Live Work Play — The Evolution of the Design District
If you mentioned the Design District twenty years ago, you might get asked, where is that? Mention the Design District in 2018 – you’re lucky if the other person doesn’t immediately start talking over you. The evolution of the Design District was inevitable: its geography to Downtown Dallas, the fact that it’s surrounded by green scenery and water ways, and the small-town atmosphere, all play a key role in how the Design District was going to evolve. It was just a matter of when.
Long gone is the Design District filled with rundown warehouses and people afraid to walk down Dragon Street at night. You walk down Dragon Street today and you see immaculate buildings with finely-detailed columns made of marble with wide open showrooms that look like they were replicated from the Taj Mahal.
Take a walk down Slocum Street and you’ll see a local business owner building a three-story home with a rooftop patio overlooking the Dallas Skyline, almost identical to a home you’d see in the 
Hollywood Hills. Only recently have individuals started wanting to live in the Design District; it’s become a new fad called “Live Work Play”. This concept is new and hip: people are turning warehouses into residences where they can hang their hat, work during the day and enjoy a cocktail on their rooftop patio at night while gazing at the lights illuminating downtown. Once you step inside these renovated homes, you immediately see why someone would want this type of lifestyle. It’s paradise for a retired couple wanting to move out of the Park Cities, or even a self-made photographer or architect.
The Design District isn’t just for those in the arts or design industry anymore – it’s for attorneys, architects, technology startup companies and much more. More and more, office tenants and users are moving to the Design District — and why not? It’s the cool place to be. Have a lunch meeting in Uptown or Downtown? Easy. You’re five minutes away. There’s a different feel, almost a Silicon Valley/San Francisco vibe that individuals welcome and resonate.
The Design District has changed for the better and will continue to redevelop over the coming years. Will the Design District rapidly change and become a spinoff of SoHo in New York City or the new Uptown of Dallas? That has yet to be seen, but I wouldn’t bet against the District and what’s in store for its future.
Stephen Williamson – Stephen an Associate with DFW Lee & Associates, focuses on representing clients with their warehousing and distribution needs on a local and national basis. Stephen specializes in tenant representation, institutional project leasing, and investment sales.
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