A key focus of discussion before, during, and after the September meeting of the Dallas Multi-Discipline Group involved challenges related to commercial property development. Guest speaker/urban designer Scott Polikov of Gateway Planning explained the benefits of understanding the market potential of a property before designing a project. Often, the easy solution is to develop a property by building strip centers. Sometimes, however, there are unique opportunities to create walkable, urban communities in seemingly unlikely places.

Mr. Polikov described two such projects his company developed/is developing in Texas. On one major project, Trinity Lakes located in East Fort Worth, Gateway negotiated a roadway reconstruction project at a cost of $13 million, and while expensive for 2/3 mile of roadway, it will anchor around $1 billion of value.