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The Dallas Dirt podcast with Candy Evans takes you inside the real estate news stories you’ll find daily on CandysDirt.com and beyond, giving you more insight, juicier details, and the inside scoop from one of Dallas’ most well-connected real estate personalities.
Speaker: Hi, I'm Kandi Evans,
and this is Dallas Dirt.
Today, I'm very excited to talk
with one of the prime members
of our Dallas City Council.
This is Omar Navarez, and he and I
actually kind of knew each other about
2017, would you say, when we first met?
we've known each other for quite a
while, and I've got to see him on
the council, but this is your time.
So Omar, so glad to have you.
Thank you for coming.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you, Candy.
And it has been a little bit, 2017
seems, we both look the same though.
Oh, absolutely.
So we'd probably look younger.
Both of us.
You know, I, added this gray hair.
I know.
Shoot.
It's fun.
Yeah, exactly.
So this, this is a.
That ice storm and this is, you
know, when we had that, social
unrest that happened a few years ago.
Speaker: the, website that was
when we all lost our website.
Speaker 2: That we lost our internet.
Speaker: the back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the back.
There's a lot of it from, the
tornado, you know, because that also
started, that landed first in my
district and went further from there.
So, you know, my district is District 6.
Well, that's huge.
Speaker: You, District 6, it's
really big, but no one ever knows
the boundaries of their district.
Speaker 2: they're, like, imagine, there's
these invisible lines that, literally
split our city into 14 different sections.
Speaker: And I always want to
know, Who did that drawing?
Speaker 2: That's the story.
Well, it's the city council at some point.
we now have a commission made up
of appointed citizens from, the
city that the council, all 14
members and the mayor appoint.
somebody from within the city of Dallas.
Speaker: where are your boundaries?
So my
Speaker 2: boundaries are, 30
from downtown to the Irving
border or Grand Prairie border.
Grand Prairie and the Irving
border is my western end.
take, 635 from the Irving border
straight across town to I 35.
I 35 south, everything west of that.
And then at about Empire Central, just a
hair over that, past that and going north,
And then I jump across 35, just north
of where the Trinity goes up that way,
And I go over to Denton Road and I
pick up everything north from there,
Speaker: to Northwest Highway or
Speaker 2: yes, towards Northwest
Highway, and everything north from there.
I also have Dallas Love Field and, one
half of a neighborhood just east of
there called Elm Thicket North Park.
If you leave Dallas on 635 and
go west and, Cypress waters,
which is just Beltline road.
You take, take it north
and, two blocks north.
you're back in the city of Dallas
it's like an island of the city.
Speaker: interesting story.
How the city, you know,
Speaker 2: That's a nine year lawsuit.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: Dallas won.
So if you think we won
or we lost, but we won.
Speaker: the Billingsley Company has
some really great apartments there.
Speaker 2: Lots of apartments.
Lots of office building.
Yeah.
it brings in about 20
million in tax revenue.
A year now through the property tax and
of course there's some sales tax comes
out of there because of restaurants and,
shopping a little bit, you know, and then
there's the Cove, which had some really
exciting concerts during the summer
and they've done a phenomenal, job.
every developer wishes they had, a
hundred acres of blank, space to create
their own, it's like a little town there.
Yes.
I love it out there.
It's really fantastic.
Speaker: it's,
Speaker 4: it's really pretty.
And that is Hello, back then.
For us right now.
For the city right now,
because everything's brand
Speaker 2: new.
Speaker: Because your
infrastructure is good.
I'm in District 11, as you know,
and I ran two and a half times.
Speaker 4: that's true.
Speaker: I used to give
the districts a name.
District 11 looks like Gumby.
So what does your district look like?
Speaker 2: An amoeba, maybe?
Maybe.
maybe like one of those spinners
that has the little Things that
go, opposite ways, on the edges.
Maybe like a hurricane, you know, that
has the little things going opposite.
cause it's got this big ol fat middle, and
then these two little spokes that go out.
Speaker: We can give them names, you know?
Speaker 2: Yeah, they could be named.
Speaker: We would have had so
much fun on Council, we would
have named every district.
Speaker 2: everybody calls us the West
Dallas district, but it's Northwest
Dallas, you know, and it's Love Field
and Cypress Waters, everybody always
refers to it as the West Dallas
District, it is where a lot's going on,
but really the vast majority is not in
West Dallas, even though West Dallas
is hugely important, because about 60,
65 percent of the residents live in
West Dallas, and then the hard part
about my district is then they are also
spread out because there's some in the
Design District, there's some in Midway
Hollows, some in, I You know, the left
field area with Elm Thicket North Park.
