Richardson Ready to Redo Its Historic Downtown District

One of Dallas' first northern suburbs is launching a rebirth of its historic downtown district.While old downtown areas in Plano, McKinney, Frisco and other Collin County cities north of Dallas have already gotten a redo, the original business district in Richardson has lagged.That's about to change with a major redevelopment in the works.Developers Durkin Properties and Catalyst Urban Development have teamed up with the city of Richardson to plan big changes for the stretch of Main Street just east of North Central Expressway.Richardson is already building a new $80 million, 108,000-square-foot public safety complex at Main and Greenville Avenue.Between there and Central, plans are in the works to revamp Richardson's aging downtown with street improvements and new buildings.Keeping some of the old commercial buildings along Main Street is part of the redevelopment, said Manasseh Durkin of Durkin Properties. "The city originally wanted to tear a lot of it down" to widen Main Street, Durkin said. "We want to maintain some of the old buildings.  Continue reading...