Did you check out OakLawn/CedarSprings? Thankfully, that community seems to have weathered every transformation that Dallas has made over the past several years. If you haven’t stayed at The Melrose Hotel on Oaklawn, it’s a “must do” and is very convenient to the local nightlife on CedarSprings & Downtown.
West End is evolving to compliment the upcoming Victory Park neighborhood. If you go to the web page and look at the location map & master plan, you'll see that Victory Park is 75 acres of mixed-use development directly north of West End. The "West End Marketplace" retail building has finally closed. The Dallas Morning News had an article about it on 6.6.06. With The revitalized Arts District to the east & Victory Park to the north, I believe West End will recover once all the surrounding construction is completed. Uptown, in general, will become a major destination for Dallas.
Deep Ellum has been seedy for as long as I can remember. It won't truly become what it aspires to be until Fair Park is completely renovated (including the Cotton Bowl)... but Deep Ellum, Lower Greenville, & Fair Park all have a collective fate. The entire area's current condition is mostly to blame on the City of Dallas. The city owns and continues to buy up property on both sides of Haskell Ave in preparation to expand it and create a major artery from Downtown/Uptown to Eastern Dallas & Mesquite. Driving down Haskell during the day makes you want to lock the doors, but nothing to fear because Dallas owns most of the dilapidated buildings. The DART Light Rail will assist with the area's rejuvenation once service starts in 2010 along Robert B. Collum Dr/ Scyene Rd. This 2 page article discusses the Southeast Corridor project and how it is to impact some of the Fair Park area. I haven't been able to stay abreast of the entire area's different projects. Several facets of the area's development seem to have dropped off the radar until Dallas comes up with a complete vision like the other mentioned neighborhoods.
A map of Dart Transit & Rail system is located here...
Dart Homepage is http://www.ridedart.org or just http://www.dart.org
I completely spaced on the Trinity River Corridor Project. It's massive and mind boggling. It's going to create the largest Urban Park in America, dwarfing New York City's Central Park, while expanding the Tollway and allow direct access to Dallas' Great Trinity Forest just south of Downtown. I received a Master Report on it in 2004 and it was absolutely amazing. Although I doubt everything will materialize (see the aforementioned comment about Dallas' City Council), I have faith most will come to pass. The Trinity Bridges alone will change the Dallas skyline for all time.
See, I'm not all about Buick. I have other interests. I want to eventually transition from a career in technology to some role of City Development or Planning. It will take years, but it's far more interesting.