Deep Ellum: Bill Reed Warehouse

[BigD5349]

I searched for an answer, but didn't see it in the forum. Sorry if I missed it.

The old Bill Reed Decorations Warehouse, located in Deep Ellum at Canton and Exposition, has been gutted and is under renovation.

Anyone know what's going in there?

Thanks.

[slfunk]

This is a project I spent 2 yrs on. Its being rehabed into office space. What you are seeing in that picture is two of the new windows that will fit into the remaining opening, and they are cleaning the brick so it can be sealed, protected and repainted.

[BigD5349]

This is a project I spent 2 yrs on. Its being rehabed into office space. What you are seeing in that picture is two of the new windows that will fit into the remaining opening, and they are cleaning the brick so it can be sealed, protected and repainted.

Cool, thanks. It's large enough to be a great office building for start-ups. It's a really positive development for that area of town.

[slfunk]

Keep an eye on that area. I am pretty certain you will see more developments in the future with more warehouse conversions etc.

[Cole]

Any renderings of the final look?

[texman]

What type of office space? AA, A, B?

[Rob]

Keep an eye on that area. I am pretty certain you will see more developments in the future with more warehouse conversions etc.

I certainly hope you're right. The company I work for moved out of the West End in April (the building that is now Dick's Last Resort) and into Deep Ellum (the old Yahoo building) just when the West End was going to get interesting and exciting. Meanwhile, Deep Ellum seems to have gradually spiraled downard since I moved to Dallas 2 and a half years ago. Any development is probably a good thing for this part of town.

[Justin Terveen]

yeah, but deep ellum has had its ups and downs for nearly a decade..
its just been more downs than ups lately....

besides.. I don't even consider this part of town to be deep ellum...
I've always thought of everything south of young as expo park...
but even still.. regardless of which neighborhood its in I agree..
any development is definitely a good thing for the area....

having lived in expo park for so long I'm very excited to hear about this..
I've always wondered what would become of the old warehouse...
I can't tell you how many times I walked by there wanting to jump the back fence for a quick look-see...

http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/4527/avepan7rr6ua.th.jpg (http://img361.imageshack.us/my.php?image=avepan7rr6ua.jpg)

http://img316.imageshack.us/img316/52/208ps7dt.th.jpg (http://img316.imageshack.us/my.php?image=208ps7dt.jpg)

[slfunk]

Sorry don't have any renderings to post. I will tell you that it will be a nice redevelopment of the building into loft style offices.

As for the area around Deep Ellum, yes the Main, Elm, and Commerce club scene has seen better days. If you look in the area from Ross Ave and everything surrounding this core you will find housing poping up all over the place with some condo lowrise building and 300-400K townhomes. There is also the Vickery Neighborhood that has had people moving in and rehabing the old homes. Been slow but when I volunteered with preservation Dallas we surveyed this area a couple years ago, lots of homes were being worked on. This area may seem it is in a downward spiral (thanks mostly to the media hammering it) but residential wise it has so far proven to be a good stable market. You have Futura and a line of other rental properties (warehouse conversions) that have been able to sustain their rents and boost high occupancies. I am assuming nothing much has changed since I went apt hunting this past summer. If you look around this building on the other side of 1st Ave you will find a serious of new townhomes and two loft buildings. I know only by word of mouth that there are other small developers looking in this area and will continue to get a boost with the new Dart rail coming in. The "traditional" Deep Ellum that we all know will come back around. The restuarants like "Its All Good" "Monica's" "Cafe Brazil" and some others have weathered the storm quite nicely having good Sunday Brunches and others. Also if you go down to Exposition and you want a little different flavor (quiter) there were some nice low key bars to visit near Fair Park.

[Lakewooder]

I would think the property for sale next to this building would be a great location for a hip hotel or even a medium-rise condo building...it's right on the Exposition Park monument for the Sesquicentennial and there's nothing of that sort anywhere nearby...

Now is the time to buy Ellum/Expo while it's being hammered --- DART arrives soon and the townhome development mentioned above is slowly taking hold -- someday this area will explode and people will be kicking themselves saying, "I could have bought when it was.."

[tamtagon]

Now is the time to buy Ellum/Expo while it's being hammered --- DART arrives soon and the townhome development mentioned above is slowly taking hold -- someday this area will explode and people will be kicking themselves saying, "I could have bought when it was.."

hum

[UrbanHope]

Now is the time to buy Ellum/Expo while it's being hammered --- DART arrives soon and the townhome development mentioned above is slowly taking hold -- someday this area will explode and people will be kicking themselves saying, "I could have bought when it was.."

