HomeDiagramsDatabaseMapsForum About
     

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Global Projects & Construction > City Compilations


Reply

 
Thread Tools Display Modes
     
     
  #1081  
Old Posted Jan 30, 2006, 5:12 PM
TTU Arch TTU Arch is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Dallas, Texas
Posts: 440
Condo builder targeting Fort Worth
Dallas developer plans for 50 units near downtown
http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/st...30/story5.html

Holli L. Estridge
Staff Writer
Centex Corp.'s CityHomes, known for its condo developments filling in bits of Uptown Dallas and Addison, is planning its first project in downtown Fort Worth.

CityHomes will erect the three-story, 50-unit project called Westview at the intersection of Texas and Henderson streets, just east of downtown Fort Worth.

The site, which is bordered by Firestone Apartments to the north and AMLI Apartments to the south, once housed a Chrysler car lot and auto shop. CityHomes is buying the property from the Moorman Meador Estate, which asked $1.5 million for the property. CityHomes did not say what it paid.

CityHomes plans to close on the property in February, said Steve Magee, Centex's senior vice president of real estate for Dallas-Fort Worth. The company will demolish vacant buildings on the site and start work on the first building by April 2007. The company expects residents to begin to move in beginning in December 2007.

Before Centex Homes bought Dallas-based CityHomes in 2001, the upscale urban townhome developer was one of the largest builders of luxury townhomes in the Oak Lawn area. For nearly a decade, the subsidiary has primarily focused on the Dallas market.

Attractive demographics
Magee said job creation and announced expansions in the nearby hospital district attracted CityHomes to downtown Fort Worth. "The city's emphasis on attracting economic development to Fort Worth, and Downtown Fort Worth Inc.'s plan to bring 10,000 new units to downtown over the next few years, as well as the waterfront project, all made us think it would be good for us to enter that market," Magee said.

The downtown condo units will range in size from 1,100 to 1,350 square feet, selling for between $200,000 and $300,000. Among CityHomes' other Metroplex projects is a 180-unit, three-story townhome development in Addison Circle.

Centex's development and the price range of its planned units is exactly what the downtown Fort Worth market needs, according to Tom Struhs, developer of the Trinity Bluffs townhomes in Uptown Fort Worth.

"Up to now everything you hear about has been pretty expensive," he said. "They have a lot of experience in that market."

Struhs said several condo projects have been announced for downtown, but he doesn't believe they will all come to fruition, at least not in 2006. "Centex has brought something to the table that's credible and fills a dire need in the market," he said.

Demand is high for downtown condos, Struhs said, as Fort Worth follows a nationwide movement toward the inner-city. "It's happened all over the country," Struhs said. "One thing we need to establish in downtown Fort Worth is traffic."

hestridge@bizjournals.com | 817-693-0025
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1082  
Old Posted Jan 31, 2006, 2:54 PM
TTU Arch TTU Arch is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Dallas, Texas
Posts: 440
Condos in the midst of culture
Dallas Arts District to gain $100 million residential tower

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...2.e42703a.html

12:00 AM CST on Tuesday, January 31, 2006
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News


Dallas' newest residential high-rise will be a standout in an exclusive neighborhood.

Located smack between the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, the 20-story Museum Tower has what developers hope is a one-of-a-kind address.

"We think we have an extraordinary site," said John Sughrue, whose Brook Partners is teaming up with investor Turtle Creek Holdings to build the $100 million tower. "It is in the true heart of the Arts District."

Indeed, it would be hard to find a more central location than the block between Pearl and Olive streets. The residential building will overlook the Nasher sculpture garden and tower over the nearby symphony hall and Dallas Museum of Art.

"Our aspiration was to design a residence that will offer a sophisticated urban lifestyle," Mr. Sughrue, who has developed other projects downtown, said Monday.

The sleek stone and glass building was designed by architect Rick del Monte with the Beck Group – who collaborated on the Nasher Sculpture Center and the new Hunt Consolidated tower a few blocks away on Woodall Rodgers Freeway. Booziotis & Co. Architects has been hired to work on the interior spaces.

