East Dallas: Mrs Baird's Bakery / Townhomes

[dfwcre8tive]

Investors buy up 12 acres in East Dallas
They plan to refurbish historic Mrs Baird's bakery site
11:10 PM CDT on Sunday, July 22, 2007
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
stevebrown@dallasnews.com
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/072307dnbuseastside.35a2f67.html

An investment partnership has quietly purchased more than 12 acres between Bryan Street and Ross Avenue in East Dallas with plans to redevelop the neighborhood.

Burlew Street Partners has bought parts of eight blocks in the area near Carroll Avenue.

Their development plans include remodeling the historic Mrs Baird's building at Carroll and Bryan into residential units, partner Leo Whelan said.

"Our goal is to redo the building and use it – our architects were blown away by it," Mr. Whelan said Friday.

Built in 1928, the two-story, 44,000-square-foot former bakery was designed by noted Dallas architect George Dahl. It was used by Mrs Baird's until the early 1950s, when the company built a larger bakery on nearby North Central Expressway.

Mr. Whelan, partner John Bunten and other investors in the deal hired Dallas architects Merriman Associates to do land plans for all their properties in the area, including the old bakery.

Their plan calls for most of the property to be used for townhouses.

The historic bakery building would be joined by two rows of townhomes plus an outdoor swimming pool and common areas.

The investors began tying up land in the area about 18 months ago, Mr. Whelan said.

"We kept it very quiet until we are able to accumulate a lot of property," he said. "Every single person I show our deal to says, 'How the heck did you do that?' "

Burlew Street Partners has already lined up a sale of two of its tracts to townhome builders.

"Our goal is to sell some of it and develop some of it ourselves," Mr. Whelan said.

Dallas' near east side is in the midst of a redevelopment boom, with dozens of townhome and apartment projects in the works.

The Burlew Street Partners property is between the Bryan Place neighborhood – which is seeing widespread construction – and the nearby Henderson Avenue corridor.

"For good land over there, you are looking at as much as $30 to $35 per square foot," said real estate broker Newt Walker.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/07-07/0723baird.jpg

[hamiltonpl]

Great. That area could use a boost.

[Lakewooder]

Those are some of the last of the really dumpy 1950s and 60s apartments in that area, so everyone will be glad to see them go. The great thing about this site is that there are two very charming small churches from the early 1900s and the area has quite a little urban node around the former Mrs Baird's plant. It almost developed into quite something before the 80s crash. Then next urban node up Bryan at Fitzhugh is filling in nicely where Jimmy's Food Store, Alessio's (moved from the edge of HP) and Mai's are located. No doubt the developers are circling that area as well.

The site also fits in with the Cityville and whatever is going on with DeLuxe Inn. It is sort of 'the hole' and will have positive effects on Live Oak and Ross Avenue.

[BigD5349]

So, I guess this is the old Mrs. Baird's bakery? (corner Bryan & Carroll)...

[LH_Newbie]

That building does have some great potential! Now if only we could convert to underground electrical facilities...

[gc]

This is great news!

[Urban Legend]

This project will be so great to the interior of this Old East Dallas neighborhood that we will see significant positive impact to the community and the economy. It is wonderful to see what is coming in terms of true urban living in Dallas. We are moving to a very exciting phase of our city development where we have urban community, a sense of neighborhood and the pride of living in the city.

[hamiltonpl]

This has the bones of a really great neighborhood. Diagonally across from the old Mrs. Baird's Bakery needs a little sprucing up. Hopefully, someone can do something with that.

To the south at Bryan and Peak there are a lot of stores and restaurants in old storefronts. They're very cool looking. There's even a little Asian market.

The Vietnamese restaurant to the south (appropriately named "Vietnam") is a great place for grilled pork vermicilli, and the spring rolls are the best I've ever had.

[KesslerDweller]

Awesome! This area is a dump. Glad to see something good coming in. $30 a foot for land seems really expensive.

[UrbanBiker]

Include the upcoming Lincoln Property projects on Live Oak and Gaston as well as many of the used car dealers soon to be going away on Ross, East Dallas is going to be a very different place by 2010.

