Back in July 2021, FPC Dallas closed on the purchase of 515 Park Ave. from Oncor in an effort to: Protect the continued delivery of services through The Stewpot at the Community Ministries Building (which is vulnerable to increased development activity around the church), take advantage of an opportunity to pick our neighbors (recognizing that our real estate positions are a valuable asset) and to demolish the existing structures as they were cost prohibitive to renovate and a constant security risk.
Some updates since closing:
- The church applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (TCEQ) Voluntary Clean Up Program (VCP)for the site and with our environmental consultants completed a Phase II investigation and reported the findings to the TCEQ. Initial communications with the TCEQ were promising and we look forward to the opportunity to reach environmental regulatory closure.
- The session created a new 515 Subcommittee including the following members tasked with investigating and making a recommendation for future development of the 515 property to the session: Mary Kimbrough (Chair), Ellen Pryor, Aaron Bidne, Deanne Teeter, Brenda Snitzer (Executive Director of The Stewpot), John Joe (Senior Executive Director and CFO), and Ashlee Hueston (Senior Director of Operations and Staff Lead)
- The subcommittee, hosted by Downtown Dallas Inc., enjoyed a walking tour of area development/planned development to gain some boots on the ground understanding of the changes in the neighborhood.
- We distributed a request for proposal for owner’s representation services and contracted with SLS Consultants to support the church through demolition and environmental regulatory closure on the property. We separated this from the development advisory services request for proposal to ensure relevant experience with the scope. Abatement and demolition began on the property in late October. We expect to complete demolition no later than mid March.
- In late November, we distributed an RFP for Development Advisory Services to support the work of the 515 Subcommittee tasked with making a recommendation to the session for the future development of the property. We are beginning to prepare for interviews and hope to select a firm in the near future to support the continued work of the subcommittee.
The 515 Subcommittee looks forward to continuing to work together with the selected Development Advisor to prepare to help navigate towards a highest and best future use.