DALLAS — If you think of the blocks of Downtown Dallas as jigsaw pieces, then developer Ray Washburne is one of the people putting together the puzzle.
He just purchased the downtown Greyhound Bus terminal -- adding to his downtown portfolio, which already includes the former Dallas Morning News site and the historic Founders Square building.
Washburne told WFAA Friday that it's all part of his plan to revitalize Downtown Dallas, in conjunction with the city's renovation and expansion of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
"This end of downtown has been dead for decades," he said. "There’s a need down here for food and entertainment, there really is zero today."
He said he'd like to see housing, hotels, restaurants and shops to bridge the current gap between the convention center and the city's Discovery District.
"You need people that live there, you need people that work there and you need people that visit there. And it all has to work together in concert," he said.
He said he hopes to have a boutique hotel on the site of the current Greyhound station by 2027. The bus company said it will relocate the terminal by April 2025.
Washburne said the Dallas Morning News site should be ready by 2029 -- and will likely also include some hotel rooms for conventiongoers. He would also like to see a small grocery store in the downtown area for office workers to grab lunch.
He said he hasn't ruled out buying future properties in the area. "I’ve been slowly piecing these parcels together," he said.
How the convention center re-design shakes out is critical to whether his vision comes together, Washburne acknowledged. He said the city has hired an architect and he plans to be "involved" in giving suggestions on the final design plans.
In a city not known as pedestrian-friendly, Washburne says walkability will be key in downtown's future.
"Right now we have just too much concrete in Downtown Dallas," he said. "We need to choke the streets down a little bit tighter, bring in a lot more shade and people will be encouraged to walk."
He said the reputation of downtown has suffered in some circles in recent years -- and some of his peers may "think differently" about the section of the city he's buying up -- but Washburne said he's committed to making his hometown's center vibrant again.
"I have not given up, I can help transform it and the scenes you see on the street today can be cleaned up," he said. "But everyone has just walked away from it. I haven’t, I’ve walked right into it so I hopefully can transform that."