If you drive by the area where Valley View Mall once stood, it looks much like it has for more than half a decade, cleared of buildings and, for many, direction on what exactly the future holds at the northwest corner of LBJ Freeway and Preston Road. On Wednesday, the Dallas City Council took wha t it calls the next step in showing the city’s commitment in bringing a park to the site by purchasing a shopping center at 13305 Montfort Drive for just over $11 million. “The acquisition of this parcel will enable us to really begin to do some placemaking with the park, so it’s on its way,” Councilmember Jaynie Schultz said. The council approved the purchase on a 12-2 vote, with council members Paul Ridley and Cara Mendelsohn voting in opposition. Ridley said it was premature for the city to move forward with the purchase without certainty surrounding what the future of the overall Valley View site would look like in the future. Representatives of Dallas Park and Recreation supported the council in approving the land acquisition. Assistant director Ryan O’Connor told NBC 5 after the vote, the acquisition is another step of incremental progress in realizing needed green space in a part of north Dallas covered in concrete. “We don’t have any existing park land in this area,” O’Connor said. “The closest parks are not that close at all.” Big picture, the more than 110-acre site of the former mall is for sale. The three owners of the property told our partners at the Dallas Morning News earlier this month, they are optimistic about finding one buyer for the property. Schultz says that could help bring progress to the site as well. “If they’re able to get one master developer for all of it, it could fill in all those shapes instead of each person doing their own thing,” Schultz said. ...read more read less