Why is it that Houston seems to have more of an "energetic vibe" than Dallas?

Originally Posted by Dallaz

What I am saying is that the retail in those urban neighborhoods are typically only unique to that area. These are boutiques and neighborhood restaurants, not big box stores and chain restaurants. So, if you want to experience what those neighborhoods have to offer and you live well outside of it, you will have to drive to it.

I mean, y’all are bringing up these suburban style commercial corridors. So, I am comparing areas that are like it in Dallas. The areas mentioned in Houston are not comparable to the urban neighborhoods in Dallas that were already mentioned. No one, unless they have to is walking to areas designed like those places because we have areas in Dallas just like it. Areas where we do have actual urban walkable retail, you see it in the level of foot traffic. People in Lower Greenville actually walk to Trader Joe's, Sam's Club, Sprouts, and that's not including the other retail and restaurants. That's why they've been tearing down the original housing stock (the part that's not historic) and throwing up dense multifamily around that urban node like crazy. This isn't just unique to Lower Greenville either, grocery stores already exist or are planned to be added to existing urban neighborhoods to make them a more complete urban neighborhood. Bishop Arts has a planned Central Market, but there's already two grocery stores in the Jefferson Blvd urban node 4 blocks away. I don't think that Central Market store is gonna get built until the area revitalizes even more.

I am not going to post the same video of Lower Greenville, but you can see people walking in this Google Streetview

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.8143...8192?entry=ttu

It's just a difference in the way Dallas is trying to develop itself. Even the new Lake Highlands Town Center is more urban in form, even though the surrounding area is a more established suburban style neighborhood. It's right next to the Lake Highlands DART Station. The likelihood of changing a nice existing single family neighborhoods in Dallas is very slim. So, the city's approach is walkable urban nodes or walkable villages within close proximity to existing neighborhoods. That's what a lot of the infill originally planned at these DART stations is suppose to be. Like Preston Hollow Village, it has a grocery store with retail/restaurants, apartments, and single family townhomes.

This is what I prefer - Lake Highlands Town Center - starting at 4:10 (I know SanJac just loves my video posts )

But seriously this is just to show the expansion across the street that's not updated on Google streetview.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCwzLnaFdOg


https://www.google.com/maps/@32.8765...8192?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.8768...8192?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.8757...8192?entry=ttu

BTW, I didn't even mention Cedar Springs Rd in Oak Lawn. It has a Kroger store with a nice string of walkable bars/restaurants. They have residential towers planned on the parking lots behind the retail buildings here. Also, this is another walkable urban main street that was saved and is now a designated Texas landmark because of its significance in the LGBTQIA+ community. Seeing retail buildings up to the sidewalk is not uncommon in urban neighborhoods in Dallas.

Throckmorton St and Cedar Spring Road in Oak Lawn (The Gayborhood)

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.8109...8192?entry=ttu

RedBird Mall is also being transformed into a urban development. Apartments have been built, a new Tom Thumb and hotel is coming, and the former anchor stores have been converted into medical facilities. They end up reducing parking around 230 spaces. It's not a lot but it is a step in the right direction.

Stuff like this adds to the energy and vibrancy