University Park turf and outdoor living
Yes, we work in University Park
University Park is the other half of the Park Cities, and it was named on the owner's own service area list. It is built around SMU, with Snider Plaza at its center and Preston Road, Hillcrest Avenue and Lovers Lane running through it, and like Highland Park it is fully built out.
What makes the yards distinctive here is the rebuilding. Older houses come down and larger ones go up on the same lot, which leaves a compressed back yard, a compacted construction site and no plan for the outside space. That is often when we get called, and the team that builds these yards is in the Park Cities most weeks.
What University Park yards have to deal with
Size, first. When a larger house goes onto a standard Park Cities lot, the back yard that is left over is small, overlooked and usually shaded on one side by the house itself. It still has to hold a terrace, a route to the garage off the alley, somewhere for the dog and ideally something green to look at. That only works if the whole thing is planned at once.
Second, the ground. Anywhere a build has happened, the soil has been driven over by heavy machinery and compacted hard, and the topsoil is often gone or buried. Grass laid straight onto that struggles from day one. Underneath is the same Blackland clay as the rest of the metro, which swells and shrinks through the year, so terraces and paths have to be built on a proper base or they move. Third, access: alleys and side gates decide how everything gets in.
What we handle here
What we build in University Park
Putting Green Turf
A green earns its space in a small yard better than a small lawn does, because you actually use it. We build the contours into the compacted base so putts break for a reason, set the cups at different lengths, and finish with a fringe collar for chip and run shots. It gives a compressed Park Cities back yard something to be, rather than leaving it as a patch of grass between the terrace and the fence. Every green we build is shaped on site.
Residential Turf Installation
On a small overlooked lot, a lawn that looks tired is very hard to ignore, and grass on compacted post construction ground almost always looks tired. Turf takes that out of the equation: it stays green in the shadow of the house, it takes the dog without wearing a track, and it drains fast so a small yard is not a mud pit after a storm. Our turf lawns for homes get specified to the yard, not to a catalogue.
Walkway Paving
Every University Park yard has a route through it, usually from the alley or the garage to the back door, and if it is not paved you can see exactly where it runs by the worn line in the grass. We set the route on site first, then build it: stepping stones bedded flush into turf, or a continuous walk where things get carried. Our path work is what makes a small yard feel deliberate rather than left over.
Landscape Design
Small yards are the ones that most need designing, because there is no room for a mistake to sit quietly in a corner. We look at the levels, the shade the house casts through the day, where water goes in a storm, and how you move through the space, then set the terrace, the lawn, the beds and the route out as one scheme. Our design work is where every job here starts.
Why University Park calls us
Why University Park homeowners choose Palms
Because we plan the whole yard before we build any of it. On a lot this size, doing the turf now and the paving later almost always means one gets cut to fit the other. We draw it as one thing, then our own crew builds it, so the terrace, the lawn, the path and the drainage all land where they were supposed to.
And because the detail holds up. Everything in a Park Cities back yard is seen from a few feet away, so seams, edges and levels are the whole game. Palms Living Oasis is family run, we have worked this metro since 2008, and we take pride in our work from design to installation.
Where you will see us in University Park
Preston Road and Lovers Lane are our routes in, and Snider Plaza is the landmark most people give when they describe where they live. The streets around the SMU campus and north toward Northwest Highway are where most of our University Park work sits.
Because so much of the town is on alleys, that is where our trucks usually park and where material goes in and out. It is tighter, more considered work than a suburban lot, and we plan the logistics before the first day on site rather than after.
Where we work
Outdoor spaces we build in University Park
We cover University Park street by street, from the blocks around SMU to the streets off Preston Road. The Park Cities run together for us, so we also handle Highland Park and the neighbouring Dallas neighborhoods.
Ask a turf installer
Straight answers about artificial turf in North Texas
Do you serve University Park?
Yes. It is part of the Park Cities the owner named as his own service area, and we run down from Richardson most weeks. Estimates carry no travel charge anywhere in the town.
My University Park yard is small. Is it worth doing properly?
It is the case for doing it properly. On a compact lot every square foot is visible and in use, so a plan that resolves the terrace, the lawn and the route matters more, not less.
The builders compacted my yard. Can anything grow there?
Grass struggles badly on post construction ground because the soil is crushed and the topsoil is usually gone. We either rebuild the ground properly or use turf and stone that do not depend on it.
Can you work from the alley in University Park?
Yes, and usually we prefer to. Alley access keeps material and machinery off the street and out of the front of the house, and we plan that route before the job is scheduled.
Will a putting green fit behind a University Park house?
Frequently, yes. A curved green with real contour and a couple of cups fits a compact back yard and gives you far more to practice than the small lawn it replaces.
Do you design as well as install?
Both, with our own crew. On a small University Park lot the design is what stops the yard being built twice, so it is where every job we take on here begins.