school of Uplift Education, is in Downtown Dallas. It used to be called Laureate, but there were other schools with the name and if they did not change it they would have been sued.


Private school

Residents are also served by First Baptist Academy of Dallas, a college preparatory Pre-K through 12 school located in the city center district of downtown Dallas. Holy Trinity Catholic School is a nearby centrally located private school providing early education to three-year-olds through eighth grade. It is supported by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas.


Colleges and universities

El Centro College of the Dallas College is in downtown. The University of North Texas, located to the northwest in Denton, opened a law school downtown. The University of Texas at Arlington,
Texas A&M University-Commerce Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, and University of North Texas offer degree programs at the
Universities Center at Dallas The Universities Center at Dallas is part of the UNT System. It used to be controlled by the Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD). It is located in the historic Titche-Goettinger Building in the Main Street District area of downtown Da ...
located in downtown.


Parks and recreation

Pacific Plaza, a park on , opened in 2019. The organization Parks for Downtown Dallas provided the funds for it. Sharon Grigsby of '' The Dallas Morning News'' stated that the park replaced a " no-man’s land". A grand opening ceremony was held on Monday October 14, 2019.


References


External links


Official website

Central Dallas Association web site

Downtown Dallas Urban Home Districts
{{Central Business Districts in Texas
Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...
Economy of Dallas Neighborhoods in Dallas