OK Lakewooder I'm ready when you are: we do jumbo mortgages, construction loans, all the good stuff :D

[Haretip]

Send your contact info, Urban. I bought two lots near DT Fort Worth in the Trinity Uptown area and will be building hopefully within 6 months. I'm hoping to be able to say, "I DID buy when it was..."

haretip@rplsfaq.com

[jsoto3]

Send your contact info, Urban. I bought two lots near DT Fort Worth in the Trinity Uptown area and will be building hopefully within 6 months. I'm hoping to be able to say, "I DID buy when it was..."
What will you be building?

[BigD5349]

What will you be building?

I suspect the question is, "when will you be flipping the land?"

:)

[Columbus Civil]

If only I had the cash to get into real estate investment :\

[Justin Terveen]

If only I had the cash to get into real estate investment :\

2nd

[domicile]

Hey guys. I am new to the forum and have been reading for a while without ever posting. I have been intrigued by the area being discussed and was wondering if anyone has links to articles in DMN or other pubs that talk about this area. (good or bad, what is happening, etc) I should say that I am loooking to develop the area in my own small way with some partners. I have interests there that will be brought to the attention of this forum at the appropriate time. (I am certain the project will be well received)

I heard that the Bill Reed building is going to have floors dedicated to different uses. First floor, office space. Second floor, studio space (photography) that doubles as banquet-type facility. Third floor, residential lofts. I am not sure if I have that correct but it is just something I heard.

[BigD5349]

^ Looking forward to hearing about it. And, welcome!

[Columbus Civil]

Welcome, domicile.

[Haretip]

Residential. It's a historic property where the original house burned. I picked up the parcel for $1 over backtaxes at the county's tax sale. The property is currently zoned multifamily res, so I am going to have to look at the zoning to see if I can swing a house with an apartment over detached garage. Going to try to make the house look as close as possible to what burned (although meeting current codes, etc., maybe add a basement for additional space without affecting historic appearance).

Sorry for the thread hijack.

[slfunk]

Okay...I am now convinced Mr. Brown watches this forum. I was not talking much about this project and its details, but hey...Steve Brown sums it up.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-deepellum_02bus.ART.State.Edition2.188231d0.html

Deep Ellum redo is all business
No lofts for Fair Park area landmark; it'll house photo studio

09:23 AM CST on Thursday, February 2, 2006
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News


Dallas fashion photographer Paul Morgan didn't plan to go into the real estate development business.

But his search for a larger studio in the Deep Ellum area has led to the renovation of an 80-year-old commercial building.

Mr. Morgan is renovating the former Bill Reed Decorations building at 333 First Ave. in Dallas. The big, white brick structure is something of a landmark in the area between Deep Ellum and Fair Park.

It is one of the largest old warehouse buildings in the neighborhood that didn't get converted into lofts back in the 1990s.

Built in 1926, the 36,000-square-foot warehouse overlooks the public plaza at Canton and Exposition streets.

"I bought the building three years ago," Mr. Morgan said. "I could have made it into lofts, but I feel there are enough lofts down here."

Instead, Mr. Morgan will put his photography business on one floor of the main building and in an adjoining metal warehouse.

He plans to seek tenants for the first and third floors of the old warehouse.

"I would love to find a third-floor tenant that needs 10,000 square feet," he said. "We gutted everything out of it and have started with a brick box."

Mr. Morgan acquired the building after the Bill Reed Decorations business moved to a single-floor space on Good-Latimer Expressway.

The renovation is the largest in years in the area, which was hard hit when the dot-com bubble burst, and has fought against reports of rising crime.

The most visible sign of the renovation is the replacement of all the windows in the building.

"The old-fashioned windows weren't efficient," Mr. Morgan said. "The cost of renovating those old steel frames was the same cost as putting the new windows in."

After the windows are finished, the building will be getting a blue-gray paint job.

Stripping the exterior back to the original brick didn't work, the owner said.

"It was built just to be a warehouse so there are four or five different kinds of brick," Mr. Morgan said.

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com

[Lakewooder]

"Okay...I am now convinced Mr. Brown watches this forum. I was not talking much about this project and its details, but hey...Steve Brown sums it up."

Hi Steve, do you remember me from "The Daily Campus"?

[domicile]

Well, we are at the point where I can let eveyone know what we are working on in the Deep Ellum / Near Eastside area. You can check out the website for our project here.

http://www.urbandomicile.com

Eastside Lofts is our first project but we hope to help revitalize the area near Expo Plaza in the future. Of course, you have to start somewhere. We should have the "coming soon" sign in the ground and hope to begin construction within 30 days or so. Please sign up for the mailing list if you would like to know how things progress.