And then you have Cypress Waters
where a few thousand people live.
and then of course you have
the actual Northwest Dallas.
so all the rest of them are
just kind of hodgepodge.
And so that makes things
a little bit difficult.
And then we have one half of Arcadia
Park, which is Loop 12 and 30
South, just right south of there.
It's a lot of traveling around.
and then on top of that, we have the vast
majority of the industrial in West Dallas.
We have a vast amount of commercial,
Speaker: Lots of warehouses, right?
Speaker 2: of warehouses, lots of
office building, lots of, shopping
centers, lots of just everything.
And, we have medical, and now we
have the new bio labs, at Pegasus
Park, and it's an exciting district.
Speaker: Is the medical district?
Speaker 2: No, that's actually in District
2, but I have the biomedical and the
bio labs at Pegasus Park, which is huge.
We got it
through the federal government.
so that's the place where all the
quality control is being handled as
well as the research for, new, new
everything in the medical field.
Speaker: I think that that.
Pegasus, and then the medical
district is one of the most
exciting districts in Dallas, like
going forward, those two areas.
And the funny thing is that that medical
district is what brought us to Dallas.
You know, when I was camping out for four
years while my husband did his residence.
Yes.
And so we, I mean, I've
spent four years there.
I used to, you know, haul Burger
King and stuff in, you know, midnight
when they were hungry, you know.
And
Speaker 2: Hey, Amy, during the
pandemic, thank goodness for,
South in District 2 in Oak Lawn.
I mean, it was the only place open
You could go buy 45, 50 pizzas and,
deliver them to the hospital so the
nurses and the medical staff could
have something to eat for dinner
Speaker: No, they were on the clock
Speaker 2: There was so much going on.
My eight years, because I
have seven months left, out of
eight years, isn't it crazy?
You did.
those eight years were probably the
Speaker: most amazing.
Well, and speaking of which, I don't
think, another council person or
another council has gone to Japan as
you all just did about a week ago,
which is very cool and different.
I don't think they've done it for what?
12 years.
Speaker 2: You know, the, so city
staff does go on international trips.
So, there was a contingent that
went to Japan probably about a
year and a half, two years ago.
But for council members, there
hadn't been an international trip
the entire time I was on council.
I'm sorry.
until maybe six months ago, seven months
ago, three or four council members went
to Mexico City to go see, el parque de
Chupotapec, which is the, Chupotapec park.
which is equivalent to our Central
Park in New York, but Central Park
in New York is a dwarf compared
to El Bosque de Chapultepec.
And so, I mean, this place is
Speaker: How many acres?
Speaker 2: my gosh,
thousands upon thousands.
Really?
And it's amazing.
I mean, there's no way you
could go through it all.
Just like Central Park.
No way you could do it all.
There's the only castle in North
America the Castillo is there.
it's the only real castle
ever built in the Americas.
And then you have their
anthropology museum, which is just
amazing, and all these different
museums, different things to do.
It's a really cool place and
because of the parks that we're
doing, we're expanding parks like
crazy here in the city of Dallas.
And now we are, the city of Dallas,
which is something that I'm proud
of and I hope our residents are,
we're now named the number one
park system in the state of Texas.
so that's a big deal.
Now we got to figure out how to pay
for it, and how to keep doing that
because maintenance is a real thing.
parks don't just stay beautiful We
all have our neighborhood park that
may have, an old slide or a swing
set that's broken or something needs
paint or a fence needs to be repaired.
we need to report those and just to
always tell people, please call 9 1
1 or if you don't want to call 9 1 1,
you can do it through the mobile app.
You can also do it, through your computer.
cause you know, sometimes 3 1 1, takes
a while to listen to, I mean, to, for
them to answer, If you report it, it
will get done, and I know that people
go, Yeah, but then I saw that y'all
put, you know, like, it's already been,
you know, you take it offline that it's
completed, and that's this problem in
our system where the 311 person Has
already sent it to the correct department.
So it closes it in 311.
It closes it in code, but
that doesn't mean it's done.
And so I think that's the disconnect
we are trying to figure out You leave,
you want code to take care of it.
Code will put, they've closed it.
Cause sometimes to close it,
all code needs to do is go,
Oh, that was a fire issue.
like you saw a fire hydrant broken.
You import it.
Well, the fire department now
has it, they're going to repair
it or whatever they have to do
to fix it, replace it, whatever.
But code is done.
So that's, an issue in our system.
