Dallas Central Business District | |
|---|---|
Central business district andresidential area | |
| Downtown Dallas | |
 Skyline of Downtown Dallas seen fromReunion Tower | |
| Nickname: Big "D" | |
 Location inDallas | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Texas |
| County | Dallas |
| City | Dallas |
| Area | |
• Total | 1.40 sq mi (3.63 km2) |
| • Land | 1.40 sq mi (3.63 km2) |
| • Water | 0 sq mi (0 km2) 0% |
| Elevation | 440 ft (130 m) |
| Population (2017) | |
• Total | 10,766 |
| • Density | 7,680/sq mi (2,966/km2) |
| ZIP code | 75201, 75202, 75270 |
| Area codes | 214,469,972 |
| Website | www |
Downtown Dallas is thecentral business district (CBD) ofDallas,Texas, 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 byI-345 (although known and signed as the northern terminus ofI-45 and the southern terminus ofUS 75 (Central Expressway), on the west byI-35E, on the south byI-30, and on the north byWoodall 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 theVictory Park andUptown/Turtle Creek Districts, as well as past Central Expressway to the east in theDeep 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".[1]
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.[2]
In 1910, Downtown Dallas was the location of alynching of a black American man accused of raping a two-and-a-half-year-old white girl. A mob pulled him out of theDallas County Courthouse and hanged him from a telephone pole.[3]
On November 22, 1963, theassassination of John F. Kennedy occurred here. BothPresident Kennedy and Texas governorJohn Connally (who survived) were shot as their motorcade passed throughDealey Plaza in what is now theWest End Historic District. Part of the formerTexas School Book Depository is now theSixth Floor Museum, with exhibits about Kennedy and the assassination. Nearby is theJohn 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 theDallas Center for the Performing Arts in theArts 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 distinguishedPritzker Architecture Prize winners.
Downtown Dallas has also gained more recent national attention for the2016 shooting of police officers and the2019 courthouse shooting.
In July 2024, a historic church in Downtown Dallas, First Baptist Dallas Church, caught on fire.[4] There were no injuries during this fire.
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).[5]) As of 2017, an estimated 10,766 residents lived within the area.[6] Its redevelopedMain 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 toDallas Area Rapid Transit's fourlight rail lines and one commuter lineTrinity 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 ofpublic funds in Downtown Dallas forresidential development that attracted $650 million of private investment.[7]
Two of the first new-construction office building projects downtown in over 20 years broke ground in 2005—One Arts Plaza, a 24-story mixed-use office, retail, residential development in the Arts District, which is the new home of7-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-storyMuseum 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 (theTrinity River Project) into a giant urban park. The park is expected to include an equestrian center, lakes, trails, and three bridges designed bySantiago Calatrava. Funding over the years, however, has been a constant problem, though serious work on the project now appears imminent, with the first two bridges having received significant private backing.[citation needed]
| Central Business District Population, Household, and Employment Projections | |||||||
| 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 2025 | 2030 | |
| Population | 14,654 | 20,646 | 29,446 | 33,139 | 39,781 | 47,098 | 59,337 |
| Households | 1,122 | 3,318 | 6,015 | 7,029 | 7,868 | 8,611 | 9,340 |
| Employment | 130,473 | 135,148 | 138,224 | 140,961 | 149,936 | 155,966 | 160,733 |
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 theAmerican Airlines Center, 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 a2,300-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 theDallas 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 twolarge cable-stayed bridges to be built across the river and new lakes. Dubbed theTrinity River Project 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 theConvention Center corridor, which hosts the over 2 million-ft2Dallas Convention Center. TheOmni 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 the2010 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 seamlessUptown/Downtown District; the urban deck park opened in 2012. The 5.2-acreurban green space, named theKlyde 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.
