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Since the retail plaza is staying put now, what are the chances of the SMU Bookstore taking over the vacant store to the east? The place is pretty cramped right now. Was hoping for something (across Mockingbird) similar to TCU's spacious Barnes & Noble. Looking forward to the new development adjacent to Ford and Dedman.

interesting that the plans seem to have seriously shifted from the original deisgn with dormitorys and whatnot. I guess they didnt know everything they needed to about the ground water contamination.

Its prolly a better solution to keep the dorms on this side of the street.

Bergermeister wrote:the retail plaza is saying put for now

FIFY and that has always been the plan. The current idea is that they are going to develop the new dorms in the Potomac area and then, after a few years, literally build on top of Park Cities Plaza to make it sort of like Mockingbird Station, with retail on the lower level and housing above.

To answer your other question, I doubt the SMU bookstore will move to the old Horchow Finale site. From what I understand they will need to move the bookstore temporarily (to Hillcrest, apparently) when they build on top of the plaza. When they move back, they may take the Horchow Finale site, but I don't think they will move just to move in 5-6 years followed by another move a year later. 2 moves cost less than 3.

davidpaul123 wrote:Its prolly a better solution to keep the dorms on this side of the street.

I agree with that.

so in the Mrs. Baird's tract actually in Dallas-I guess that's why they are appearing before Dallas City Council. So now SMU can actually claim to be Dallas' hometown school

Everything across Mockingbird is Dallas. That is how I used to go get tanked at the liquor store by the 7-11 when it was there at halftime.

smupony94 wrote:Everything across Mockingbird is Dallas. That is how I used to go get tanked at the liquor store by the 7-11 when it was there at halftime.

The Mrs. Baird's site is in Dallas. The houses that back up to the Mrs. Baird's site and the Cleaners at the SE corner of Airline Road and Mockingbird are in Highland Park as is everything west of Airline Road.

Stallion wrote:so in the Mrs. Baird's tract actually in Dallas-I guess that's why they are appearing before Dallas City Council. So now SMU can actually claim to be Dallas' hometown school

Yes and the height restrictions there are lower than on the UP side.

CalallenStang wrote:

Stallion wrote:so in the Mrs. Baird's tract actually in Dallas-I guess that's why they are appearing before Dallas City Council. So now SMU can actually claim to be Dallas' hometown school

Yes and the height restrictions there are lower than on the UP side.

I believe that is because of a desire to make sure there are views of downtown from the Bush Library, not because of any Dallas zoning issue.

Park Cities Plaza wins a reprieve from SMU's redevelopment plans

07:45 AM CDT on Wednesday, June 30, 2010

By LORI STAHL / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]

SMU's plans for developing the eastern edge of campus appear to have spared a popular shopping strip on Mockingbird Lane – at least for another generation of latte-lovers.

In recent years, the university had mentioned the possibility of demolishing Park Cities Plaza, where a bookstore, restaurants, a pharmacy and other businesses continue to draw customers.
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But as university officials rolled out their plans in recent days, they made it clear that those plans have been scrapped, at least for the time being. Highland Park homeowners who live south of Mockingbird will be able to frequent Park Cities Plaza until the last tenant's lease expires. That could be as late as 2021.

"At one time SMU had considered tearing down part of the shopping center for new student housing. But as we progressed further into updating the university's master plan, we decided it was best to retain Park Cities Plaza for commercial uses and to place new student housing on the main campus behind the shopping center," said Patti LaSalle, associate vice president and executive director of public affairs.

"In the future, SMU could renovate or redevelop the site for commercial and non-commercial uses," she said. "That decision will be made as we approach 2020."

On Tuesday, corporate officials for CVS did not have comments.

"While we respectfully decline to disclose specifics regarding our lease agreements, we are happy to say we are in negotiations to extend our lease for our cafe on Mockingbird," said Amanda Breaux, marketing manager for La Madeleine's corporate office. "As the first La Madeleine to open its doors, our cafe on Mockingbird has great meaning to our associate family and our guests. We look forward to serving the Dallas community for years to come."

SMU will continue promoting its redevelopment plan this week, with a presentation at the Skillman-Southwestern branch of the Dallas public library system tonight.

The meeting, which is open to the public, is set for 6:30 p.m.

The area along SMU's eastern edge between SMU Boulevard and Mockingbird Lane has attracted intense interest as the university gets closer to redeveloping several tracts of land it owns.

With zoning finalized earlier this year for the George W. Bush Presidential Library, SMU's focus has turned to sites south of the library.

Speculation about the future of the retail strip was heightened by language in the contract SMU signed with the Bush Foundation in 2008, which calls for Park Cities Plaza "to be demolished as soon as reasonably practicable," taking into account lease expiration dates.

I wonder if Vodika owns anything else in the area we can raze.

Of course since its zoned industrial, I suspect you could threaten to lease it to a paper company or rendering plant, and they'd approve just about anything.

I still want to build a strip club/nuclear waste facility/power plant here in Austin to [deleted] of the damn hippies