What happens when you turn newly built apartments into gallery spaces? A cultural moment — and a new way to experience art, community, and place.
The Finch apartments, in partnership with Cima Arts and InterBank, invites the public to a one-night-only creative event that transforms newly completed apartment units into immersive art installations by Dallas-based artists. The celebration takes place on Friday, June 20, from 6 to 9 p.m. at 1710 Morrell Avenue.
“It’s a really unique event, and they have put a call out to local artists, and we’ve got about 20 artists that will be joining us at the property tomorrow night, displaying art in our vacant units,” said Swede Hanson, founder of Smart Living Residential. “So we’ve got three of our buildings that are open, and we’ve taken seven units, and Cima’s come in and hung art from these local artists in each of the units. It’s great to do something that supports local artists, and gives them the platform to show their art and potentially sell their art.”
Set in one of Dallas’ most naturally beautiful and culturally rich neighborhoods, Cedar Crest, the event offers a fresh way to explore local art — not in a traditional gallery but embedded in the textures of everyday life.
Additional highlights include:
• Live sets by DJ Storm and La Taina
• A special performance by Dallas Symphony Orchestra Young Strings alumni
• Local vendors + community partners
• Complimentary drinks by Four Corners Brewing Co. (while supplies last)
• Remarks by Councilman Maxie Johnson, InterBank’s Terry Smith, and developer Swede Hanson
• SPCA of Texas onsite with adoptable pets
This newly opened development focused on providing high-quality, well-designed housing at affordable price points, is redefining what urban living can look like in Oak Cliff. Characterized as providing the “urban without the burden,” The Finch’s natural surroundings in East Oak Cliff seek to inspire its tenants to find peace and unlock their potential within a community designed to encourage relationships, collaboration and support.
“Smart Living Residential was created with the idea of doing something, you know, simply as providing high quality, well designed housing that people can actually afford,” Hanson says. “The Finch is our first development executing that mission, and The Finch in itself is really built around a vision to create a living environment that inspires tenants to achieve purpose driven goals. We focus on providing a well designed, high quality product in Dallas and leveraging what we feel like is our biggest assets and the biggest assets of East Oak Cliff, which is the natural and serene surroundings, and we believe that really will help our tenants inspire them to achieve their purpose driven goals.”
The Finch is also the first non-tax credit multifamily property in District 4.
“There hasn’t really been any new development in years in this part of Oak Cliff, but we are the first one to not rely on a low income Tax Credit program, or the HFC program,” Hanson says. “We do leverage a couple of City of Dallas programs in order to make this possible. But we’re the first non tax credit project, meaning we’re not providing lower income housing. We provide mixed income housing, so housing for people that make 60, 80% AMIs and also market rate, which is what we found the communities that we work in really want, they want to be able to provide housing for people that are existing in the neighborhood.”
