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Since January, we’ve been deeply involved in The Swiss Avenue Project, a photographic documentary of Swiss Avenue from La Vista to the edge of downtown Dallas during the course of 2009.

Since DART’s new Green Line light rail intersects Swiss Avenue on Good-Latimer, we decided it would make an interesting piece of news — and history — for the project.

The most striking thing about the Deep Ellum Station is the 38-foot tall, stainless steel sculpture called Traveling Man. We predict he’ll become Dallas’s newest tourist attraction, particularly if DART develops the property adjacent to it with some sort of retail that makes it a destination rather than merely a train stop. Presently, there is nothing else at the location to draw visitors, although the magnificent Latino Cultural Center is a block’s walk away and the ever-fading Deep Ellum is about the same distance in the opposite direction.

But what’s lacking is an entry point. My background is in graphic design and marketing communications. In any piece one produces to target and communicate with a market, there needs to be a place on the page that says, “This is where you start.”

In the weeks since Traveling Man was unveiled, I’ve watched many dozens of people approach the sculpture, taking photographs of it and each other, interacting with it. In psychological terms, I believe it’s called anthropomorphization — imposing human-like qualities on a non-human object or entity. The downside is that once they’ve finished admiring the sculpture, they’re done. Pleh-pleh-pleh-pleh-pleh…. Okay, what’s next?

What’s needed is a small retail area that can serve as that entry point, give visitors (DART train riders) a reason to go there. It’s not only a starting point…it’s a place to end a visit to Deep Ellum Station, as well. Here are a few ideas:

• A specialty coffee shop — locally owned (no Starbucks allowed)
• A gift shop
• A travel related shop
• A small grocer/restaurant (a la Jimmy’s on Bryan at Fitzhugh)
• An art gallery

These are just a few of the kinds of places that could work in this location. Can you think of others?

I’m told by a well-placed employee of DART that much, if not all, of the property around Deep Ellum Station is owned by DART and that high-rise buildings could be built in the area. While that’s not something I would endorse because of the proximity to much smaller buldings on that end of Swiss, it does make developing the area around Deep Ellum Station a wide-open field full of possibilities.

Let’s see what the future holds. In the meantime, visit The Swiss Avenue Project to see images from the new DART station as well as hundreds of images from life on Swiss Avenue during 2009.