Shake Shack a Finalist in ULI’s North Texas Impact Awards

Shake Shack at the Crescent, designed and built by The Beck Group, is a finalist in the Urban Land Institute of North Texas’ Impact Awards.

Shake Shack is one of three nominees in the Innovation Award category. The Innovation Award recognizes originality and creativity in design, placemaking, support for transit use, green techniques, financing (including public/private partnerships), innovative land use or community planning, or other development features.

Submissions were reviewed by jury panel members, who spent two days traveling across North Texas — from Clearfork in Fort Worth to downtown Rockwall — to look at a record 32 award applications in all four categories, according to the ULI. Award winners will be announced at the Impact Awards gala on October 25.

Built on a leftover corner of the Crescent Development in the Uptown neighborhood of Dallas, the 2,900 SF Shake Shack was designed to activate an unused grove of oak trees, creating a public space that serves as a mini-park. Facing the park, the glass pavilion is transparent and dissolves the barrier between the inside and out. Under the trees, a floating canopy adds shade by day. At night it is illuminated to draw the eye in.

Designed to reflect the values of Shack Shack, the materials and detailing attempt to blur the line between the park and dining room bringing the outside in. Locally sourced reclaimed wood makes up 75 percent of the wall finishes with the wood floor being sourced from the Old First Baptist Church Gym in downtown Dallas. The project meets the City of Dallas’ green building code.

In 2017, Crescent Development’s McKinney & Olive, the mixed-use retail and office building built by Beck, earned the ULI Innovation Award.