DALLAS / FORT WORTH | Suburban General Developments

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Two Dallas companies combine to acquire 119 acres in Celina for 350-home, $133M community
Evan Hoopfer
July 21, 2016

Hillwood Communities, a Ross Perot Jr.-owned company, announced a joint venture with Dallas-based real estate development firm Wynne/Jackson to acquire 119 acres in Celina from the Glendenning Family to build a $133 million, 350-single family lot community.

The new community in Celina — which is about an hour north of Dallas — will be called "Glen Crossing," as homage to the Glendenning family, who emigrated from Scotland to Texas in 1887. The property has been through three generations of the family.

The company said the land was appealing because of its location between Preston Road and Dallas North Tollway.

Homes are expected to be priced between $350,000 and $425,000 and construction is slated to begin in September.

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High-rise hotel coming to Richardson’s huge CityLine project
Steve Brown
July 25, 2016

Missouri-based developer Drury Southwest bought the almost 3-acre site at CityLine Drive and U.S Highway 75. The property is just west of State Farm Insurance's high-rise regional campus and near DART's commuter rail station.

"Plans call for 168 rooms in an 11-story building with four levels of parking and seven levels of hotel," said BC Station Partners' Joe Altemore.

"Construction is set to start in four to six months."

The planned hotel will be the third major project on the 55 acres between the State Farm campus and U.S. 75 that BC Station Partners owns.

"We've been absent from the Dallas market for a bit but we are getting back," said Drury Southwest spokesman Herb Wedemeier. "We are coming out of the ground with a hotel in Frisco and have bought this site in Richardson.

"We think it's a great location and it's going to be a great hotel."

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Construction kicks off on Telecom Corridor office project
Steve Brown
July 25, 2016

The 3400 at CityLine office project is being built at the northeast corner of Renner Road and U.S. Highway 75 by Transwestern Development Co. and UBS Asset Management.

The 310,000-square-foot office project is just west of the CityLine development that includes State Farm Insurance's 4-tower regional office campus.

"We're getting a lot of interest from tenants — really solid activity for just breaking ground on the project," said Reid Caldwell, managing director of Transwestern Development.

The 3400 at CityLine office building will be connected to CityLine and DART's commuter rail station with walking trails and a new pedestrian bridge across Spring Creek.

Dallas architect BOKA Powell designed the 3400 at CityLine building.

The building will open in September 2017.

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The Omni Hotel at Frisco's The Star development has topped out.

Read the article here.

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Developers file plans for next phase of Plano's $3B Legacy West project
Steve Brown
August 1, 2016

Columbus Realty - one of the original partners in the Legacy West development at the Dallas North Tollway and State Highway 121 - has filed plans with the City of Plano for another major apartment development.

The new rental community is planned on Communications Drive just north of the new Legacy West Urban Village.

The apartment development located south of S.H. 121 will include more than 400 rental units in a 5-story building, according to plans filed with Plano's planning and zoning commission.

Columbus Realty's new apartment community will be right across the street from where JPMorgan Chase is building its huge new corporate campus.

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Grapevine deepens its entertainment groove with $330M, 1,020-room resort plans
Candace Carlisle
August 3, 2016

The new $330 million resort will sit on 33 acres within the city's 185-acre development site adjacent to Grapevine Mills Mall. At build out, the Wisconsin-based developer Stand Rock Hospitality will include the resort, a 190,000-square-foot water park, a mini-golf course, laser tag, rock climbing, a spa, a number of dining options and meeting spaces.

The initial $170 million phase of the project will include 420 guest rooms with a potential Wyndham property, 170,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor waterpark features and 20,000 square feet of family entertainment. Construction on this first phase is expected to begin in mid-2017.

In future phases of the resort and waterpark, Stand Rock Hospitality will develop 200 timeshare condo units, 400 additional hotel rooms and a waterpark expansion. At completion, the new development is expected to employ more than 1,000 people with an annual economic impact of more than $100 million.

During construction, Stand Rock estimates the group will employ 1,500 jobs with a direct and indirect economic impact of $157 million. As part of the deal, Grapevine will give the resort a break on hotel occupancy taxes.

