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Deck on Main will bring a commercial space.
Main and Mill Lofts will have 201 multifamily units.
The Mill at Old Town is slated to open 2024.
RENDERINGS COURTESY CITY OF LEWISVILLE
Old Town Lewisville revitalization
Ten projects have recently been planned for Old Town Lewisville. There are seven active projects as of Oct. 7, most of which are residential. 1 Residential 1 Commercial
1 Aura Old Town 315 multifamily units
Director Marichelle Samples said. Six of those projects are residential. “We’re going to really end up a great destination place and just a great pocket of neighborhood because it will be a very walkable community,” said Lori Fickling, Lewisville Area Chamber of Commerce president. Old Town history Before modern development came to Old Town, the area was founded as a farming community in the 1840s. The city’s first organized downtown, which ran through what is now Main Street, came along in the 1870s. The opening of Vista Ridge Mall, which is now Music City Mall, in 1989 combined with growth on the city’s west side attracted commerce to that area, said James Kunke, the city’s community relations and tour- ism director. Activity and traffic in Old Town Lewisville decreased; new housing was not being built, and 35E 6 Deck on Main Commercial development Address: 191 W. Main St. Estimated completion: October 2023 7 Main and Mill Lofts 201 multifamily units Address: corner of Main and Mill streets Estimated completion: March 2024 8 The Mill at Old Town 215 multifamily units Address: corner of Purnell and Mill streets Estimated completion: June 2024 9 Old Town Station 420 multifamily units Address: corner of Railroad and College streets Estimated completion: December 2024 10 Unnamed boutique hotel Eight guest rooms and a restaurant Address: 102 W. Main St. Estimated completion: TBD
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Address: 502 E. College St. Completed: October 2021 2 Sparrow Collective Event space Address: 105 Main St. Completed: August 2022 3 Brownstones 19 townhomes Address: W. 125 Walters St. Estimated completion: Fall 2022 4 Legacy Pointe 97 single-family units Address: 621 Ava Trail Estimated completion: March 2023 5 South Village 91 townhomes Address: 203 S. Village Way Estimated completion: July 2023
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SOURCE: CITY OF LEWISVILLE/COMMUNITY IMPACT
many buildings were vacant. “I remember being down here in 2003, 2004 and seeing many of the buildings that are here were boarded up,” Gilmore said. “While it wasn’t urban blight, it was getting close.” The town’s first City Hall building was built on the corner of Charles and Church streets in 1956 before it moved to the present-day Lewisville Munic- ipal Annex, located at 1197 W. Main St., in 1989. The council had outgrown that space by 1999 and looked at Old Town as a new location site in an effort to revitalize the area, Kunke said. Public investment continued when the city obtained a former church building for future use shortly after City Hall relocated to Old Town. That building eventually became Lewisville Grand Theater, which opened in 2011. Other major public projects included Wayne Ferguson Plaza. The Lewis- ville Main and Mill Business Associa- tion also spearheaded a beautification
project along the Main Street corridor. While the city continues to invest in the area, redevelopment efforts have now largely been turned over to the private sector, Kunke said. “The idea was that public investment often will spur private investment,” Kunke said. “If public investment is done well, if public money is invested in an area correctly, then it makes the area more viable.” New developments While developing the area, city officials looked to neighboring communities. Kunke said the city looked to Plano, Carrollton and Grapevine for inspi- ration, the latter being the biggest influence for Old Town Lewisville’s revitalization because of its proximity and similar structure. “There’s elements of each one that work for Lewisville,” Kunke said. “We weren’t going to duplicate anybody.
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in 1999, which provided the spark needed to bring the area back to life. The area has since seen multiple new developments in recent years, including multifamily apartments and townhomes, such as Station at Old Town. “The city spent a lot of money to bring this part of town back up,” Lew- isville Mayor TJ Gilmore said. “It’s got a lot of development going on, a lot of opportunities for businesses down here and a cool place for residents to come. We’ve created a place and not just something people drive through.” The goal of the revitalization is to turn Old Town Lewisville into a live, work and play destination, according to officials. They want the area to dou- ble as an entertainment district and a livable downtown. There are seven active projects, Lewisville’s Economic Development
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