One Up and One Down on the South Side

Steve Brown of the Dallas Morning News had an article in Thursday's Business Section hailing the start of construction on The Beat condominium project in the Cedars Area of town.  If you aren't familiar with the Cedars, think Southside on Lamar.  The Beat will be 10-stories high, and across the street from the Cedars Dart Rail Station.

Also in Thursday's paper was a blurb from Dave Levinthal that a minor-league baseball stadium that was being proposed for the southern side of downtown may end up somewhere else.  This confirmed an email I got from my man Jason on Tuesday that said as much.  This is a very troubling development. 

The bone of contention seems to be the proposed homeless center scheduled to be built in the part of downtown.  Leventhal quotes Scott Berry, president of Southern Independent Baseball as saying “The general feeling is that from a baseball standpoint, you’re giving people a reason not to come to that area by putting [the homeless assistance center] there.”

I've really been looking forward to minor-league baseball in downtown Dallas, especially on the southern side.  This would further balance Victory Park and the Woodall Rodgers construction.  The Southside on Lamar, Farmer's Market, Gilley's (who just completed and expansion), Brooklyn, Nellie's, Poor David's and Tryst already make for a more laid back experience compared with that of Victory and Uptown.  Minor-league baseball would add a great deal more character to this budding section of town. 

I need to do a little more digging here; I can't imagine the city wants to lose another stadium.