Speaker: So they could synchronize that
Speaker 2: I wish they could, so that
you see, okay, yeah, code's closed it,
I've submitted to the right person.
Fire has it, here's where they're
at, or, the police department or,
whatever department it is that's
handling it because I think the
big problem is residents see it.
And they're just like,
there they go again.
They didn't get anything done.
Speaker: Easy solution.
You call it pending, not close.
Just like we do when we blog.
Speaker 2: maybe we need
bloggers to come this time.
How did you,
Speaker: let's talk about Japan
What did you see there that you
think we're going to benefit from.
Speaker 2: me tell you, Sue, the city of
Dallas, we're the only city in Texas right
now whose train station has been federally
approved, we've passed everything, so now
we gotta get the money and start turning
dirt, Houston's still working on theirs,
all the rest of the country have not.
Nobody's achieved what
Dallas has achieved so far.
We're ready to go in Dallas
from down to Houston.
what I learned being the
chair of transportation and
infrastructure for the city.
is the economic impact.
benefit of the station and high
speed rail if you do it right.
the Japanese have done an amazing
job, of their transportation
oriented developments.
We call them TODs.
and that's something we've started working
on with DART, because DART has a lot of
big surface parking lots for park and
ride some are really utilized and utilized
well, like the one at Mockingbird Station.
Mockingbird Station would be a
great example of a transportation
oriented development.
Speaker: So you could have apartments and
Speaker 2: Apartments,
office space, Retail, condos.
And then you want to make sure
that station has connectivity to
other modes of transportation.
So, the station will be
huge, it's gonna be gigantic.
you build it, and then you have all
these levels, maybe the bottom floor is a
place to bring in, public transportation,
maybe it's, you know, DART buses
and or light rail connects, right?
so that when you get off your
train on the seventh floor, you go
down to whatever level you need.
there can be a whole area for purchasing
goods, you know, whatever's you need.
Restaurants.
Restaurants, all of that stuff.
Places to lounge.
A park another layer could have,
the Greyhound bus station, Tornado,
Megabus, all of those, you could have
a depot there, almost like an airport.
we could lease stalls.
Speaker: does that sound
like a small airport?
Speaker 2: Almost the exact same thing.
Are we
Speaker: building a new transition
or are we using the existing one?
Speaker 2: this will be a brand new one.
it'll be right across from where the new
convention center will be, across 30.
and then that'll get connected through a
cap, because we love to cap the freeway
now and build a park on it, right?
everybody's followed our lead on that.
All these other major cities
are working on them now.
and we're working on our second Clyde
Speaker: Warren.
Which is another thing that
happened during your tenure.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Absolutely.
we're doing the expansion now.
Southern Gateway, the building is started,
the dirt's turning, which is kind of
weird to say dirt turning up when you turn
dirt on top of concrete to put a park in.
this is a good thing because it's
great for cooling down the environment.
You're putting in trees and dirt
and things that'll help the freeway.
Absolutely.
you're also.
Connecting two sides of the freeway
that are impossible to connect.
it's actually kind of nice, To see
it because it really does reconnect.
Speaker: does reconnect people.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's a mode
of transportation, right?
so how do we do more of that?
how do we get the dollars for it
was, was my favorite, was we did
the extension for Clyde Warren.
We were able to get federal
dollars because these dollars for
transportation aren't for a park.
we didn't sell the project as a
park because it's not about that.
That's all philanthropist dollars
being put in for the park.
what we were building,
our project was, a park.
And so that cap, then we could
qualify for federal dollars.
And it's sometimes just being
able to think differently.
we got those dollars and
we're a better city for it.
And now we know how to do it.
we're good at it.
other cities, yeah, we can do
it again and again and again.
Some of this we were already starting
because High Speed Rail has been
a conversation for 20, 25 years.
Here we are at the precipice
of being able to get it done.
And so that trip to Japan was, so
important because The vast majority
of people in Dallas have never been on
high speed rail, have never seen high
speed rail, don't really know anything
about high speed rail, including me.
I was one of those persons who had never
experienced it, never seen it, never
been to, parts of Europe that have it,
and I've never been to Japan It was
really exciting to be there because,
as transportation chair, I've read a
lot, researched a lot, watched a lot
of YouTube videos on it, but seeing
it and hearing all the other proponent
pieces, gave me a new perspective.
a gift that I will be able to
really explain it now forever so
that connectivity from the station
is so important because there's a
place in Nagoya, called JR Tower.
