A high-rise apartment developer is working on plans for a retail and residential development at the entrance to Dallas' Design District.

PM Realty Group – which already has one major project under way in Dallas – has gotten planning approval for the development on Hi Line Drive near Stemmons Freeway.

The building site that PM Realty has tied up is just across the highway from the Victory development.

Two other large apartment complexes are already under construction in the area.

For its new Design District project, PM Realty plans ground floor retail with apartments above.

"It will have retail that fronts on Edison Street and Hi Line that provides neighborhood service," said broker Newt Walker, who has worked on the property sale.

"We saw PM Realty as someone who was experienced in midrise residential," he said.

PM Realty is buying the site from a Houston-based investment group that controls almost 30 acres of land and buildings in the neighborhood.

Lionstone Group has already sold sites for more than 500 apartments, which are under construction along Hi Line.

Trammell Crow Residential is building a 355-unit apartment complex, which will open next spring.

And Wood Partners is developing a 214-unit apartment complex at Turtle Creek Boulevard, which will be finished next summer.

These rental projects join the larger number of design showrooms, commercial businesses and small residential developments already located in the neighborhood.

"The Design District is becoming vibrant, which is what we are looking for," said Mike Ablon with Pegasus Ablon Properties, which is planning and marketing the area redevelopment.

The Design District is also expected to benefit from planned improvements in the nearby Trinity River greenbelt.

PM Realty is building two high-rise residential buildings in the Park Lane mixed-use development across North Central Expressway from NorthPark Center mall.

The first phase of Park Lane is set to open early next year.