Downtown Revitalization:

The Farmers Market District, Dallas, Texas

The historic Dallas Farmers Market provides a festive grand entrance to the marketplace with the City Stone™ Series concrete pave stones in a variety of colors. The design possibilities in the pave stones was a key to achieving the festive spirit of the Farmers Market District. Streets surrounding the Farmers Market were included in the revitalization project and renovated with interlocking concrete pave stones.

The historic preservation, economic development and community vitality of downtown and neighborhood commercial districts is a popular U.S. trend. Dallas, Texas, a distinctive city with a rich heritage, embraces the historical value of its past while encouraging economic growth and urban living with many modernization projects. These include the Farmers Market, West End Historical District, the Mckinney Avenue Trolley, Deep Ellum and a residential boom with the opening of many multi-family apartment, townhome and loft communities.

Providing significant charm and value, the Dallas Farmers Market is a major part of Dallas history. Farmers have been selling their fresh produce on the streets of Dallas since the late 1800s. Popular from the beginning, the continued population growth increased the demand for fresh produce. More customers buying from more farmers created increased traffic and mandated a need for organized management. The site was officially sanctioned as a municipally-owned and operated market in December 1941. Today, the Dallas Farmers Market is a popular year-round attraction for metroplex residents as well as tourists. It is, in fact, the largest U.S. working farmers market with a total annual walk-through of approximately two million people.

The market was slated for revitalization with the initial Farmers Market District Streets project beginning several years ago. The City of Dallas undertook district streetscape improvements which were designed to reflect the unique character, history and culture of the area surrounding the market. David White, Landscape Architect for the Dallas Department of Public Works comments, "For the Farmers Market to prosper and grow, we increased pedestrian circulation by virtue of wide sidewalks and utilized special pavements throughout, including street crossings. The patterns of the paver installation provided a clear direction between the market and the parking areas."

The multi-family development leasing office in the background is uniquely distinguished from the commercial businesses in the area by the pave stone main entrance. Custom color blend Parkway Provencial™ concrete pave stones provide warmth to urban living while providing relief to the downtown concrete overkill. Twenty four thousand sq. feet of 8 cm charcoal plaza were used for leave outs around the property and on entrances into developments. Street and courtyard planting was designed to reduce noise and pollution.

To capture the festive nature of the market, a variety of colors, shapes and textures were used for the hardscape projects. Pavestone’s City Stone™ Series system was key to achieving the character of the design improvements. The series includes a variety of sizes of squares and rectangles that modulate together, providing unlimited design and color options.

From the City Stone Series, 118,000 sq. ft. of custom colored Holland II, Holland IV and Double Holland pave stones in units of 4"x8" and 8"x8" were used in the streets, sidewalks, and entry plazas. The streetscapes utilized 8cm pave stones in vehicular areas and 6 cm pave stones in pedestrian traffic areas.

H.O.K. Landscape Architect David Retzsch states that, "Pavestone’s modular system enabled us to create a design that is unique to the district and to Dallas. The flexibility to mix paver colors and shapes allowed us to work with concepts that were previously unachievable with standard interlocking pavers." Retzsch notes that "a key factor in the success of the hardscaping paving was Pavestone’s technical support in the planning and implementation process, as well as their ability to produce the custom colors required for the project."

Skeptical at first but impressed after, William P. Price, Resident Construction Manager for Beck Program Management, states “ The installation was time consuming because of the detailed pattern, but the end product was worth the time. The pavers are handling heavy truck traffic very well.”

The increasing popularity of urban living created a demand for more residential developments in the area. Camden Property Trust built a multifamily development, The Parks at Farmers Market. Located in the southern edge of downtown Dallas, the property is adjacent to the Dallas Farmers Market complex and in close proximity to the eclectic clubs and restaurants of Deep Ellum and the West End Marketplace--popular with young upscale professionals. This residential project involved participation by the developer and Public Rights of Way and adherence to a Public/Private Development Agreement and a set of planned development guidelines for the area.