So kind of like where we're at right now
it was their first station that was ever
built before high speed rail in 1861.
it was a pedestrian type station
to get people across and moving.
connected with, carts and other things.
And then that got destroyed
in a, in a earthquake.
And so then the new one was built and by
then we had buses and, vehicles and cars.
And so that became the bus depot
with the pedestrians connecting.
And then, many years later it was
expanded on currently the station
is on the ground level and there's
stuff underneath and on top now they
have what's called a sky street.
it's this entire level imagine all four of
your buildings connected by a sky bridge.
the entire thing is
restaurants, department store.
Speaker: Along the street, along the sky
Speaker 2: Yes, but it's in the sky.
it's like floor 18 or 17
or something like that.
and everybody knows where to retail.
so it doesn't matter your residents
that live there on the ground.
There's a hotel.
And then on top of that, there's
some, a little bit of office
and then it's a gigantic.
Hotel and this is all one area on top of
the other and this is that transportation
oriented development they went up and
then three or four towers were built
on their own away from this because of
the success of the project they already
had the plan to do the second phase the
third phase and the fourth so there's
four towers all connected to each other,
but they were built over, Many decades
the first three towers are owned by
the private company JR that runs the
transportation system for Japan the
fourth one is actually called JP, a
different company it was just amazing.
And then when we went out to get on the
high speed rail, the high speed rail is
inside of the buildings it's adjacent
to, but it's all connected so easy.
and let me tell you, these trains, 90
seconds, they have 200 plus trains a day
that go from, Osaka all the way to Tokyo.
So, you know, that's a
little further than Houston.
Let's call it Corpus Christi.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 2: 235 trains a day, with
anywhere from 90 seconds to two and
a half minutes in between each train.
And that's how fast
you get on and get off.
Speaker: And your head didn't spin?
Speaker 2: Not once.
I thought it would.
And you know, when they told us we
only had 90 seconds, like, being a
first time rider, I was like, you
have 90 seconds to get off this
train, and the new people getting on.
And so, I'm thinking like, but
you know, it's really easy because
you don't need a lot of luggage.
Yeah.
You just got your backpack or, your bag
because these are day trips for them.
Yeah.
So, imagine being able to live
in Dallas and work in Houston.
Speaker: And come
Speaker 2: And come back because
it's going to be, a 90 minute walk.
You know how many people drive,
wait in their car two hours, two
and a half hours to work in Dallas?
Yeah.
And get to wherever they live.
Right.
and sit in traffic.
So 12, 000 cars, when it starts,
it'll be taking off about 12,
000 vehicles off of I 45, daily.
Daily?
Daily.
That's a lot.
12, 000 is what they're averaging.
Wow.
I think it's more popular,
more and more, right?
Speaker: 24
Speaker 2: 70, 000 people a year.
And this is, this is About, not
just today, but it's about the next
hundred years because 1861 is when
Japan built their first station.
Right.
It's 2024 and they're on their fifth
phase of the station, and high speed
rail has been around for them for about
50 to 70 years and it's so interesting
to hear all the why's we shouldn't do
it that we're hearing here right now.
The exact same thing because the
Japanese have, kept all of this history.
And so we got to see and hear a lot
of it and it's like, Oh my gosh,
I'm hearing that exact same thing.
Speaker: years ago.
Speaker 2: 70 years ago or 50 years ago.
The biggest one that we're
hearing right now is why does it
have to be 70 feet in the air?
Well, the Japanese technology was
designed this way in order to save
agriculture and to save livestock.
Now, because they don't have as much space
as we do because of all the mountains.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
it's a very small country.
Speaker 2: Very small country.
It's an island.
Concentrated.
big island, but it's still an island.
You can't just build on top of any
mountains, you have to build on the
edges, the cool part is, they went
up because, you don't need as much.
You don't have to take as much right away.
everything's arced underneath the
pillars that are building up the rail.
that was so the agriculture
wouldn't be destroyed, completely,
You gain all this land back.
Speaker: cows can,
Speaker 2: The longhorns aren't
going to cross the high speed rail.
Because our train will
be the fastest train.
in the world at that point
for that Japanese technology.
plus we had a straight shot.
Japanese have to do some curves
and turns around mountains, we
would have the fastest speed of any
train they have, ability to go 90
minutes to Houston, stop to finish.
And that's what the two and a half
minute stop would be in the middle.
if you don't do the express train,
there'll be an express train that
doesn't stop around college station Yeah.
And by going in the air, I
love that you use the longhorn
because I'm a Texas longhorn.
because it would have been 205 miles per
hour, 255 miles per hour, and a longhorn.