Mr. Sughrue said the plan is to build a condo tower that "will complement our Arts District neighbors – more timeless than flamboyant."

The building is designed to contain between 100 and 125 condos, depending how large the buyers want. The units will range in size from around 900 square feet to 7,500 square feet and will be "priced competitively" with other luxury buildings in the market, the developers said. Most of those projects sell for between $450 and $600 per square foot, depending upon how elaborate the building is.

Along with the central building, the Museum Tower will include underground parking, a half-dozen low-rise townhouses directly across from the Nasher garden, a swimming pool and gardens for the residents. The north side of the building also faces one of the parks planned for across the freeway.

"We think this Woodall Rodgers Park will be a fabulous amenity to this building," said Robbie Briggs of Briggs Freeman Real Estate Brokerage, which is marketing the project. "We are appealing to people who are truly interested in good architecture and the Arts District."

Museum Tower is scheduled to start construction later this year and will take about 18 to 24 months to complete.

Because of its location, the building will be one of the most visible additions to the 20-block cultural district on the north side of downtown.

The Arts District is also seeing construction of the $275 million Dallas Center for Performing Arts and the $100 million One Arts Plaza building, which will house 7-Eleven's corporate offices, condos and retail space.

The timing for the Museum Tower couldn't be better, said Bill Lively, president of the Dallas Center for Performing Arts Foundation.

"This complement brings life into the district," Mr. Lively said. "In every case where these things work effectively, there is a residential component."

Planned in the 1980s, the Arts District was always designed for a variety of construction. But during the early years, the private-sector focus was on office space.

Eight years ago when Brook Partners bought the Museum Tower site, the plan was to do an office tower.

"When the Arts District was laid out, they sought a residential component," said Daniel Boeckman with Turtle Creek Holdings. "It's all coming together right now."

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1083  
Old Posted Jan 31, 2006, 8:42 PM
eburress's Avatar
eburress eburress is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,526
Here are some Museum Tower renderings posted by TexasStar over at DallasMetropolis.com. Not too shabby!





Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1084  
Old Posted Jan 31, 2006, 9:54 PM
Owlhorn Owlhorn is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Dallas, Texas
Posts: 1,619
Here's to hoping they do just as nice of a job on the Uptown side of Woodall Rodgers.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1085  
Old Posted Jan 31, 2006, 10:21 PM
Owlhorn Owlhorn is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Dallas, Texas
Posts: 1,619
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1086  
Old Posted Jan 31, 2006, 10:22 PM
Owlhorn Owlhorn is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Dallas, Texas
Posts: 1,619
Criswell Building downtown

Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1087  
Old Posted Feb 1, 2006, 12:00 AM
Owlhorn Owlhorn is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Dallas, Texas
Posts: 1,619
Not a super clear look, but here is a look at early construction on the Hunt-Hill Bridge(Woodall Rodgers). There are construction crews in the flood plain. For those more familiar with suspension bridge construction, are they gonna put up the arch first? That's seems to be where the work is going on.

Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1088  
Old Posted Feb 1, 2006, 4:28 AM
colemonkee's Avatar
colemonkee colemonkee is offline
Ridin' into the sunset
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 9,093
Those renderings of Museum Tower are great, and Woodall Rogers Park looks like it will kick ass. I love it when they deck over freeways to build greenspace. It says it's proposed, but how realistic is it that it will be built? I ask because there's been a proposal like that floating around in Sacramento for over 8 years, but nothing's happened.
__________________
"Then each time Fleetwood would be not so much overcome by remorse as bedazzled at having been shown the secret backlands of wealth, and how sooner or later it depended on some act of murder, seldom limited to once."

