The Council concluded it's meetings early in December and resumed this week. With the holidays and vacations, there has been less news and updates to post. Welcome to the New Year and I'll start sharing the items that I've been collecting the last few weeks.
 

Demolition crews take a bite out of the old County Courts Bldg, across from the Granville Arts Center, and recycle much of the material.

 
Hello, 2008 … and good-bye to old Downtown.
 
I think the big 2008 news item for Garland will be the birth of the new Downtown. It has literally been years in the making, but efforts started by Mayor Bob Day when he was in office are now tangibly taking root. The city bought the empty Kroger building at Garland Rd and Main St to trade the county for the County Tax Office on Walnut and the County Courts Bldg on Fifth St, which enabled the city to successfully encourage new development on those parcels. The Tax Office has been demolished to make room for the Garland campus of Richland College and the Courts Bldg is being demolished at this very moment to clear the way for the multi-use, three-story retail, apartments, and parking structure to be built by Trammell Crow.
 
The closing of Baker's Furniture on the square is, on one hand, truly the loss of a landmark but, on the other, is a wonderful opportunity for other retailers with a wider array of products to attract a wider range of shoppers downtown.
 
A new pizza restaurant that will emphasize social gathering will soon be opening on the same block as Dos Banderas Restaurant. Personally, it sounds like an idea whose time has come and will work.
 
New retailers and restaurants, and at least 200 new residents to follow, I'm confident that 2008 will be remembered as the year many more of us return to the heart of Garland.
 
UPDATE:

Artist's sketch of Trammel Crow's concept for the multi-use building expected to be under construction soon. This view is from the DART station area and features retail on the bottom floor to the left and all residential to the right.

 
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