OVERstreet on SEVENTYfive, a 1.4 million square foot mixed-use commercial/residential center planned by De La Vega Development, will soon rise on a roughly 10.5 acre site formerly owned by the Xerox Corporation. De La Vega recently purchased the property, which is located directly across North Haskell Avenue from CityPlace Tower.

According to the Dallas-based company’s website, Hodges Architecture was retained to develop a conceptual site plan that includes four multi-story buildings with office, residential, hospitality and residential uses. There are also two stand-alone parking garages, one of which would be underground. The plan provides a total of 2,770 parking spaces.

A third parking garage would be incorporated into a mixed-use building that would include a 150-key, five-story hotel, with one-story wings to the north and east for 35,400 square feet of retail, 17,000 square feet of office space, and 21,400 square feet for three restaurants. The hotel/retail building, with a total of 105,240 square feet, is placed at the northeast corner of the Central Expressway and North Haskell Avenue. This would require the demolition of an existing 11-story building that was once the headquarters of the 7-Eleven Corporation.

Two office buildings in the plan reach heights of 18 stories and 12 stories — the taller building with an area of 450,000 square feet, the smaller with 300,000 square feet. The tallest of the structures is a 22-story residential tower with a total area of 462,000 square feet.

The Dallas Morning News recently confirmed that De La Vega purchased the land. Cushman & Wakefield has marketed the property for Xerox Corporation since October 2015. As part of its sales pitch, the broker said, “The property is well positioned for a mixed-use redevelopment as it has in-place high density, mixed use zoning and high-quality income from short term leases that will help offset carry costs during planning and design.”

Other benefits to the location include its proximity to the CityPlace-Uptown DART light rail station. It’s also situated just across the expressway from the popular West Village District in Uptown.

Xerox inherited the campus, originally more than 28 acres in size, years ago when it acquired a French tech firm. Xerox sold the northern 17 acres to Trammell Crow Company in 2013, and in 2015, Trammell Crow imploded the 12-story Xerox Building located at the southeast corner of Central Expressway and North Carroll Avenue.

Trammell Crow attempted to bring a Sam’s Club warehouse store to the site, but met with stiff opposition from area neighborhood associations. Residents sued on the basis that they were misled as to the true nature of the development — claiming they were led to expect a mixed-use retail center similar to the West Village District.

The East Village Neighborhood Association residents prevailed in state district court last November when the judge ruled they did not receive notice proper and accurate notice of the proposed zoning change. The residents follow development around them, sharing information through an online forum called Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum. Residents first learned of De La Vega’s plans on May 27 and are already critical of the design.

“The street-level plans for this development suck,” said commenter Matt777. “Completely auto oriented and no connection to the CityPlace developments or surrounding neighborhood, pathetic sidewalks, too. It would not be hard to tweak this, though, and make it have a more pedestrian friendly and a more attractive street-level presence. The very vocal neighborhood that defeated TC and Sam’s should work with the developer on this issue.”

Others were more optimistic. CowboyEagle05 said, “Let’s hope they can get their development off the ground. It will only make Trammell Crow look worse if this guy can get mixed-use plans off the construction documents and underway. One of Trammell Crow’s biggest arguments was that mixed-use just wasn’t going to work here, that the market didn’t welcome that potential.”

In a statement to the DMN, developer Artemio De La Vega spoke in a tone more to the neighborhood residents’ liking, “The citizens of Dallas deserve first in class. We would like to take the time to create a mixed-use project of lasting quality at that location.”