Against the Day, Thomas Pynchon
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1089  
Old Posted Feb 1, 2006, 5:01 AM
CTroyMathis's Avatar
CTroyMathis CTroyMathis is offline
Sea™/Ciudad™
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Dallas.TX Previously:Seattle/San Diego/Chicago/New London/Portsmouth
Posts: 3,303
Here's a look at what the Hall project could look like if built. Please keep in mind I hacked this up pretty quick using a photo of the model that wasn't at a proper angle. . . ; )

What to look for? The glowing object in the slightly-upper-left-middle without a label. (The labels were already there for another rendering of a few selected projects in Dallas. Base image by Green Grass Studios.)

__________________
Retired from the USN Submarine Service.
DallasMetropolis.com | 1997-2024 | Opolis Blueprints
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1090  
Old Posted Feb 1, 2006, 5:08 AM
CTroyMathis's Avatar
CTroyMathis CTroyMathis is offline
Sea™/Ciudad™
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Dallas.TX Previously:Seattle/San Diego/Chicago/New London/Portsmouth
Posts: 3,303
Hunt tower crane base, 28 Jan 06 by tnekster:

__________________
Retired from the USN Submarine Service.
DallasMetropolis.com | 1997-2024 | Opolis Blueprints
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1091  
Old Posted Feb 1, 2006, 5:11 AM
CTroyMathis's Avatar
CTroyMathis CTroyMathis is offline
Sea™/Ciudad™
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Dallas.TX Previously:Seattle/San Diego/Chicago/New London/Portsmouth
Posts: 3,303
cole, I'd say the decking of Woodall Rodgers stands a great chance. Still a bit of a ways off though it seems.

Kevin, I'm not sure of that address. A Google of "Northpark III" in quotations would do the trick.
__________________
Retired from the USN Submarine Service.
DallasMetropolis.com | 1997-2024 | Opolis Blueprints
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1092  
Old Posted Feb 1, 2006, 5:21 AM
Owlhorn Owlhorn is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Dallas, Texas
Posts: 1,619
I'd say very good possibility. A very serious proposal that I would say has a 90% chance of being done in some capacity. A lot of the funding is already in place. Its now up to TxDOT to deliver.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1093  
Old Posted Feb 1, 2006, 5:26 AM
CTroyMathis's Avatar
CTroyMathis CTroyMathis is offline
Sea™/Ciudad™
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Dallas.TX Previously:Seattle/San Diego/Chicago/New London/Portsmouth
Posts: 3,303
A set of photos of the Northpark III (10-story tower) demolition:
http://www.flamingduck.com/gallery/l...?exhibition=57




Another set:

http://www.longwinded.net/photos/010...ion/index.html




More photos of the demolition by owlhorn:
































Lastly, a large set at the Texas Photo Forum:

http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...ad.php?t=15827




Stellar animation of photos from that last linked thread at Texas Photo Forum:

http://www.matthewjames.com/online_p.../implosion.gif
__________________
Retired from the USN Submarine Service.
DallasMetropolis.com | 1997-2024 | Opolis Blueprints
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1094  
Old Posted Feb 1, 2006, 6:39 AM
colemonkee's Avatar
colemonkee colemonkee is offline
Ridin' into the sunset
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 9,093
^ ^ Thanks for the answer, guys. That'll be one to look forward to.
__________________
"Then each time Fleetwood would be not so much overcome by remorse as bedazzled at having been shown the secret backlands of wealth, and how sooner or later it depended on some act of murder, seldom limited to once."

Against the Day, Thomas Pynchon
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1095  
Old Posted Feb 3, 2006, 6:20 AM
KevinFromTexas's Avatar
KevinFromTexas KevinFromTexas is offline
Meh
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: there and back again
Posts: 57,324
Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Dallas - 21 floors - 285 feet.
http://www.mccbuilds.com/projects/WI...cfm?doc_id=971
__________________
Donate to Donald Trump's campaign today!