"The project included 605 apartment units consisting of a series of building groupings, including a leasing office, clubhouse and two parking structures, all sited to create interior courtyards and an urban edge treatment at the building perimeters along the public streets," explained Al David, Principal, Enviro Design Landscape Architects/Planners. "Two of the streets traverse through the interior of the development.

"The owner wanted to use clay brick pavers as predominate walkway material, because of color and texture," David said. "Because of the quantity required, delivery time was very lengthy. Concrete pave stones were suggested as an alternative if color and texture of the clay pavers could be matched.

"Pavestone Co. concrete paving stones were selected," David continued, "because the product was readily available. Key in the selection process was the assistance from our Pavestone representative enabled us to create a custom product."

Approximately 60,000 sq. feet of pave stones surround the multi-family development, and 14,500 sq. feet of Holland Stone and City Stone were used around the club house and pool. A special color blend was developed for the project, Camden Blend, which mixes red, buff and brown pigments.

"The new Parkway Provencial™ pave stone provides the warm elegant feeling originally specified," Joey Guedea, Commercial Sales Manager, Pavestone Company said. "The clay pavers are manufactured on the east cost and there is no local support in Dallas. Our new pave stone is made from a no-slump concrete mix that has more portland cement and pigment. As a result of this manufacturing process, we are able to produce a pave stone that has a fine gradient texture, bright color presentation and endurance. It also has a compressive strength of 8000 psi and a water absorption maximum of 5 percent.”

Paver color was key to bring warmth to all of the concrete in the area. A special color blend was developed for the project, Camden Blend, which mixed red, buff and brown pigments.

More than 98,000 sq. ft. of pave stones were used for the sidewalks, entrance and private streets of the development. Using the Parkway Provencial™ rectangular stone, 24,000 sq. ft. of 8 cm charcoal plaza were used for leave outs around property and on entrances into development; 60,000 sq. ft. surround the project in the sidewalks in a custom color; and 14,500 sq. ft. Holland stone and City Stone were used around the club house and pool. Street and courtyard planting was designed to reduce noise and pollution.

"The existing public sidewalks were in extremely poor shape. They were broken, stained, uneven and inconsistent texture," David explained. "It was important to create an urban residential atmosphere and provide relief from downtown concrete overkill. We specified Pavestone concrete paving stones because they are more durable, cost effective, available and able to create custom colors and textures to achieve the desired results."

An additional project will use 10,000 sq. ft. of Parkway Provencial™ pave stones in the custom Camden Blend for the Deep Ellum Connector. This project is the construction of a walkway complete with benches and softscapes. Previously, the area was rundown and unsafe for pedestrian traffic because there was no walkway. The continuation of using the custom color blend helps to tie all the projects together warmly and creates distinction in the area.

Alva D. Logsdon is a writer whose work has been featured in several national magazines, and is a designer of collateral material, websites and electronic media. She is the Director of Marketing for Pavestone Company.

Richard Bodie serves on the NCMA Technical Committee and Landscape Products Committee; he has been with Pavestone Company for more than 13 years and currently serves as National Sales Manager.

Project: Farmers Market District Streets, Dallas, Texas

Owner: City of Dallas, Department of Public Works

Construction Manager: Beck Program Management,

Dallas, Texas

Engineer: R. L. Goodson, Jr. Inc., Consulting Engineers,

Dallas, TX

Landscape Architect: The H.O.K. Planning Group of

Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum, Inc., Dallas, TX

General Contractor: Ed Bell Construction, Dallas, TX

Paver Contractor: Concrete Paver Systems, Duncanville, TX

Product: 118,000 sq. ft. Holland Stone System Pavers by

Pavestone Company

Project: The Park at Farmers Market, Dallas Texas

Contractor: Gibson and Associates, Dallas, Texas

Product: 98,500 sq. ft. Holland Stone Parkway Provencial

and City Stone™ Series system paving stones by

Pavestone Company