Bullet train developer IDs possible Dallas station sites, partners with ... - Dallas Morning News

Texas Central Railway

The prospective downtown Dallas terminal sites for Texas Central Railway's high-speed Dallas-to-Houston line lie along tracks that run through the South Side district and into the southern edge of downtown. This photo shows the area where both prospective sites are located.

The company developing a Dallas-Houston bullet train identified the two potential spots where they want to build a North Texas terminus Friday and announced a partnership with Matthews Southwest to turn the planned station into a mixed-use development.

Both prospective locations include land just south of downtown in the South Side district, but one includes land across Interstate 30 in downtown’s southern edge. Under the second scenario, Texas Central Railway would build the station above I-30, which is partially sunken as it moves south of downtown.

Texas Central CEO and Chairman Richard Lawless said that second scenario would also help connect downtown and South Dallas, where the South Side and Cedars developments have blossomed in recent years.

“It really offers incredible potential for all of the areas,” Lawless said.

Both scenarios would put the high-speed rail station in close proximity to the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, existing light-rail stations and Union Station, where DART light rail, the Trinity Railway Express and the new Oak Cliff streetcar line converge.

Lawless said both scenarios would be “catalytic” for development.

“It will be an iconic terminal, probably as much as anyone could imagine,” he said.

In either case, the station would be roughly in between two high-profile Matthews Southwest projects: the Omni Hotel downtown and South Side on Lamar in the Cedars.

A new company, called Texas Central Partners, is being formed to handle the station development. Lawless said Matthews Southwest president Jack Matthews understands high-speed rail’s potential impact on downtown.

“He is a really nationally respected executor of fairly complicated projects,” Lawless said.

Source: southwest - Google News http://ift.tt/1zhiPMS