An Irving city council member spoke exclusively to The Dallas Express about his vision to revitalize parts of downtown Irving.

Council member John Bloch’s (Place 1) working title for the project is “Heritage Square,” and he says it will be “family-oriented entertainment, restaurants, and retail in a beautiful old-town-Texas-style development.”

He described his vision as a “beautiful creek area with clean water, possibly a boardwalk … an area for a farmer’s market preserved beautiful old trees, playgrounds and trails … [and] plazas for commerce: The type of place where kids can eat their mac & cheese or chicken fingers then go play with lawn toys while mom and dad finish their dinner.”

The councilman explained that revitalizing Irving’s Heritage Park has been a topic of discussion for years. Yet, he pointed out what he called a “chicken and egg problem”: revitalization stalls because investors and developers hesitate to commit without new businesses and housing projects already in place, while those businesses and developments won’t arrive until the area is revitalized. He noted that city grants aimed at enhancing the area’s appearance have failed to spark a broader renewal effort.

Bloch says his idea was inspired over a year ago by the success he saw at places like The District at Cypress Waters in Dallas, where he believes open green space and water were successfully utilized to build an attractive area for restaurants and recreation.

He noted that Irving has had some success improving water quality downstream in Centennial Park, and he believes that something similar could be done for Heritage Square. He also said that “the city owns a lot of land down there,” which alleviates a number of potential problems. There are numerous ways to go about a Heritage Square project, such as the city continuing to own the land but letting a private enterprise manage it with certain restrictions.

Beyond improving the appeal of downtown Irving, he believes Heritage Square could draw in “newer market-rate housing.” He views this as a key development, pointing out that although subsidized housing projects have recently emerged, the area hasn’t seen a new market-rate apartment building in “decades.”
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He also sees the project as a way to stimulate commerce while enhancing the aesthetic qualities of downtown Irving.

Irving Heritage District Concept Rendering | Image by Heritage-District-Presentation/provided to DX

Bloch stressed that his vision is only in its infancy; the city has not pursued it, and there have been no meetings with developers.

“There are still a million details to work out,” he added.

 

On April 7, he first presented his vision for the project to a small group at a private event.

Bloch is up for re-election this cycle and will face Tony Grimes. Early voting runs from April 22 to 29; election day is May 3.