Thou shall not indict
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1096  
Old Posted Feb 3, 2006, 6:21 AM
Owlhorn Owlhorn is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Dallas, Texas
Posts: 1,619
Access for Mockingbird Station could upgrade
Dallas: SMU, business, UP uniting



06:38 AM CST on Thursday, February 2, 2006
By KRISTEN HOLLAND / The Dallas Morning News


In the near future, SMU students may be able to cross Central Expressway without stepping foot on Mockingbird Lane or Yale/SMU Boulevard.

A walkway connecting Southern Methodist University to Mockingbird Station is part of a proposal aimed at increasing rail use and redeveloping more than 20 acres northeast of the mixed-use development.

The area is already home to an eclectic group of uses.

Occupants range from restaurants and bars to office buildings and a municipal service center. A vacant movie theater, several dilapidated parking lots and an empty lumberyard also dot the landscape.

The proposal includes urban townhouses and a four-story, mixed-use development with retail and multifamily buildings. Additional landscaping and a second multifamily development are also envisioned, according to a grant request submitted recently to the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

Southern Methodist University, University Park and Prescott Realty Group submitted the proposal as part of a $6.5 million request to improve pedestrian access to the Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail station and enhance the area's landscaping.

"It's an 80-20 match, which means that Prescott and the university would have to find the 20 percent if we're lucky enough to get the grant," said Leon Bennett, SMU's vice president for legal affairs and governmental relations. Twenty percent amounts to about $1.3 million.

University Park's city manager, Bob Livingston, said the city has no financial incentive in the deal. Tax revenues generated from improvements will go to Dallas because that's where the proposed redevelopment is located.

City leaders agreed to sponsor the application in part because SMU needed a public partner. "One of the reasons the city is here is because of the university," Mr. Livingston said.

In addition, University Park's auxiliary service center is within the proposal's boundaries, at 4419 Worcola St.

"We have about 150 people that go to work over there every day," Mr. Livingston said. "Anything that can be done to improve our pedestrian access to and from the DART rail station is something to want to try."

Though some may see SMU's push to redevelop the land as a ploy to strengthen its standing as a finalist for the George W. Bush presidential library, university representatives say that's not the case.

"This has to do with our interest in the properties that we've acquired across [U.S. Highway] 75," Mr. Bennett said.

Mr. Bennett said the university owns the vacant movie theater, Jack's Pub and Expressway Towers on the east side of Central Expressway. "We have under contract two other properties," he added.

Jud Pankey, Prescott's president, didn't return phone calls about the project his company is heading up with SMU.

The University Park-SMU-Prescott Realty Group trio isn't the only partnership vying for grant money to redevelop property around Mockingbird Station. Prescott and SMU submitted a similar application with the city of Dallas as its public sponsor.

And Dallas apartment builder First Worthing Corp. submitted a request for $5 million to build a 10.3-acre mixed-use development on parking lots next to the DART station. That plan involves leasing 6.3 acres from DART to build a central public plaza along with retail and residential buildings.

Alicia Hopkins, a senior transportation planner for the council of governments, said the competition for the $40 million available for sustainable development projects is much stiffer than in 2001, the last time the group had grant money for similar projects.

In 2001, the group used its $40 million to fund 21 of the 54 projects that requested funding. "This time, we have 136 applications for a total of $273 million," she said.

E-mail kholland@dallasnews.com

Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1097  
Old Posted Feb 3, 2006, 6:24 AM
Owlhorn Owlhorn is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Dallas, Texas
Posts: 1,619
Big plans in northeast Dallas
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...y.1c5a3e1f.html
Three projects promise to breathe new life into Vickery Meadow area
08:51 PM CST on Thursday, February 2, 2006
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

Three major developments in the works could revitalize an entire neighborhood in northeast Dallas.

At Northwest Highway and Skillman Street, developer Trammell Crow Co. wants to tear down more than 1,000 aging apartments to make way for a new retail and residential complex.

And further north on Meadow Road at the DART line, another developer has bought up more than a half dozen apartment communities with plans to build new housing.

Demolition crews also began work this week on the $400 million Park Lane Place retail, residential and commercial project, which will be built between Central Expressway and Greenville Avenue.