[Lakewooder]

I am dying to know what plans Lincoln Property has for the Gaston and Live Oak apartment buildings...

[UrbanHope]

^ Kick out the people, scrape it, build something expensive...it's the (unfortunate) Dallas way.

[UrbanBiker]

Ross Avenue, Live Oak and Gaston as well as the infill neighborhoods were once lined with beautiful homes. Those were replaced with ratty apartments, crack houses and halfway houses. From beautiful to a dump I would say. Now it's going back the other way and compared to uptown, downtown, Victory and the Park Cities, I would consider what is being built to be very affordable. Lincoln Property and JPI build and manage what I would consider affordable properties and will bring in a large number of middle class into the neighborhood. Go take a real look at what is being knocked down, like the Deluxe Inn, most of it is garbage.

[LH_Newbie]

How exactly does one build a crack house? :)

[UrbanBiker]

"How exactly does one build a crack house?"

I will have to admit that I'm ignorant on that one. Maybe they just sprout out of the ground? I recently rebuilt a portion of my fence, on the other side there must have been a hundred bic lighters, quite a few glass pipes, little baggies, etc., And than there was the crack head who was laid out about 50 feet away and and did not move for the first 30 mins we were working.. I guess these folks just fall out of the sky and happen to land in East Dallas. In any case, I'll be happy to see them and their habitat gone!

[sterling]

How exactly does one build a crack house? :)

First you have to have a bad foundation. After that, it seems very low maintenance is a major factor.

[sebjamesm]

So, I guess this is the old Mrs. Baird's bakery? (corner Bryan & Carroll)...

This is not Mrs. Bairds, it is Dallas Bias Fabrics which still seems to be very much in operation. Can anyone confirm which building is being talked about?

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1354/889676759_458789baab.jpg

[LH_Newbie]

First you have to have a bad foundation. After that, it seems very low maintenance is a major factor.
Good responses! I was just being silly about the "replaced with" verbage used in the post. It's been a really bad day, so I had to have some fun. :)

[BigD5349]

This is not Mrs. Bairds, it is Dallas Bias Fabrics which still seems to be very much in operation. Can anyone confirm which building is being talked about?

Thanks for the info. Next time I'm through that area I'll look for the building. Anyone have any pics of it?

[sebjamesm]

Thanks for the info. Next time I'm through that area I'll look for the building. Anyone have any pics of it?

I live a few blocks away; I'll try to get some pics tomorrow.

[Smito]

I am dying to know what plans Lincoln Property has for the Gaston and Live Oak apartment buildings...

That deal fell through about 3 weeks ago.

[clipper]

That was the Baird's bakery before it became the fabric place.

[sebjamesm]

That was the Baird's bakery before it became the fabric place.

Thanks...I was confused because I read that Mrs Bairds moved in the early 50's and that Dallas Bias Fabrics has been there since 1948. Oh well.

So will Dallas Bias be moving? Because they are still operating out of there.

[Lakewooder]

Practically next to the site: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/classifieds/news/homecenter/realestate/stories/class072607dnmetsoldierhomes.b1d2a894.html

[mrpipeline]

Ross Avenue, Live Oak and Gaston as well as the infill neighborhoods were once lined with beautiful homes. Those were replaced with ratty apartments, crack houses and halfway houses. From beautiful to a dump I would say. Now it's going back the other way

This cycle has always stumped me...

it makes me think of how in the office, mgmt has moved workers and tore down great workspace, only to build it up again later and move those same people back, then wait 2 yrs and start the whole cycle over again :juggle:

[Lakewooder]

Architect for this project:

http://www.merriman-maa.com/

They also did Live Oak Lofts -- see projects and tell me what you think of the Deep Ellum rendering -- what is this a concept or something coming soon?

[Lakewooder]

http://www.burlewstreetpartners.com/ click on concept plans

[cowboyeagle05]

Architect for this project:

http://www.merriman-maa.com/

They also did Live Oak Lofts -- see projects and tell me what you think of the Deep Ellum rendering -- what is this a concept or something coming soon?

That was a project that died awhile ago it was supposed to include land next to the Baylor station that another project is being built on right now so that Deep Ellum is no longer in the works.

[cowboyeagle05]

double post