Hey Mark Cuban! Want to Build 10 stories on Northwest Highway NOW? Here’s How:

 

You’re the host with the most (cash) vying for a piece of the redevelopment of the Preston and Northwest Highway intersection. Unfortunately you’re hemmed-in by dowagers and dilettantes who will fight change with hammer and tong.  What to do … what to do?

Go down.

Use the land you have (or can buy) and dig a whacking great hole in the ground … say seven stories down, lot-line to lot-line. Use step-terrace gardens around the perimeter to create a funnel effect. Then in the middle of the hole, construct a building or two with just three stories peeking out of the ground (your current zoning). The terraces will do two things: First they’ll hide parking, and second they’ll provide natural light transmission to the underground levels. Lastly, build a big, fat tunnel under Northwest Highway to connect it all to Preston Center – maybe house a gallery and an uber-cool restaurant (e.g. London’s Heaven nightclub, built under Charing Cross train station, still going strong after 30 years).

To imagine and construct something this interesting takes more than a box-building commercial architect. You need a starchitect with real panache for a challenge. Here are some recommendations: Studio Gang out of Chicago. Founder Jeanne Gang is producing some of the most interesting high-rises I’ve seen today – her latest is Wanda Vista. She caught my (and the architecture world’s) attention a few years ago with her undulating Aqua Tower in Chicago.

Apparently the folks behind Dallas’ under-construction ONE Dallas Tower rising on McKinney Avenue are fans of her work too.

Another option is Yi-Chen Shin Kuo who recently won the Futuristic Design Category in the A’ Design Award and Competition for a rotating apartment building. His building is a corkscrew design where units have no fixed placement. Units rotate up the side of the building to give inhabitants an ever-changing view. Once a unit reaches the top, it’s lowered back to the bottom via a central lift shaft. This guy needs an old-school patron to make his amazing idea a reality – that would be you (just keep him out of the Shark Tank).

https://vimeo.com/116303272

My third recommendation is to talk to this guy…

He’s Matthew Fromboluti of Washington University in St. Louis. While his concept yawns 900-feet underground built into a mining crater, it’s still pretty interesting. His concept has a roof in part because this design was to be built in the middle of the Arizona desert where heat is more of an issue than central Dallas. Pop off the top, as I PhotoShopped for the first image to this blog, and voila!

In creating an underground, art-as-architecture statement development that doesn’t (can’t) rile zoning hawks, you get to do what you want, when you want and leave a mark (pun intended) on the city. Oh, and of course you build the buildings with the structural underpinnings required for a taller structure. If zoning ever changes, like an ice cream cone, you just add another “scoop” of levels to the top (although I think that would diminish the effect of my rather cool idea).

Another wrinkle to consider is the energy efficiencies that could be wrought.  Underground is perfect for HVAC offsets from geothermal not to mention solar panels.  With a little out of the box and into the ground thinking, the city could be left with an energy efficient, architectural gem.

But I don’t work for peanuts, just popcorn.  My payment for this idea is simple. Do better with your movie theaters (Magnolia and Inwood).

First I’ll praise these venues (and Alamo Drafthouse) for being the ONLY movie houses in Dallas serving popcorn as god intended – lustrously coated with real, churned-from-a-cow’s-naughty-bits BUTTER.  (For popcorn greenhorns, every other theater in Dallas slicks god-awful, butter-flavored Pennzoil on their popcorn.) 

But…

You’ve gotta juice up your acquisition of (good) popular and limited release films. I’m soooo tired of seeing movies bereft of popcorn at the Angelika, because neither of yours are showing anything worth a darn.

When I moved to Dallas a few years ago, “Mag” and “In” were my go-to movie houses. Today I’m left to starve through movies at the Angelika with only the occasional treat at the Magnolia (although the Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was no treat).

It seems like after the failed attempt to sell the chain in 2011, your heart’s just not in it. The chain is growing and renovating theaters, but it’s the movie selections that seem to have lost steam. Did your movie-picker leave? It can’t be because you’re being outbid for quality movies … I mean, seriously. You? Outbid?

And so there you have it, Mr. Cuban. Quid pro quo. Better movies for a development idea. Just make sure that whatever you’re doing in Preston Center or in the theaters, it’s a quality show punctuated by real buttered popcorn.

Remember: Do you have an HOA story to tell? A little high-rise history? Realtors, want to feature a listing in need of renovation or one that’s complete with flying colors? How about hosting a Candy’s Dirt Staff Meeting? Shoot Jon an email. Marriage proposals accepted (as soon as they’re legal in Texas)! [email protected]