There is a new energy pulsing in Dallas’ streets today. Gone are the days of a single, predictable cadence—now, the city hums with the diverse rhythm of a rapidly evolving metropolitan hub.
As a recent transplant whose steps along the city’s famed Katy Trail have joined the beat, I have felt firsthand the electricity of the city’s shifting makeup.
Over the past year of my time here, I have seen how the Katy Trail is reshaping Dallas into a beacon of new-fashioned urban life. Just as New York’s High Line ushered in a wave of innovative architectural design and creative vision while galvanizing New Yorkers around a uniquely repurposed space, the Katy Trail is doing the same for Dallas.
With its luxury residences, restaurants, retail, and wellness experiences, The Terminal at Katy Trail is one of many examples of how thoughtful development is changing the city, and on the grander scale, the state’s DNA.
According to Forbes, Texas has steadily seen the nation’s largest influx of new residents within the last four years. From new developers reimagining the landscape to lauded restauranteurs expanding the city’s palate, Dallas is not just growing—it is thriving.
Getting Ahead of the Growth
As this new locus of art, culture, innovation, and thought leadership begins to emerge, there is an exciting moment presenting itself. To be at the forefront of rejuvenation and innovation is what we strive for in the real estate business: to be not only where our clients have been but in front of where they are headed. The data shows that Dallas is the beacon on everyone’s radar. Forbes and institutions like Artly International both speak to the city’s record growth. Dallas is attracting residents from overseas as well as transplants from both the East and West coasts.
But it is not just individuals moving to the area. Dallas is home to a host of Fortune 500 companies and major private enterprises relocating their headquarters and/or expanding their current footprint. With a population growth exceeding the national average by 15 percent—and hospitality-minded developers ready to invest in the city’s social scene—Dallas is the new 90210.
It’s also the new Wall Street, or, as Texans have taken to calling it, Y’all Street. With a financial industry presence second only in size to New York and with the recently announced Texas Stock Exchange, Dallas is outpacing NYC in terms of banking employment. JP Morgan Chase now has more employees in Texas than it does in New York. Goldman Sachs is opening a $500 million, 800,000 square-foot campus in Uptown that will house more than 5,000 employees.
Perhaps a reason behind the relocations and all the related buzz is the idea that Texas—and Dallas in particular—is both business- and consumer-friendly, an added benefit of which is the lack of state income tax. As one of only seven such U.S. states, the disposable net income earned here stays then is duly reinvested here.
But although tax advantages alone are reason enough to account for the relocation, there is a confluence of other factors contributing to Dallas’ quickening growth.
The City’s Arts, Entertainment, and Food Scene
The seismic boom in corporate relocations brings with it a renaissance in both the arts and entertainment sectors. The Dallas Arts District, one of the country’s largest, is home to renowned institutions like the Dallas Museum of Art, the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Dallas Opera, all of which serve not only as bastions of realized fine arts, but as incubators for local talent and creativity.
This duality of the classical and modern paints the broader canvas of Dallas as one where diverse cultural influences converge. From its landmark roots, like the Sixth Floor Museum and the Dallas Heritage Village, to the of-the-moment spaces and events like the Dallas Art Fair, the darling of the modern art world, the city is proving itself to be a place where drum of history coincides with the pulse of the present. A palate of both old and new.
Speaking of all things palatable, the city’s food scene is attracting top-tier chefs from the West and East coasts alike, expanding the city’s collective appetite beyond its reputation as the world’s best barbecue. Take, for example, Le PasSage, a French-Asian fusion restaurant from the powerhouse duo Bruno Davaillon and Stephen Courseau. This progressive influx of namesake restauranteurs both compliments and begets new upscale markets, boutiques, and social clubs around the city. It is no wonder there is a social media trend pitching upscale supermarket chain Erewhon’s expansion to Dallas. And although Erewhon has yet to announce plans for a North Texas location, if you are reading this, Tony Antoci, you might want to add it to the five-year plan.
Centrally located, Dallas is easily accessible to and from the East and West Coasts. This advantage, coupled with it being a crucial part of the Southern transportation hub with quick access to major airports, highways, and railways, has truly solidified the city’s place on the map. This geographic facility is likely the reason that, according to Cvent, Dallas was named the fourth top meeting destination in North America.
But it is not just business tourism making its way to the state. With the highly anticipated Knox Residences, part of the Auberge Resorts Collection, set to open in 2026 with a hotel, residences, restaurants, and retail, we will see Dallas become both a vacation and lifestyle destination in its own right.
It is no coincidence that Dallas’ robust real estate market reflects these broader hallmarks. Major investments in infrastructure and urban development have spurred a cultural bloom attracting in equal measure new talent, innovative entrepreneurs, and creatives alike. With an abundance of space to build and an increasingly widening talent pool, Texas is not just a state, but a state of mind.
Over the past year since my relocation to Dallas, I have witnessed how the boom in its demographic is marshaling a shift in its national relevance. Every type of industry has a foothold here, each bringing its own micro-communities. As more companies, residents, designers, developers, restaurateurs, and innovators lay claim to the city and state, we just might need to call in the influencers to rebrand it from the Lone Star State to a Stellar Nova one—which, for the non-astronomically inclined among us, means the brightest object in the sky.
This CRE opinion piece was written by Stephen Kotler, CEO of brokerage in the Western region for Douglas Elliman.