AT&T is headquartered at theWhitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas; AT&T moved to Dallas fromSan Antonio in 2008.Mayor of DallasTom Leppert said in 2008 that he hoped that AT&T would stay in the central city.[8]Comerica is headquartered in theComerica Bank Tower.[9][10]TM Advertising has its headquarters in the same building.[11]Tenet Healthcare is headquartered in theFountain Place 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.[12]
Belo andA. H. Belo have their headquarters in the Belo Building.[13][14]7-Eleven has its corporate headquarters in theOne Arts Plaza building.[15]Energy Future Holdings Corporation has its headquarters in theEnergy Plaza complex.[16]Greyhound Lines is located at 350 North St. Paul Street.[17]The Dallas Morning News has its headquarters in Downtown.[18]Neiman Marcus has its headquarters in One Neiman Square in Downtown.[19] TheTrammell Crow Company has its headquarters in theTrammell Crow Center.[20] TheKPMG Centre in Downtown Dallas has the Dallas offices ofKPMG andSidley Austin.[21][22]Which Wich? has its headquarters in Downtown Dallas.[23]Deloitte has its offices in theJPMorgan Chase Tower.[24] Visitdallas, the501(c)(6) contracted by the City of Dallas to increase tourism and attract conventions, is headquartered in downtownDallas.[25]
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'shub-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, andU.S. Highway 175 and theDallas 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. TheBlue andRed light-rail lines run through, from south to north,Convention Center,Union,West End,Akard,St Paul, andPearl stations. TheTrinity Railway Expresscommuter train, which connectsDowntownFort Worth with Downtown Dallas, terminates at Union Station. Union Station also hasAmtrak service, with trains connecting toChicago andLos Angeles.
The McKinney Avenue Transit Authority operates theM-Line Trolley, a freetrolley 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 theWest Village along Blackburn and Cole Avenues. A spur adjacent to the West Village runs toCityplace Station.[26]
Greyhound Lines operates a terminal at 205 South Lamar Street.[27] DART operates the West and East Transfer Centers as hubs for its public bus system.[28] TheDenton County Transportation Authority operates an express commuter bus route that serves two stops inDenton, one stop inLewisville, and another that makes two stops, one in Denton and another inCarrollton.
TheDallas 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.
TheDallas CBD Vertiport, located at the south end of the Convention Center, is claimed to be the world's largest elevatedheliport/vertiport.[29] The facility has two 60 x 60 ft. (18 x 18 m)concretehelipads[30] and 169,000 square feet (15,700 m2) of flight deck, and is capable of handlingtiltrotor aircraft such as theBell Boeing V-22 Osprey.[29]
D Magazine,Dallas Morning News,WFAA, andKDFW are headquartered in Downtown.[31]
Dallas City Hall is located in Downtown Dallas.
TheTexas Fifth District Court of Appeals is located in the George L. Allen, Sr. Courts Building in Downtown Dallas.[32]
TheUnited States Postal Service operates the Downtown Dallas Post Office at 400 North Ervay Street.[33]
J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, the largest and main library of theDallas Public Library system, is located downtown.
Downtown Dallas is served by theDallas Independent School District.[34]
Three schools:Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts,Dr. Wright L. Lassiter Jr. Early College High School atEl 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,[35] with a small section zoned to Ignacio Zaragoza Elementary School.[36] All residents of Downtown (inside the loop) are zoned to Alex W. Spence Middle School andNorth Dallas High School.[37][38]
City Park Elementary School inCedars served southern parts of Downtown until it closed in 2012.[39][40] Other elementary schools that formerly served Downtown include Martin Luther King Jr.,[40] Sam Houston,[41] and Esperanza "Hope" Medrano.[42] Middle schools formerly serving sections include Billy Earl Dade and Thomas J. Rusk.[43][44]James Madison High School formerly served parts of Downtown.[45]
Luna Academy, a K-3, 6 charter school of Uplift Education, is in Downtown Dallas.[46] 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.[citation needed]
Residents are also served byFirst Baptist Academy of Dallas, acollege preparatory Pre-K through 12 school located in thecity 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.[47] It is supported by theRoman Catholic Diocese of Dallas.
El Centro College of theDallas College is in downtown.
TheUniversity of North Texas, located 40 miles (64 km) to the northwest in Denton, opened a law school downtown.[48]
TheUniversity of Texas at Arlington,Texas A&M University-Commerce, andUniversity of North Texas offer degree programs at theUniversities Center at Dallas located in downtown.[49]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(October 2019) |
Pacific Plaza, a park on 3.7 acres (1.5 ha), opened in 2019. The organization Parks for Downtown Dallas provided the funds for it. Sharon Grigsby ofThe Dallas Morning News stated that the park replaced a "no-man's land".[50] A grand opening ceremony was held on Monday October 14, 2019.[51]
