Charles Grand

Dallas Permitting Staff Just Can’t Catch a Break

By Charles Grand / April 14, 2025 /

This week’s City Hall roundup is going to focus on the latest black eyes at the Dallas Department of Planning & Development, which handles permitting, zoning, urban design, and other development-related responsibilities. Staff at the department had a rough go of it last week when some of its costly blunders made headlines, earning the city…

Dallas Builders Brace for Tariff Volatility, Buyer Uncertainty

By Charles Grand / April 10, 2025 /

The economic uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s tariff-fueled trade policy is putting builders and prospective homeowners in a tight spot. We’ve all been living through tariff whiplash over the last week, and the latest news coming out of Wednesday is that Trump is pausing many of the higher tariffs he announced on “Liberation Day”…

Lumber Looms Large as Trade War Heats Up

By Charles Grand / April 9, 2025 /

Prospective homebuyers are poised to pay more for housing as builders feel the squeeze from President Donald Trump’s tariff-driven trade policy. Markets have been in turmoil over the last week after the president announced sweeping “reciprocal tariffs” ranging from 10-50% on goods from dozens of countries. Why the quotes? Some experts say the tariffs aren’t…

Staff Puts Faith in Free Market to Sort Out Dallas Parking Policies

By Charles Grand / April 8, 2025 /

City staff got put in the hot seat on Monday during a meeting of the Dallas Economic Development Committee, during which the controversial subject of parking reform was discussed. As previously reported by CandysDirt.com, Dallas’s City Plan Commission (CPC) advanced a measure that would eliminate or decrease the minimum parking spaces that developers are required…

Convention Center Plans Could Hinge on Ray Washburne

By Charles Grand / April 7, 2025 /

It looks like city staff and downtown stakeholders are landing on a particular layout for the redevelopment of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center that does indeed require the cooperation of developer Ray Washburne. The Black Academy of Arts and Letters hosted a community briefing on the latest details of the convention center master plan…