DALLAS — First came the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge.
Then destinations like Trinity Groves popped up.
And now homebuilders are moving in to West Dallas.
Former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins says he’s seen a lot of change lately in residential neighborhoods in West Dallas. “No houses have been built here in the last 30 years, and all of a sudden you see these units coming up," he said.
Johnny Aguinaga of DFWprojects.com is one of the builders offering townhomes he describes as a "new fresh concept... it’s modern in design and layout.”
His company has recently erected 13 new homes in West Dallas, and they're selling before they can even be finished.
Real estate professional Julian Williams of JW Realty Partners acknowledges some potential clients still have doubts about this pocket of the city, and wonder what the future holds. But he says people are buying in. “The demand is off the charts," Williams said.
He adds that buyers are attracted by a new sense of community in West Dallas. They’re also enticed by new home prices that are hard to come by in the city limits; about $155,000 on the low end.
BBVA Compass Bank, which is handling many of the loans for the new structures, is encouraging investments in the neighborhood, offering no-down payment loans, waiving mortgage insurance, and opening lending to people with credit scores of 620 and higher.
The dwellings are only available to those with household incomes of about $70,000. The city was able to dictate some of those terms because it owned many of the parcels now being redeveloped.
The people behind the project say that, as with any development, the best part is location, location, location. They believe they’re improving West Dallas twice as fast because new homes are going in on lots that used to be overgrown, vacant, and trashed.
Johnny Aguinaga plans to put up hundreds more structures in West Dallas. The only thing limiting him at this point, he says, is getting rapid approval to take over and build on new lots.
On Monday, his designs got the attention of Javis Armstrong, one of the members of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings’ Grow South advisory committee.
“I plan to contact the mayor’s office right after this to let them know what is going on, and see if we can get the developer some more lots," Armstrong said.
Now, after decades of neglect, Tennell Atkins says everywhere he looks, he is seeing a lot of momentum finally building in the 75212 zip code.
“This is a new territory," he said. "They say, 'Go west.' We are going west. We’re growing.”
