Reprinted with permission from The Dallas Morning News

The Village springs eternal

Huge complex is getting a face-lift with 496 fresh units

09:21 AM CDT on Friday, June 2, 2006

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

When developers broke ground on Dallas' Village apartments in 1968, they expected it would take about 12 years to finish the huge project.

But work on the 337-acre rental complex continues.

Contractors are about to begin construction on the latest generation of apartments in the Village, on Northwest Highway just east of Greenville Avenue.    The Dakota development, a 496-unit complex, will replace two Village complexes built back in the 1970s; both were demolished in recent months.

The Northbridge complex is one of the newer

 components of the Village, which is almost 40 years old.

MONA REEDER / DMN

"I never thought we'd be knocking them down and rebuilding them," said Lincoln Property Co. founder Mack Pogue, who in the 1960s envisioned the Village as the country's largest rental community.     "I wouldn't be surprised even now if it's not the largest apartment development under one ownership," Mr. Pogue said. "Our plan is to rebuild it with even more open space and amenities." 

Almost 10,000 people live in the Village's 7,300 apartments.

And while most 40-year-old apartment complexes have long shown their age, owners of the Village have maintained the project and replaced several of the oldest complexes. Since 1999, Lincoln has demolished more than 1,100 apartments in the Village and rebuilt about 1,300 units.

The current redevelopment is a series of three-story Craftsman-style buildings built around swimming pools and a clubhouse. The first units will be ready next spring.

"This next phase will add green space to the Village," said Jeff Courtwright, senior vice president of development for Lincoln Property's southwest region. "We are going to go from two to three stories, and the surface parking lots will become a four-story garage."

But the real reason Lincoln Property, one of the country's largest apartment developers, says it is rebuilding its flagship rental property is that renters' tastes have dramatically changed since the 1960s and 1970s.

"The average unit size in the buildings we just tore down was about 650 square feet," Mr. Courtwright said. "People want larger apartments today, and we are replacing it with over 900-square-foot units on average."

By upgrading the Village with the latest floorplans and architecture, Lincoln Property hopes to appeal to tenants who are moving back to the city center.     "We want to turn this into a new urbanism environment," he said. "We want to see a little bit more of an Uptown demographic."

The Village was hip with renters decades before Uptown became Dallas' cool apartment neighborhood.    During the 1970s, the Village was home for many of the city's young, single renters.     With proximity to Southern Methodist University, nearby nightlife and shopping, the Village attracted mostly single residents in their 20s.   These days, the average Village renter is over 30, mostly professionals who earn between $30,000 and $50,000 a year.   

And they must like living there.

About 40 percent of Village tenants move when their lease is up, compared with a more than 60 percent apartment turnover rate citywide.     

Joyce Eldredge has called the Village home for more than 30 years.   "I've been in the same apartment for 28 years," said Ms. Eldredge. "When I first moved in, I had small children. It was a younger crowd back then, and I didn't know if I would fit in with children," she said.

Ms. Eldredge, who now works for Lincoln Property in another division, said it's the location that has kept her in the same three-bedroom, 1,600-square-foot unit.  

"I love the convenience and shopping with NorthPark so close," she said.   Back when Mr. Pogue and his partners started the Village, it wasn't considered an "in-town" location. The property between Greenville and Skillman was home to a riding stable and mostly open fields.

"It was originally a joint venture with the Caruth family. They held the land and gave us 13 years to develop it," Mr. Pogue said. "Southwestern Drive stopped at Greenville Avenue, and we had to extend it through the property."

Lincoln Property also developed the adjoining Old Town shopping center to serve the growing area around the Village.

Development of newer apartments soon spread north of Northwest Highway. While many of those rental units have declined in the last decade, the Village has kept its position in the market.

Rents in the complex average more than $800 a month, compared with about $630 citywide.   "The primary reason for the Village's success has been its long-term ownership by a strong institutional quality developer and manager like Lincoln," said Dallas apartment industry consultant Ron Witten of Witten Advisors. "They've been able and motivated to reinvest in the Village."

Mr. Witten said the growth of nearby shopping centers has helped the Village keep its edge.

Units in the Westside in the Village are among 7,3000 apartments in the massive Village complex.

"An unsuccessful shopping center next door would have been a challenge for maintaining their desirable image," he said.

Although Lincoln no longer owns the Old Town center, the developer is bullish on the idea of retail at the Village.   "We are looking at a whole redesign of the Village," Mr. Courtwright said.    "We may do some mixed-use, including retail," he said.

And midrise and high-rise buildings could be constructed in the future.   "When it makes sense to do it, we will consider it," he said.

Mr. Pogue predicts that eventually all of the Village's first-generation rental complexes will be replaced with new construction.

"The way Dallas is growing, the market at the Village is better today than when we started it," he said.

Village History

1967: Deal for land made, project announced

1968: Construction begins

1986: Project completed

1999: Redevelopment begins

2006: Construction starts on the Dakota complex

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