When David Hairston bought his 2-bedroom condo on Carlisle in Dallas more than a decade ago, he didn't know he'd be raising a family there. Now, he's not sure if he'll be able to keep doing that.
"This is the stuff that kind of hits you," Hairston said. "In my wildest dreams would I think that I would be gentrified."
Hairston lives at the Turtle Creek Terrace, a modest 100-plus unit condo development that is one of few affordable housing options remaining in Uptown.
Hairston said in this housing market, he would not be able to afford to buy again today in the neighborhood he loves. "How do you put a value on your wife, your child, your school, your church, your home," asked Hairston.
There is a proposal by Lincoln Properties, still in the planning stages, that would demolish the complex and rezone the area to built new high-end apartments. Neighbors at The Vine across the street oppose the plan.
"If this project goes, it's just the tip of the iceberg," said Tony Page, a homeowner at The Vine. "This area, if it becomes overdeveloped, it becomes more homogeneous, just like everything else that's going up in Dallas."
It's a feeling, and fear, shared by residents and preservationists in Oak Cliff.
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"This neighborhood has become very popular because of Bishop Arts," said Alicia Quintans of Heritage Oak Cliff as she stood on a block of 8th Street that was lined with mature trees and older apartment homes. "There are gems within the entire city of older structures."
But the entire block, both sides of the street, was proposed for replatting, paving the way for development.
"It would create a 'super block' where some massive structure could come in," Quintans explained. The replatt proposal was pulled, for now, after the city planning commission got more than 100 calls and emails in favor of keeping the neighborhood's character.
"The character, it's in the people who live here too," said Quintans. "You get diversity because you keep older and add to that."
