More than minutes and hilly miles separate the Elmwood-Wynnewood neighborhoods in southern Oak Cliff from the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff’s northeastern sector. While the Bishop Arts District is one of Dallas’ hottest urban neighborhoods for residents, creative businesses, and visitors alike, Elmwood-Wynnewood is on its first leg of change.

Urbanizing the Bishop Arts District began by redeveloping historic commercial buildings as the neighborhood’s anchor. Consequently, a flood of residential and business development followed. Urbanist developer Monte Anderson is taking the same approach in revitalizing Elmwood-Wynnewood, albeit with a somewhat different twist. 

Belmont Motor Hotel photo courtesy of Nan Palmero

Tyler Station

In 2016, Anderson, who grew up near Elmwood-Wynnewood, purchased one of the neighborhood’s most iconic landmark buildings to rehab into a trendy mixed-use development.

From the 1920s to the late 1980s, the 110,000-square-foot warehouse housed the Dixie Wax Paper Company. Later renamed Dixico, the company manufactured the coated lining for Dixie Cups. According to a Dallas Morning News report from the 1980s, Dixico had filed for a permit to burn hazardous waste at the factory, but after neighbors found barrels of toxic waste in the creek bed behind the building, a public outcry ensued. In the end, Elmwood-Wynnewood’s neighborhood spirit prevailed, and Dixico abandoned its plans and the building.

After sitting partially vacant for decades, the main part of the building was filled with dead raccoons and water by the time Anderson came along, but he breathed life into long-forgotten structures and neighborhoods.

"Monte is certainly a champion of adaptive reuse. I've seen him take structures and buildings with undesirable uses and make them something that the community is proud of," District 1 Councilman Scott Griggs, who represents parts of Oak Cliff on the Dallas City Council, told Dallas News. 

Located adjacent to the Tyler-Vernon DART Station, Anderson christened the building Tyler Station. Though the redo is still in progress, the building’s 60 microbusiness spaces are 70 percent leased, according to the Dallas Morning News, already making it the hub of activity in Elmwood-Wynnewood.

In addition to Stash Designs—a woodworking company that’s owned by Gary Buckner, co-owner of Tyler Station and Anderson’s business partner—tenants include Oak Cliff Brewing Company, several graphic designers, a muralist, a bakery, a martial arts studio, a metal shop, a thrift store, a charity, an event planner, and even a New Age Baptist church that serves wine at services.

"Monte is one of those who develops with his heart first and his pocketbook last," Kiyundra Gulley, president of the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, told the News. "He looks at areas that would be least desired and he creates just what he did with Tyler Station. Once this happens, more development will follow."

Urbanist Developmental Principles

Anderson is a founding member of the local Congress for the New Urbanism. The New Urbanist approach promotes walkable streets, housing and retail in close proximity, and accessible public spaces in cities. His favorite principle is Incremental Development, a philosophy he devised while renovating the Belmont Hotel.

Unlike traditional developers, Anderson doesn’t borrow millions of dollars on the front end of each building redo. Instead, he makes a capital investment and leases space as he develops, which provides the revenue stream necessary to pay development costs out-of-pocket as he moves on to rehabbing other parts of the building. Consequently, Incremental Development doesn’t just minimize risky debt, it creates business activity early on in each project.

The Belmont Hotel

Before Tyler Station, Anderson’s claim to developmental fame was his redo of the Belmont Hotel in West Dallas. Located at Fort Worth and Sylvan Avenues, the original Belmont Motor Hotel designed by renowned Dallas architect Charles Dilbeck opened in 1947. Aside from being situated on the major thoroughfare then from Dallas to Fort Worth, the hotel’s signature amenities included stunning downtown views, a 24-hour coffee shop and restaurant, and year-round air conditioning.

After completing the redevelopment, Anderson kept the hotel in his property portfolio for a decade. But in 2015, Dallas-based Behringer Lodging Group, LLC made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, so he sold the hotel and 4-acre property for an undisclosed amount.