The three projects will anchor what city officials and real estate investors hope will be a rebuilding of the entire Vickery Meadow neighborhood.
Tell Us
Will the projects help Vickery Meadow rebound? Comment | View Results

"It is the beginning of the redevelopment of northeast Dallas," said Dallas City Council member Bill Blaydes. "I think these projects are the precursors of what you will see happen a lot more in that area."

Built mostly in the 1970s and 1980s, the neighborhood north of Northwest Highway is a mix of thousands of apartments, shopping centers, offices and other commercial uses.

Some of the apartment communities have fallen into disrepair and have been plagued by crime and city code violations.

But rising interest in development along the transit line and a growing focus on revitalizing close-in neighborhoods have caused real estate investors and builders to take a new look at this part of town.

A partnership represented by Trammell Crow Co. late last year purchased the 44-acre Timbercreek apartments at the north corner of Northwest Highway and Skillman. Built 30 years ago, the project contains more than 1,000 apartments.

Crow Co. is in the process of getting the go-ahead from the city of Dallas to replace the aging apartments with new retail and residential construction.

"We see the opportunity to be a leader with our proposed redevelopment," said Denton Walker, Crow's managing director of development. "We are focused mainly on commercial, but we are open to any type of development that is positive for the area."

Crow has received approval from the Dallas City Plan Commission for its project and is hoping to get a final OK from the council.

Developers of the 33-acre Park Lane Place complex expect their project will also be a catalyst. The high-density development at Park Lane and North Central Expressway will contain hundreds of apartments and condominiums and more than 500,000 square feet of shops, hotel rooms and offices. "We think we are going to be good neighbors and have a positive impact on the area," developer Tod Ruble said.

The biggest of the pending redevelopments is Valencia Capital Management's proposed project at Meadow Road and Manderville Lane. The real estate company has purchased hundreds of apartments in the neighborhood and is studying plans for a new mixed-use community.

"It will have an incredibly positive impact on that neighborhood," said real estate broker Brian O'Boyle of O'Boyle Properties Inc., who's tracked sales in the area. "There is very little land available for new construction, and the prices are going off the charts."

Valencia Capital officials have met with residents in the area to lay out their plans and have been working with city officials.

"We still have some work to do, but assuming that the right things come together, we think there is great opportunity here," said a spokesman for the investment firm who asked not to be identified.

"Valencia is going into areas where there has been very poor management for years and trying to get started with their program," Mr. Blaydes said. "You are looking at areas where you have thousands of multifamily housing units that have passed most of their economic life."

So far, much of the reaction to these redevelopments has been positive, but some residents are concerned that too much doesn't get plowed under.

Retired Dallas architect Howard Parker is speaking out about preserving mature trees and creeks that are throughout Vickery Meadow. But Mr. Parker said, "of course I'm in favor" of replacing many of the aging apartments in the area.

With land prices soaring for apartment land, it makes sense that developers would look at reworking old locations, real estate analysts say.

"Clearly these are premium, desirable development locations you are talking about," said Greg Willett, vice president of research and analysis with M/PF YieldStar Inc. "This type of redevelopment is a more expensive route than going out and getting a new suburban site. But it's tougher to get a new suburban site."

In recent years, Lincoln Property Co. successfully replaced several of its aging apartment complexes in the Village just south of Northwest Highway with new construction, Mr. Willett said.

Many apartments built in the 1970s are styles that no longer appeal to renters and are poorly constructed, he said. "A lot of it was done with savings and loan money, and they wanted to get the deal done and get out," he said.

The planned northeast Dallas redevelopments are part of a trend being seen all over the country, said longtime Dallas real estate analyst Ron Witten of Witten Advisors.