It's not gonna be good for the longhorn.
No.
and that's not good for, the
farmers the livestock and the elders
And so, this way, The cows can, the
cows, the sheeps, the goats, the
pigs, the chickens, whatever they are,
can keep doing their little thing.
They still have places to eat underneath.
And honestly, for our hot Texas sun, I bet
you they'll be hanging out underneath it.
Speaker: be a little shade.
Speaker 2: be some shade.
I'm
Speaker: we have to continue
this with another program because
we have so much to talk about.
I do have to ask you one question.
You can talk
Speaker 2: about this for hours.
Speaker: And I love it.
Emissions from the train?
Speaker 2: Zero.
Absolutely none.
I love it.
Because it's all run on electricity.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker 2: we even asked about what
happens if, we have another breakdown
of the grid what the electricity
does is it, puts energy into magnets.
The magnets are what propel.
I even got to do a simulator
driving one, it was pretty fun.
But I also got to sit in the, I
call it a cockpit, but the driving
station inside the bullet train.
I didn't get to drive it, but, the driver
was literally right next to me and I was
sitting next to him while somebody was
behind me explaining how everything went.
And so that was really wild to be going,
you know, Of course, they use kilometers
over there, but to watch it going up 225,
300, you know, up to 300 kilometers per
hour, and you're just shooting, right?
Speaker 4: you're right there.
Speaker 2: it felt like I'm just in
a fast car, but, it never felt like,
I guess kind of like, I can explain,
it's like, it feels like an airplane
except without the pressure change.
And so you're just flying through
and you see everything, you can
actually have a meeting while you're.
in there because you don't
have all this turbulence.
It's not like rail that we
think of like freight trains.
Speaker 4: It's smooth.
Speaker 2: Smooth, almost no noise.
When they would be going by
you, I would never hear them.
what you did hear was wind, because
it's cutting through, so you would
hear a whoosh, you might hear a clunk
here and there, but nothing like I was
expecting, I live in West Dallas, so I
have a train that goes behind me, 385
times a day, you hear that, you hear a
whistle, and you don't need it if it's
above the street and above the ground
If we get this done, it should take about
10 years to build, which, if you think
about it, that's really not too bad,
when you're going from, all the way from
Houston to Dallas, and 90 minutes, I
mean, I'm ready for it, and the Japanese
are so advanced they're building now
what's called Maglev, which should be
done in 10 years, and that one will
literally, the train will have no wheels.
Oh my God.
it'll have a wheel to start and a
wheel to stop, but it's going to be
elevated, so magnet elevated, mag left.
Like
Speaker: it just shoots through a tunnel?
Yes,
Speaker 2: and it'll be, above a rail.
Speaker: Oh my God.
Speaker 2: And it'll have things
to hold it in place, but it'll
literally be levitating about
10 centimeters off the ground.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 2: And that
one's going to get them.
So Nagoya to Tokyo is about
the same as Houston to Dallas.
And that's what Nagoya to Tokyo is now.
That one will be 45 minutes.
Speaker: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: Tokyo to Half time.
Like, I'm just gonna be going,
like, we are, we're in the Jetsons.
Speaker 4: Like, it's
Speaker: We're in the Jetsons!
Okay, we're gonna have to
have you come back because we
want to Talk about apartments.
I really want to get into that
because, Candy Stewart is so focused
on housing, but everyone always thinks
that I hate apartments and I don't.
Speaker 2: I live in an apartment
and I'm a renter and you're a
Speaker: renter and I'm
Speaker 2: only person who lives on
the council that lives in multifamily
and I'm also, one of two on the
council that rent and it's, my
lifestyle right now and I love it.
Speaker: So we're going to talk about
Speaker 2: Real estate's important, right?
And so that's why this bullet train is
important, because it'll help real estate,
it'll help increase values, all of that.
But also, you need density around it,
which will be, that's in our plans.
Apartments.
Well, there'll probably be apartments,
but what we need to change, and we
will get to it, is, state laws to allow
for developers to build more condos
and condos because there's people
like me who want to own my own house.
I want a condo.
But totally.
But there's
Speaker: so many laws we got to change.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker: We're going to, do that
Speaker 4: because I'm very passionate.
I want to just own my little
postage stamp from the world.
I don't need an acreage.
I just need a postage stamp.
Speaker: Because that's why
they're not building it.
We'll talk about that next time.
Keep listening.
Keep watching.
Keep reading.
I'm Candy Evans for Dallas Dirt.
Thank you.