A number of projects that will positively effect Building and the CBD as a whole have recently been completed or are now under construction. The projects are summarized below.

The Victory Arena. After years of political and civic debate, Dallas voters approved in February 1998, a referendum to raise certain user taxes, namely on hotel bookings and rental cars, to finance the construction of a new downtown arena for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and the NBL's Dallas Stars. The arena will be constructed on a tract of land on the western edge of the CBD, just north of Woodall Rodgers along the east side of Stemmons Freeway. The arena development has been named "Victory", and will encompass significant private development in the form of retail and multi-family projects. Victory is expected to create thousands of jobs and further enhance the Dallas CBD, particularly the western end, as a destination attraction.

Residential Development. Now under construction within blocks of Building are three apartment conversion projects. The developments, which include The Kirby Building, The Wilson Building and The Sante Fe 11 Building, involve the conversion of old, Class C office buildings into multi-family use. The projects, which should be completed in 1999, will add approximately 500 multi-family units to the CBD core and, as importantly, remove approximately 500,000 rentable square feet from the office market. These projects follow the recently completed conversion of the former Titches-Goettinger Building which was converted into a 100-unit loft apartment redevelopment known as the Lofts at 1900 Elm. The Lofts, which are now substantially leased, opened in July 1997 in the formerly vacant, 100,000 square foot property that is connected to the Downtown Education Center discussed previously.

There are four additional projects in the CBD core, comprising almost 1,400 potential units, which will be under construction in the next twelve to twenty-four months. 1,000 of these units are included in the Camden Farmers Market project. The majority of the other announced projects will be built on Main Street, which has become the heart of the CBD multi-family movement. The properties slated for development in the near future are The Davis Building, The Await Buildings, and the 143 0/1604 Main Street Buildings.

The Adam's Mark Hotel & Conference Center. In October 1998 the largest redevelopment project ever undertaken in Dallas opened to the public. The redevelopment entailed upgrading an existing 500-room hotel and converting a vacant 1.2 million square foot office complex (formerly known as Southland Center) into the largest hotel in the state of Texas and ninth largest in the United States. The project features over 1,800 guest rooms, a new 230,000 square foot meeting and conference facility, a 500-space parking garage, and 60,000 square feet of exhibition space. The project is estimated to have cost over $150 million.

INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS TO THE CBD

The City of Dallas is strongly committed to the full development and redevelopment of the Central Business District. Paramount in this effort is continued improvements to the area!s infrastructure, greater public transportation into the area and additional development of multifamily housing. In addition to improvements to the various projects discussed above, the City has also dedicated funds to the following initiatives:

1998 Bond Package. On May 2, 1998 Dallas voters approved one of the largest bond programs in the history of the City. The $543 million bond issue will generate an additional $1 billion of investment from federal, state and private matching programs. The majority of public improvements (approximately 60%) directly relate to the Dallas CBD. CBD projects include Trinity River corridor improvements, which includes construction of the Trinity Tollway to alleviate CBD traffic ($246 million), a new CBD Police Headquarters ($42.3 million), additional cultural facilities for the Arts District ($10.5 million), and police and court building renovations ($24.35 million).

DART Light Rail. Construction of the first phase of the city's $40 million Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) light rail train system was completed in 1996. The light rail is an electrically powered transit system that connects south and west Oak Cliff, downtoWm- Dallas, and North Central Expressway. In the CBD, light rail trains operate every five to ten minutes over the 1.1mile stretch of track.

The centerpiece of the new system is the transitway mall located on Bryan Street and Pacific Avenue near in front of Building. The mall can be viewed as the spinal cord of the new CBD connecting the West End, Main Street District, Harwood Historical District and the Dallas Arts District. Four stations were built in the CBD, with one additional station planned at the CityPlace developmentjust north of the CBD. The mall features restricted automobile traffic and pedestrianfriendly improvements. It has stimulated the downtown economy and will continue to do so as more shops and restaurants open along the mall to serve the increased number of employees working downtown and visitors to the CBD.

The locations of the stations are as follows:

• West End Station: On Pacific & Lamar

• Akard Street Station: On Pacific between Field & Akard

• St. Paul Station: On Bryan between St. Paul & Harwood

• Pearl Street Station: On Bryan between Pearl Street and Crockett

The North Central Expressway line travels underground to Mockingbird Lane where it surfaces and continues for approximately six miles north to Park Lane. Since the North Central line began service, ridership has averaged about 26,000 per day, well above DART's projections, with anticipated increases to well over 30,000 per day. The light rail is currently being expanded with service planned to LBJ Freeway and Northeast Dallas by 2001, East Dallas and Richardson by 2002 and Plano and Garland by 2003.

North Central Reconstruction Project. The expansion of North Central Expressway will have a substantial positive impact on improving access into and out of the CBD. The North Central Expressway Project includes the complete reconstruction of the thoroughfare from north of the CBD between Woodall Rodgers Freeway to the south and LBJ Freeway (Interstate Highway 635) to the north. Construction is divided into five segments. Sections I and 11, on which construction began in 1990, were completed in 1995. Section 111, from Walnut Hill to Mockingbird, was completed in August 1998. The remaining sections, which run from Walnut Hill to the CBD are scheduled to be completed in 1999. Sections 1, 11 and III were completed on time and for less than their original budgets.

Dallas City Center. Dallas City Center is a revitalization project of an 18-block area bounded by Harwood, Griffin, Elm, and Commerce Streets that is funded by a public-private partnership between the City of Dallas and the Central Dallas Association. The first two phases of the project, which included the Main Street Improvement Program and construction of Pegasus Plaza at the comer of Main & Akard, were completed in 1994.

The $9 million project included new street paving, construction of decorative, wide sidewalks of colored concrete pavers, new lighting, information kiosks, and benches. Pegasus Plaza is an outdoor pedestrian park centered around a fountain fed by natural springs that flow beneath the plaza. Dallas City Center also directs an aggressive visitors, and investors to the area. marketing campaign to attract tenants,

McKinney Avenue Trolley. The McKinney Avenue trolley line represents the trolley's return to Dallas after a 50-year absence. The current line runs down McKinney Avenue through the Uptown/Turtle Creek area and into the CBD at St. Paul Street. The City of Dallas approved a bond issue in April 1995 that will allow it to expand the trolley line into the West End and through the Arts District of the CBD. Construction on the new line is expected to begin in 1998. Long-term plans call for the line to extend to the convention center and throughout the CBD.

Trinity Express. DART commuter rail, known as the Trinity Express Railway, runs on existing rail tracks in the Railtrans Corridor between Union Station located on the western end of the CBD and Irving. The $70 million project to Irving, which opened in November 1996, is the first tenmile section of the eventual link between Dallas and Fort Worth. The western end of Railtrans will run from downtown Fort Worth to Irving. This $129 million phase is scheduled to begin operations in the summer of 1998. The third phase of the Trinity Express expansion will connect the Dallas CBD to D/FW International Airport and merge the system with the DART light rail system.

Main Street Revitalization Program. The Central Dallas Association, in tandem with the City of Dallas, is currently sponsoring a movement to revitalize Main Street via retail and residential development. The CDA engaged Economics Research Associates of Washington D.C. to conduct a thorough study of the area and to recommend a development strategy for up to 200,000 square feet of street-level retail on Main Street. The report~ which was delivered in December 1997, detailed a specific plan of action, which the CDA is now undertaking. Recommendations included providing for 24-hour parking on Main Street, re-routing city buses off of Main Street and spending $7.5 million for facade improvements and preliminary retail finish-out.