Another piece of land on Garland Road is poised to become a parking facility for the Dallas Arboretum.
The Legal Directories Publishing Company, Inc. owns a stretch of land between MidSouth Bank and Sonic on the west side of the road. The property is now a family trust, and the Arboretum has been in talks with the owners about purchasing the land for at least four months, says a source in the family.
Those talks became a contract last week, the source says, for a roughly $2.5 million sale with plans to use the property for parking.
We just reported on the Arboretum’s long-term need for parking, beyond what the new Garland Road garage will provide. The latest parking study projected they’d need more than that by 2018 as attendance continues to grow. When asked about the plan, including which spots are being considered, Arboretum board president Mary Brinegar gave a only general statement, saying “Parking plans are still in a formative phase with many options under consideration.”
According to the Dallas County Appraisal District, Legal Directories owns about 2.66 acres at 9111 and 9115 Garland, valued at $1.98 million. It’s zoned as community retail (CR).
CR zoning allows for a lot or a garage, so no zoning approval is needed to construct either facility, as long as it meets the requirements. That includes buffers for surrounding neighborhoods: 15 feet in front, 20 feet on the side and 20 feet in the rear. There’s also a 54-foot height maximum. Parking garages are exempt from the 4-story limit if they meet the height requirement.
Just west of the Legal Directories’ property, roughly 2.03 acres that recently sold was listed at $3.3 million, and is zoned as a planned development (PD) that allows for up to 41 single-family attached homes. There are now plans to convert the land to a residential community (not high-rises, though).
Keri Mitchell contributed to this report.
