De La Vega Capital Development plans to revitalize Dallas’ East Village with its new project, The Central, aiming to compete with Uptown.
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At the northeast corner of Haskell Avenue and U.S. Highway 75 stands the seeds for a new development that hopes to shine a light on the east side of Dallas — a part of the city that’s been largely overlooked as businesses gravitate toward Uptown.
But De La Vega Capital Development, the developer behind the new project, thinks The Central can directly compete with Uptown and revitalize the East Village community. It’s located just across Haskell north of the 42-story Cityplace Tower and a Target store.
The 27-acre development is also adjacent to the booming Uptown and West Village districts, home to many financial institutions, law firms and new high-rises.
Visionaries behind the project have faith it could become Dallas’ next up-and-coming hub, especially as space in surrounding submarkets like Uptown and Knox-Henderson gets tighter. Some city leaders even said they are hopeful the project could attract future corporate headquarters relocations.
“I thought we had an opportunity to develop east of 75 and East Village and showcase its personality and its own character,” CEO Artemio De La Vega said Feb. 1 in a panel discussion at the site attended by a group of Harvard Business School alumni in Dallas.
De La Vega added that the project’s leasing center office, where the panel took place, marks the first high-rise built east of 75 in the last 40 years. The parcel it sits on has been empty for years.
He said he first bought about 11 acres in 2017 with the goal of building a dynamic and connective neighborhood in Dallas.
“New York City is nothing but a collection of neighborhoods that are super interesting and cool,” he said. “It’s not just one area that defines New York City.”
Not long ago, the site was home to a halfway demolished 11-story tower that tilted to its side. In early 2020, the former Affiliated Computer Services building quickly became an internet sensation, earning the name “Leaning Tower of Dallas.” Residents near and far flocked to the site to get their picture taken with the lopsided tower before it was fully demolished by a wrecking ball about a month later. While it stood at a 15-degree angle, the building became a symbol of resilience and community, drawing tourists and online tributes, with some even calling for it to be preserved as a landmark.
Now, the site will be anchored by a pedestrian-friendly park, or the soul of the project. The 4-acre park is currently home to four distinct shells, which will be home to four ground-floor restaurants and feature multifamily above. To differentiate the project from similar ones coming online in Dallas, developers said they have a thoughtful design in mind for the park, aiming to stimulate all five senses in passersby.
De La Vega also noted he got the support of homeowners and neighbors for the development, which has helped it to advance. For a few months, the site hosted drive-in movies in a temporary partnership with Rooftop Cinema Club.
“We aim to connect the neighborhoods with the project,” he said. “We basically developed the park with the neighborhoods and in partnership with them.”
In 2014, several neighbors were upset over a possible Sam’s Club-anchored development in the area proposed by Trammell Crow. Residents said they felt the big-box retailer didn’t quite belong in their community. After facing significant backlash, these plans were discarded and Crow quietly backed out of the project after it sold its 16 acres to De La Vega in 2019, adding to the 11 acres first purchased in 2017.
De La Vega was slated to start work on the project in 2020 but an uncertain pandemic market caused several delays. Shovels first went into the ground for the park in fall 2024, and the first restaurants of the project could open by summer 2025.
Dallas-based StreetLights Residential has already developed its part of The Central — a 19-story multifamily tower called The Oliver. The tower, which offers views of downtown and Uptown Dallas, first opened for leasing in October 2024.
Later phases of the project plan to incorporate office towers, more multifamily, retail and a hotel. In total, the project is expected to have 2,000 multifamily units, 2.5 million square feet in office space and about 110,000 square feet in retail.
Annmarie De La Vega, the company’s executive vice president and chief brand officer, said she is looking forward to the ripple effect that will be caused by The Central.
“We’re excited to see the domino effect and all the development down Haskell and East Village,” she said.