"This is the maturation of Dallas as a city that follows the same path that other major metropolitan areas with mass transit have seen," Mr. Witten said. "In some neighborhoods, the opportunity to build nice new housing and maybe some retail and replace dilapidated troublesome housing is very appealing to the city and the neighbors."
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1098  
Old Posted Feb 3, 2006, 6:26 AM
Owlhorn Owlhorn is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Dallas, Texas
Posts: 1,619
Nice pic of The House by Starck model at the Victory sales office. This building is to break ground in the next couple of months

Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1099  
Old Posted Feb 3, 2006, 7:14 AM
Owlhorn Owlhorn is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Dallas, Texas
Posts: 1,619
From the Fort Worth Star

Dallas entertainment complex plans detailed
By MELISSA SÁNCHEZSTAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITERDALLAS —

City officials and a Dallas developer announced specific plans at a City Hall news conference Tuesday for Dallas City Limits, a $250 million themed entertainment complex near the downtown Dallas Convention Center.
“We are very excited to link the central business district to the Trinity River Program,” said Bill Beuck, who helped develop the 900-acre Pinnacle Park, near Interstate 30 and Loop 12. “We believe it can elevate Dallas to a new juncture.”
A 10-minute video laid out specifics of the 400,000-square-foot center, including luxury suites, a health spa, outdoor entertainment areas and retail shops. Construction will start this spring, and the complex’s first phase will open 18 months later. It will be the only one of its kind in the United States, Beuck said.
The venture was announced in October by old friends and business partners Beuck, Billy Bob Barnett — the namesake for Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth — and Spencer Taylor, another successful honky-tonk entrepreneur, who helped bring Gilley’s to Dallas.
The first phase of the complex will have two outdoor venues. Festival Plaza, on an 8-acre grassy field, is designed as a venue for 12 major events and six multiday festivals a year. Trinity will seat 1,500 in its outdoor arena for bull riding, rodeos, boxing, beach volleyball and extreme sports.
Beuck said specifics on financing haven’t been ironed out yet because the location is not definite. But he said a proposed deal is for City Limits to acquire the land at fair-market value and the city to invest in public improvements. In November, Allyn and Company, which represents Barnett, said the project could be funded by a Texas entertainment-investment firm headed by an area dentist.
One remaining hurdle is a proposed land swap in which Woodbine Development, a real-estate interest of Dallas oilman Ray Hunt, would trade part of a parking lot near the project site for Reunion Arena, which became largely obsolete with the opening of the American Airlines Center.
The City Council is expected to support the effort, Beuck said. The council will probably discuss the City Limits proposal at today’s council meeting.
Dallas Mayor Laura Miller said in a news release Tuesday that the developer is asking for $20 million in tax money, “but he has no money of his own and no track record on a project this size.”
“That’s pretty much a nonstarter for me,” she said in the news release.
Mayor Pro Tem Donald Hill said the market will respond to the project.
“Dallas is on its way to the vision our founders had 150 years ago,” Hill said.





Dallas City Limits' fiscal data sought

Council split on viability of entertainment project, focuses on 'legal issues'

07:11 AM CST on Thursday, February 2, 2006

By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News

The backers of an expansive downtown entertainment complex proposal have two weeks to produce financial records and address unspecified "legal issues" before the Dallas City Council continues negotiations.

The decision by the council to wait for financial information came Wednesday after one of its longest closed-door meetings in years -- almost four hours. Council members, however, differed on whether the proposed $250 million concept is unraveling or remains on line for council approval in some fashion. And they differed on what tax incentives, if any, the city should offer development company Dallas City Limits, which is seeking public aid.

Had the council voted on the proposal Wednesday, it would not have passed, several members agreed. "They still haven't shown us that they have money. We've never seen that they have the wherewithal to build it," Mayor Laura Miller said of Dallas City Limits, repeating her longtime criticism of the proposal. "For me, that's insurmountable."
Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill, listening nearby, interjected: "That is so inappropriate. They've invested -- according to our staff -- they've invested $10 million into this project already. That's ludicrous." Dallas City Limits' financing "will be there," Mr. Hill said. Ms. Miller fired back. "I will always be against putting taxpayer money in projects where the person asking for the money has no money of their own," she said. City Attorney Tom Perkins asked that council members not publicly discuss the "legal issues" that some council members say remain obstacles to the project's success.

