Sound wall planned during Preston Center construction

The Dallas Morning News - May 22, 2011 - by Lori Stahl

UNIVERSITY PARK - Construction crews will work through the night for up to seven months in the Plaza at Preston Center, but developers say it won't keep nearby residents awake because they plan to build a 20-foot sound containment wall.

This week, the University Park City Council gave preliminary approval to the construction plan, which will produce a five-story office building and much-needed underground parking garage for the congested shopping area.

The construction work will take place in two phases. The first phase will begin in August, and the project is scheduled for completion in late 2012.

But Mayor Dick Davis sounded a note of caution at a City Hall briefing last week, telling the developer that if residents are too inconvenienced "you will have to understand we could abandon" the plan.

The issue is a sensitive one for city officials because the developer has promised to create a long-sought permanent home for the city's library in the new building. But digging a deep hole for the underground garage, and removing dirt and debris, will be a major undertaking.

The western and northern borders of the project — Preston Road and Northwest Highway — are already congested with regular traffic much of the day. And the shopping plaza is on the edge of a residential neighborhood with homes and a church on its other borders.

Ordinarily, loud noise from construction is prohibited at night.

But the council agreed to lift the ban so that more than 5,700 large trailers can haul off construction material at night. Only loading and hauling will be permitted during late-night hours.

The sound walls will be similar to those in use for gas drilling in Fort Worth.

Mike Geisler, a partner with Venture Commercial, which manages the plaza, said the night work will make the construction site safer and less congested than if large trailers drove through the plaza's crowded streets during the day.

In January, local officials agreed to swap city-owned land worth between $11 million and $26 million to the owners of the plaza, in exchange for space for the library. The agreement also called for the developer to expand parking in the shopping plaza.

The new building will be a mix of retail, restaurant and shopping, with a separate entrance for the library, which has been housed in temporary facilities for more than a decade.