High hopes, harsh realities collide in historic corner of downtown Dallas

Landowners and business people have worried about the West End's decline ever since its heyday in in the 1980s and '90s.Restauranteur Jay Khan and West End Executive Director and President Phillip Honoré are major boosters of the West End.DALLAS — On a recent tour of the West End Historic District, restauranteur Jay Khan pointed out the many vacant storefronts."They’re gone," he said, motioning toward the former site of Gator's Dallas.

His experience so far with Liam’s, which he said cost between $800,000 and $900,000, exemplified to Khan some of the struggles of this area. The West End Association and Downtown Dallas Inc. are working on a marketing plan to promote the area to Dallasites who forget it’s there. The nonprofits want to host more family-friendly events to draw in crowds. Additionally, Honoré believes the West End has lost some of its appeal to locals because of a lack of retail options.

In the aftermath of the assassination, many civic leaders advocated for demolition of the buildings associated with the national tragedy, according toon the West End Association's website. Mayor Erik Jonsson, influential merchant Stanley Marcus and others, however, championed protecting the history these buildings embodied.

There have been lots of grand plans for the West End. A few years ago, the Dallas Innovation Alliance pushed for the creation of, with historic buildings and warehouses repurposed as office space and parking lots converted into parks. That's happened, to some extend — some large corporate tenants call the area home while West End Square is a handsome pocket park and public meeting space that replaced an old surface lot.

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