CD Exclusive: The Sky Bridge of Preston Center, View From the Parking Garage

This is an artists’ rendering of what the proposed skybridge to connect Preston Center Pavillion to the 2-story concrete parking garage at the center of Preston Center west will look like from the garage interior. The garage is owned by the City of Dallas but has numerous parking rights deeded to the property owners surrounding it. It’s really not that complicated: when you sell a property, you can deed someone rights to use it, like an oil lease. It could be worse: I once looked at a ranch near Stephenville that had a small cemetery in the middle of it and people were sure deeded rights to visit their loved ones.

In the case of Preston Center, all 70-plus owners of the properties surrounding this garage have a right to park there, including, of course now, Crow Holdings. That’s the problem with getting anything done to the old structure: you must have all 70 plus peeps in agreement. GOOD LUCK! As Eric Nicholson explained in the Dallas Observer:

The Parking Garage
If there’s one thing the 70-plus owners can agree on, it’s that the parking garage is a mess. A threadbare two stories, with daylight unable to penetrate to the cave-dark bottom floor, it’s too small, confusing to navigate, and spits cars haphazardly onto the surrounding streets. What they can’t agree on is how to fix it.

The city of Dallas owns the facility (which must be in the conversation for most valuable two-story parking garage in the world) and has signaled that it wants it developed into something more taxable, but when it began the process of platting it for development in 2006, surrounding property owners rebelled.

The ensuing legal battle dragged on for an excruciating six years before it was settled. Back in 1955, it seems, back when the land was being parceled out to the Lobellos et al, the buyers were promised in their deeds that the land at the center of Preston Center would forever be used for parking and only parking. The settlement the property owners ultimately signed with the city makes clear that they can waive this covenant so long as they come to a unanimous agreement, but that hasn’t — and might never — happen.

What Crow is proposing to do would actually spiff up this garage, at least on the west end. This rendering shows how the skybridge would be a bit higher than the second story level, thus steps will be needed. The two levels may also help keep grocery carts on the upper level (and away from the cars).  Note the elevator in the rendering — an elevator does not exist currently. In fact, I didn’t even see any stairs to level one.

I do think the lot will lose some parking spaces with this design. This shot was taken Sunday afternoon about 3:30 pm. You can see there were a total of 6 cars on the second level, parking. This rendering also shows a roof covering over the lot, which does not have one. But Crow wanted people to see how easily the design could be incorporated into a future remodel of the parking garage in the future.