So about those new buildings…
DFW is only second to Houston as the fastest growing city in the United States.
The hoard of people moving to Dallas spurred a huge construction boom, and cranes are all over the city.
A new apartment project near the American Airlines Arena.
A new apartment building project in the Dallas design district built in the “One Plus Five” style.
Construction in the Victory Park / Harwood neighborhood of Dallas
All Things New
Apartment buildings are growing like weeds around the gayborhood and many of my neighbors think anything past 3-years is an “old building.”
But there is something strange about the style of the new apartment buildings in Dallas – they look like something straight out of soviet Russia. (We were beginning to see these in Minnesota as well.)
It turns out that Eric Nicholson over at the Dallas Observer already did an article on this called “Seriously, What’s With All Those Soviet Apartments?”
The article references an architecture blog post: “How “One-Plus-Five” is Shaping American Cities.”
Here’s the rundown on “One-Plus-Five” buildings
- A change to the international building code in 2009 made it possible to build midrise (5 story) buildings out of wood if they have a concrete base.
- This is up to 40% cheaper than building with concrete and steel.
- Many of these buildings used to come with retail spaces on the first floor.
- However, the proliferation of these new apartment buildings makes many developers opt for ample amenity spaces instead of retail (like my building.)
Happy Hour at iLume Park in Oak Lawn, Dallas.
Although the facades of one-plus-five buildings vary, the charm wears off once you realize that the buildings follow a strict formula. Also, it is less pleasant to live in a wood-frame building because the noise control sucks. It’s unknown if wood-based buildings will have a shorter life-span as well.
That’s definitely the situation in Oak Lawn.
Most of the new buildings in the gayborhood follow the one-plus-five model. They are vaguely industrial, and sold as “luxury apartments” despite the cheaper building materials.
Apartment buildings near the Medical District of Dallas
The Shelby Apartments near SMU during St. Patrick’s Day.
Faux-industrial style apartments in the Oak Lawn neighborhood of Dallas.
The quality of some of these one-plus-five buildings is suspect.
The questionable quality of some of these new apartment buildings is one of the reasons why people switch apartments so frequently.
Sure, the buildings look cute when they first open, but they quickly deteriorate – my building is about 3 years old and they are already talking about replacing an elevator. Doors and gym equipment are already getting replaced too…oh and the brick facade fell off…
The front of iLume Park was shut down after a brick facade fell off of the front of the parking garage.
This reminds of when I was younger and thought that Express clothing was so fancy and sophisticated (don’t judge me.) I quickly discovered that the shirts fade and deteriorate rapidly, and that the jeans don’t fare much better.
My current building could be one of the one-plus-five types, but the location is amazing and it’s good enough for now. I just won’t pretend that it is anything more sophisticated then a brand new Express shirt purchased on sale.
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