New projects are the topic of discussion at Downtown Dallas Inc.’s annual meeting.

Still struggling to recover from a pandemic that turned parts of downtown Dallas into a ghost town, center city proponents are looking to the future.

Major real estate projects and public sector improvements were the focus of economic development group Downtown Dallas Inc.’s annual meeting Tuesday.

“We cannot deny the impact of the last year, the challenges particularly faced by our small businesses and our quieter streets,” said Downtown Dallas Inc. CEO Kourtny Garrett. “Four billion dollars of development continues to move forward. Cranes are still flying high over downtown Dallas.”

The virtual meeting highlighted major projects underway in the central business district, including AT&T’s new Discovery District, the East Quarter redevelopment on downtown’s eastern edge and the proposed Newpark project south of city hall.

Newpark is a 20-acre mixed-use development of Hoque Global, Lanoha Real Estate of Omaha, and KDC planned on Canton Street near Interstate 30.

“Over the next decade, there could be as much as five to 10 million square feet of development,” said KDC CEO Steve Van Amburgh.

Newpark is one of two ambitious projects Hoque Global is working on in the downtown area. The company is also redeveloping a 15-block area south of downtown that it’s calling SoGood.

“Our focus is on taking on the most challenging projects that have the most impact in our communities,” developer Mike Hoque said.

With more than 60% of Dallas office workers still at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, downtown’s eateries and service retailers have been hard hit.

“The impact of the last year on our hotels, our restaurants, our retail, and service business has been undeniable,” Garrett said.

But she pointed to continued interest in Dallas by relocating out-of-state firms and continued growth in the city center population.

“Over 12,000 people live downtown today and with 2,700 additional multifamily units under construction or planned, nearly 4,000 more will join us soon,” Garrett said. “We’ve reinvested over a half-billion dollars in iconic commercial office buildings — the skyscrapers that define our skyline.

“Even amid the pandemic, Dallas led the country last year in commercial real estate deals,” she said. “In 2021, 15 deals have been done in downtown Dallas.”

One of the projects was the massive Field Street District development proposed on the north edge of downtown adjacent to Uptown. It’s being planned by Kaizen Development Partners.

“We are well-positioned to execute the Field Street District, which sits at the nexus of those neighborhoods,” said Jonas Woods with Woods Capital, a partner in the project. “It has a very large office component, resident retail and hospitality.

“We wanted to be very thoughtful about the design,” Woods said. “We wanted it to be inspiring, and we wanted it to really engage the surrounding neighborhoods.”

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