Dallas Development is Avant-Garde by Design
The neighborhood known as the Design District, situated just north of downtown Dallas, is emerging as one of the hottest new residential enclaves in Big D. Soon it will have a Class A luxury apartment community designed to be just as avant-garde.
By Jeffrey Steele, Contributing Writer
Dallas—The neighborhood known as the Design District, situated just north of downtown Dallas, is emerging as one of the hottest new residential enclaves in Big D. Soon it will have a Class A luxury apartment community designed to be just as avant-garde, with the groundbreaking earlier this month of Avant, a 301-unit, mixed use property from Phoenix-based Alliance Residential Company.
The nationally recognized Design District was originally developed by Trammell Crowe in the mid-1950s as a collection of design showrooms and galleries for home design and decorating. In the last five years, with the arrival of residential buildings, it has morphed into a true live-work-play community.
With Avant, Alliance toiled to match the new building to its environs. “We strive to make each project unique, and to blend into the community,” Alliance’s Dallas-based managing director-North Texas Brian Tusa tells MHN.
“We try to study and analyze the surrounding neighborhood, and then design a project that will fit the neighborhood, both with respect to exterior architecture and interior functional floor plans. We believe that sets our product apart, and also drives value—both in terms of rent and exit value.”
Set on a 5.14-acre site, Avant will feature four-story wood-frame construction, and provide renters a choice of one- and two-bedroom apartments averaging 842 square feet in size. High-end interior finishes will include upgraded lighting and plumbing packages, granite countertops, accent walls, wood flooring, garden tubs and full-size washer/dryer connections.
Avant residents will have opportunity aplenty to live the good life. A pool with tanning ledge, fitness center, clubhouse, cyber lounge, barbecue area and resort-style courtyard parking garage will all be part of what Alliance is terming a “robust amenity package.” Alliance believes Avant will offer “the nicest amenities and unit finishes in the Design District, at very competitive rents,” Tusa says.
The new development is well located for access to job centers, as it is close to Design District, downtown and medical district jobs. It is minutes away from a Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) rail station, and it is near a bus line as well.
The best news for renters who want to stay out of their vehicles as much as possible is that Avant will stand adjacent to the Trinity Strand Trail, a 9.6-mile hiking and biking path that is part of the $1.2 billion Trinity River Project, an initiative turning the river basin into the nation’s largest urban park. “Long term, the location on the Strand is a great amenity for our residents,” Tusa says.
With construction now underway, Alliance expects to open the clubhouse and the first units at Avant in the second quarter of 2012.
“We’re really excited about the project,” Tusa says. “And we feel the timing of the construction and unit deliveries is ideal for the Dallas market.”