Lakeside senior facility set for demolition

By Andy Morgan

The old Autumn Leaves buildings — an East Dallas fixture since the 1960s — will be gone soon.

Last week, workers began removing furniture and other equipment from the former senior living facility, located at 1010 Emerald Isle Drive. A construction fence was erected around the property at the same time. Dozens of trees, many of them decades-old live oaks, have been tagged, reportedly so they won’t be cut down.

Chad Anderson, who works for District 9 Councilwoman Paula Blackmon, said a demolition permit was issued September 10 for the property, originally a Howard Johnson’s motel. The future of the property is unclear. 

Speaking at a neighborhood meeting last week, Blackmon said the Autumn Leaves property is zoned MF2, or Multi-Family 2, meaning any structure on the site cannot be built higher than 36 feet.

“No zoning requests have been requested,” Blackmon said. “We’ll let you know if they do. But they … usually will call before they start doing anything. And they have not called me for a meeting.”

Blackmon said she would not vote for a change in the zoning to allow for a higher structure. 

“I’m just going to tell you, I’m not going to support it,” she said. “I mean, to me, inside Garland Road from this side, it’s really the (White Rock Lake) park. And I don’t want to mess with the aesthetics of the park.”

Neighbors also are concerned that a new multi-story building would worsen an already bad traffic situation at Garland Road and Emerald Isle Drive.

Blackmon added that before the city approves a building permit for the site, a traffic study would be done. 

She noted that the size of the property will dictate how many units can be built. “Multifamily tends not to have a lot of traffic,” Blackmon said. “It is more of the commercial uses like a grocery store or shopping center that does have high-intensity traffic.”