Dallas now has a Riverfront. At least, that's what the new signs say.

LARA SOLT/DMN

In a sign of the changing times, crews took down the old Industrial Boulevard signs and installed ones bearing Riverfront Boulevard instead. Business owners welcomed the change, saying it would give the area a new image.

Workers began installing signs Thursday emblazoned with Riverfront Boulevard, marking the end for the road long known as Industrial Boulevard. It's all part of an effort to remake the corridor along the Trinity River and give the gritty area a new image.

By Tuesday, city officials say, they will be finished installing 17 overhead signs and 15 street signs.

The change comes a year after the Dallas City Council officially approved the move following months of a contentious name-changing process.

Business owners along the road were the biggest proponents of the switch and often appeared at council meetings to voice their support. Now that the signs are going up, they are ready to embrace their new street name.

"Nobody down here ever used Industrial to market their property," said Jim Lake Jr., CEO of Jim Lake Companies, a business that owns nearly 1 million square feet of property in the corridor. "Now that it's Riverfront, it's helping in the identity of the area."

Lake said businesses along the road banded together last year to get the name change through the City Council, and there was only occasional grumbling over changing business cards.

Parker Benda, owner of Fuel City gas station and convenience store, said he has "minimal costs" to redo items with Industrial Boulevard printed on them, and said any money spent would be worth the new name.

"We're just so happy that it's happening," Benda said. "We're the people with the economic interests in this."

An effort to rename Industrial for labor leader César Chávez caused turmoil throughout the second half of 2008. The conflict was triggered by a nonscientific, city-sponsored survey asking residents what they would rename the street.

Chávez's name wound up winning the poll, but after lengthy wrangling, the council last November renamed the street Riverfront instead. It now appears part of Central Expressway in downtown Dallas will be renamed for Chávez.

"The process itself was not the easiest in the world," said Marcus Wood, a longtime real estate broker in the Trinity River corridor and backer of the change to Riverfront. "But I'm also really pleased to see that an appropriate thoroughfare has been found" for Chávez.

Business owners see the change as another milestone in efforts to improve the corridor.

"I think it's very significant," Benda said. She said that when the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge starts going up, people will really begin to take notice of the changes under way.

"It's a small piece of the transformation of this area," Lake said. "But it helps brand the district in that area and tells people it's close to the river."