Responsible Growth for Northcross

Neighborhood opposition to the proposed Wal-Mart at Northcross Mall has swiftly given birth to a group called Responsible Growth for Northcross. The new group, started by residents from the Allandale, North Shoal Creek, Brentwood, Crestview, Wooten and Rosedale neighborhoods, will hold a community meeting on Thursday, November 30 at 7pm at Grace Church of the Nazarene, located at 1006 W. Koenig Ln.

From the group's news release...

Northcross Mall, long an underused shopping center in an area which has improved significantly in recent years, is ripe for transformation. The mall property has the potential for a diverse, mixed-use redevelopment such as those underway at the Triangle and Mueller.

However, current redevelopment plans, strongly opposed by many in the surrounding neighborhoods, threaten to undermine that potential and bring a two-story, 24 hour Wal-Mart into the area. Responsible Growth for Northcross envisions a redevelopment aligned with the city’s new model for urban development and planned in partnership with surrounding neighborhoods.

Personally, I think the Triangle development is architecturally hideous, but it would've been ten times worse without sustained push-back from the neighborhoods surrounding it. When the Triangle was first proposed back in 1997, it included a 60,000 square-foot Randall's and an Act III multiplex. Just imagine what that would've done to the Guadalupe/North Lamar bottleneck.

Whether the Wal-Mart at Northcross gets built or not, surrounding neighborhoods will be better off for having held some feet to the fire.