On a side note: I know there is a lot of talk on this forum about names (ripping off New York) but we like the name and think it is representative of the proximity to DTD and happens to be what the city zoning maps call it. Please be kind. Thanks!

- Domicile

[FoUTASportscaster]

Good news and good luck.

[gc]

Well, we are at the point where I can let eveyone know what we are working on in the Deep Ellum / Near Eastside area. You can check out the website for our project here.

http://www.urbandomicile.com

Eastside Lofts is our first project but we hope to help revitalize the area near Expo Plaza in the future. Of course, you have to start somewhere. We should have the "coming soon" sign in the ground and hope to begin construction within 30 days or so. Please sign up for the mailing list if you would like to know how things progress.

On a side note: I know there is a lot of talk on this forum about names (ripping off New York) but we like the name and think it is representative of the proximity to DTD and happens to be what the city zoning maps call it. Please be kind. Thanks!

- Domicile

Good luck domicile and thanks for sharing the info.

[BigD5349]

"Okay...I am now convinced Mr. Brown watches this forum. I was not talking much about this project and its details, but hey...Steve Brown sums it up."

I'd say Steve watches this forum for the same reason we all do. It's a great source of info.

BTW, Steve is also a great source of info for us all. How often do we post one of his articles on the board? Just about every week. Ain't the internet a great thing?

[gc]

^ Word.

[FoUTASportscaster]

I have a man crush on Steve Brown.

[CityLove]

^I bet that'd make a girlfriend jealous. lol

[FoUTASportscaster]

It's actually a Ticket term for admiring the work that a male does. I don't want anything else. Besides, who is this girlfirend you speak of...?

[CityLove]

Oh I know what a man-crush is. They use that on Kidd Kraddick as well. Kinda like having a girl-crush. And I don't know...I more meant if you did have one. I'm not privy to your private life, though.

[CityLove]

Ps Sorry For The Thread Hijack.

[FoUTASportscaster]

To try to get back on topic....How many square feet is this?

[Justin Terveen]

25th

<a href="http://img526.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3246bg.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/3002/3246bg.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>

[gc]

Thanks for pic bro. It is looking good.

[Justin Terveen]

np :)

[CityLove]

Not sure if this has been asked/brought up before...is this that?

http://www.threethreethreefirstavenue.com/

[Rob]

Not sure if this has been asked/brought up before...is this that?

http://www.threethreethreefirstavenue.com/

It looks like the same shape...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/nextseason/Misc/333_1st_Ave_0001.jpg

[CityLove]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking...and the address fits...

I actually found that website in an ad in D's Bridal Magazine. Yes, it's a not-so-hidden fact that all girls look at bridal magazines, even when not in a relationship...this was long before my current relationship began.

[domicile]

I think you guys are right based on the other views of the property that show the newer metal warehouse that is to the south of the exisitng building. It appears they still have some work to do to get to a condition that will appeal to wedding parties but if it ends up looking like the rendering, it will be a great venue for many types of festivities.

[freewaytincan]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking...and the address fits...

I actually found that website in an ad in D's Bridal Magazine. Yes, it's a not-so-hidden fact that all girls look at bridal magazines, even when not in a relationship...this was long before my current relationship began.

And as I've learned with my brother's fiancee, y'all get 4564654543212489 times worse about it once you're engaged.

[CityLove]

And as I've learned with my brother's fiancee, y'all get 4564654543212489 times worse about it once you're engaged.

LOL...no lie.

I do think though, from the renderings at least, this could be a great space to hold events, be they weddings or other.

[FoUTASportscaster]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking...and the address fits...

I actually found that website in an ad in D's Bridal Magazine. Yes, it's a not-so-hidden fact that all girls look at bridal magazines, even when not in a relationship...this was long before my current relationship began.



Poor guy.

[CityLove]

Poor guy.

Fortunately, he knows I'm in no hurry to get married. And he loves me, so he puts up with my "girly-ness."

[boozo]

new color

[gc]

Thanks for the photo. I like that color.

[jsoto3]

Painting brick is always a bad idea.

[gc]

Well, I like the color...not the idea...lol

[slfunk]

Well they had to paint the brick because of the eroded state that the brick was in. Most of what they are painting is just "filler" brick that they used back in the day for the back of the project. The fascade facing Exposition has the "good expensive brick" and is where they spent the most money doing brick detailing. They had to clean the brick, seal it and paint it to protect it from further wind damage/erosion. The brick facing the park is in worse condition then the brick on the other sides.