Richardson commission backs Solow Garage permit amid redevelopment debate

Richardson’s City Plan Commission voted 4-3 on May 19 to recommend a special permit that would let Solow Garage remain on Interurban Street, setting up another test of how far the city will go to protect existing businesses while it pursues a long-range redevelopment vision.

Solow Garage is an authorized BMW collision repair center that has operated on the property since 2012 under previous ownership. The permit does not signal a new auto use entering the district; it would keep an existing business in place while Richardson continues weighing what the Interurban area should become over time.

That question reaches beyond one shop. Property owner Stephen Graham and Simple Development Partners have been working to shift the Interurban area from a corridor centered on automobiles toward a design district, a transition that brings land-use conflict into sharp focus. For supporters of redevelopment, the issue is whether the city can build a more walkable, mixed-use corridor without allowing every existing auto-related use to set the pace. For businesses already operating there, the issue is whether a future vision can push them out before that new district fully takes shape.

The debate sits inside Richardson’s broader CORE District strategy. The city says the district includes Downtown, Heights, Interurban, Lockwood and Chinatown, and describes it as the city’s epicenter of community, culture, commerce and cuisine. Richardson officials marked the official opening of Interurban Common and Belt + Main on April 26, 2025, calling both projects major milestones in the effort to revitalize the historic downtown into a vibrant, walkable urban center.

That redevelopment push has already required major public spending. Richardson awarded a contract worth more than $4.9 million to Tegrity Contractors in November 2023 for Interurban Common construction, underscoring how much the city has invested in reworking the area around Main Street and the surrounding blocks.

The Solow Garage vote also echoed a previous flashpoint. On Sept. 23, 2024, Richardson City Council approved three special permits for Clay Cooley Volkswagen of Richardson by the same 4-3 margin, showing that auto-related uses in the Interurban neighborhood have repeatedly drawn narrow and contentious decisions.

The City Plan Commission is advisory, so the permit still moves through Richardson’s zoning process. Richardson Development Services says comprehensive planning guides day-to-day decisions and long-range community benefit, and the Solow Garage case showed how difficult that balance can be when property rights, economic continuity and redevelopment goals all pull in different directions.