The complicated project involves a three-way land swap that, if executed, ultimately would give the city control of a tract of nearly vacant land next to the Dallas Convention Center -- land it hopes to sell to Dallas City Limits to develop into the entertainment complex. Council member Mitchell Rasansky said one legal issue involves "covenants that are attached to Reunion" Arena, one of the pieces of the proposed land swap, but he would not discuss specifics. The city has previously entered into agreements governing the use of Reunion Arena, which is slated for demolition as part of the land swap.

Dallas City Limits executive Bill Beuck said Wednesday afternoon that he hadn't spoken with city officials, and as a result, did not want to comment on the council meeting. "We clearly understand that transactions have to be good for all parties involved," Mr. Beuck said. "The city is working in good faith, as are we. We realize it's a complicated situation."
Mr. Beuck declined to discuss details of Dallas City Limits' financial situation, or why the group hasn't presented the city with the financial material it wants. The city has not, however, presented Dallas City Limits with its terms for the project, which would presumably reveal any tax incentives Dallas plans to offer. A preliminary term sheet valued Dallas' tax incentive offering at $20 million.

Mr. Beuck said the city should invest in infrastructure in and around the proposed development site, including money to improve a parking garage, fix streets and build a connection system from the Dallas Convention Center to Dallas City Limits. Mr. Rasansky said after the closed-door meeting that the city shouldn't swap land at all.

Officials closed the executive session to the public because they said they'd be discussing legal issues, a permissible reason under state open meeting laws. "If they have the financial capability to do this, let them show us," Mr. Rasansky said. "Without it, as far as I'm concerned, the property will only increase in value, and this is not the time to sell."

Where to now? "The general consensus is that we're going to keep working things through the economic development committee until it makes it, or it's dead," said council member Bill Blaydes, the committee's chairman. "It's still up in the air."

The proposed land swap works like this: Dallas would transfer its ownership of Reunion Arena to billionaire oilman Ray Hunt's Woodbine Development Corp., which has said it plans to demolish the facility to make way for an unspecified project. Woodbine would give Dallas part of a little-used parking lot -- known as Lot E -- that the company owns near the struggling Dallas Convention Center, which the city also owns. After coupling Lot E with land the city already owns, government officials would sell the property to Dallas City Limits for $30 million, according to preliminary terms.
As presented by its backers, Dallas City Limits would be a $250 million project, the centerpiece of which would be a 400,000-square-foot entertainment complex featuring shops, restaurants, nightclubs, a health club, a concert hall and an outdoor arena. Mr. Beuck said construction could begin as soon as spring, pending council approval.

A later project phase calls for an expansion south of Interstate 30 into the Cedars neighborhood along the Trinity River, which would feature an equestrian center, a horse-racing track with pari-mutuel wagering, a polo field, residential apartments and condominiums, and a 4,000-seat indoor arena, according to project plans.

E-mail dlevinthal@dallasnews.com


Reply With Quote
     
     
  #1100  
Old Posted Feb 4, 2006, 12:45 AM
Owlhorn Owlhorn is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Dallas, Texas
Posts: 1,619
Byrne to build condos

Fort Worth-based general contractor Thos. S. Byrne Ltd. has been hired to build the Cresta Bella condominium high-rise on Turtle Creek.

Construction is scheduled to begin on the $100 million project this spring.

The building will contain 55 residences ranging from 2,600 to more than 13,000 square feet.

Contractor Byrne has worked on projects including Dallas' Latino Cultural Center and the Kimbell Art Museum and Pier One Imports' corporate office in Fort Worth.

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com

Reply With Quote
     
     
This discussion thread continues

Use the page links to the lower-right to go to the next page for additional posts
 
 
Reply

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Global Projects & Construction > City Compilations
Forum Jump


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 8:26 AM.

     
SkyscraperPage.com - Archive - Privacy Statement - Top

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.