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Dallas Cowboys new Frisco center gets its first corporate tenant: Bank of America megabranch
Jeffrey Weiss
August 5, 2016

Two corporate brands with major North Texas mojo - the Dallas Cowboys and Bank of America - are coming together in a new high-profile project announced today.

Bank of America has 15,000 employees in North Texas. The Cowboys are, well, the Cowboys. The Cowboys are building out The Star, the new team headquarters/entertainment and office park in Frisco.

Bank of America will be The Star's first corporate tenant.

Think of the new operations center as a branch on steroids. Clients and potential clients will be able to access staff from five Bank of America operations: Merrill Lynch, U.S. Trust, business banking (revenues from $10 million to $50 million), commercial banking ($50 million and up) and home loans.

About 200 employees will be relocated from other North Texas locations to a new 60,000 complex of offices and meeting rooms.

"We will maintain our presence everywhere we are already located," he said.

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New mixed-use project will bring senior housing to Melissa in Collin County
Steve Brown
August 8, 2016

Gardner Capital Development said it will build the more than $16 million community as part of a 35-acre mixed-use development.

The Gala of Melissa project will include 93 independent, mixed-income residences for seniors 55 and older.

Gardner has been awarded a $1.3 million reservation of affordable housing tax credits from the state of Texas.

The project will be the first mixed-income property in Melissa for senior residents at affordable rents.

Construction is expected to begin next summer with an opening in the fall of 2018.

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It's confirmed: Charles Schwab to open $100M campus, bringing 1,200 new jobs
Candace Carlisle
August 10, 2016

Texas Governor Greg Abbott confirmed Tuesday that Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW) plans to develop a new $100 million regional campus in Westlake, which will house 1,200 new jobs upon completion, confirming last week's Dallas Business Journal story about the move.

"Texas remains the brightest beacon of free enterprise in the nation, and Charles Schwab's decision to expand its operations in North Texas is yet another testament to the Lone Star state's promising economic climate," said Governor Abbott, in a written statement.

The new $100 million, 500,000-square-foot campus will sit on a total of about 70 acres and will anchor a larger proposed Circle T mixed-use development, which will be developed in a partnership with Fort Worth-based Hillwood and The Howard Hughes Corp. of Dallas.

Westlake plans to pony up an estimated $1.3 million in property tax abatement savings and sales tax refunds over a 10-year period based on estimated capital investment and job creation.

The new campus will give Charles Schwab room to expand beyond the 130,000-square-foot office in nearby Roanoke, which can accommodate about 500 employees.

A Charles Schwab spokeswoman said the firm is "just in the beginning stages of the process," but said the company hopes to break ground in the second half of 2017. Completion is slated for the end of 2018, with phased move-ins scheduled in early 2019.

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Posh nosh retailer Dean & Deluca lands at Plano’s Legacy West with first Texas store
Steve Brown
August 12, 2016

The gourmet food store - which got its start in the late 1970s in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood - has been scouting the Dallas-Fort Worth area for a spot for several years.

But the planned Plano location in the $300 million Legacy West Urban Village on the Dallas North Tollway will be the company's first full store in the Lone Star State.

"Getting Dean & Deluca's world class food emporium here in Plano is a huge home run, not just for Legacy West, but also for food lovers all over North Texas," said Legacy West developer Fehmi Karahan.

Dean & Deluca will open its almost 10,000-square-foot Legacy West store in early 2017, along with the first phase of the mixed-use project.

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Developer KDC building Irving medical complex
Steve Brown
August 17, 2016

KDC is developing a 155,000-square-foot medical office complex on State Highway 161 at Gateway Drive for Healthcare Associates. It will be within walking distance of a DART commuter rail station.

Construction will begin in the fall on 95,000-square-foot and 50,000-square-foot buildings that will house medical office space and a surgery center.

"There is nothing existing in the market to the caliber of this state-of-the-art facility, which is what Healthcare Associates wanted in a new office," said Dr. J. Mark Anderson of Healthcare Associates.

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View project location here.

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Details emerge for huge development at Circle T ranch in Westlake
Gordon Dickson
August 17, 2016

Last week’s announcement that The Charles Schwab Corp. plans to build a 1,200-employee corporate campus on the former Circle T Ranch was apparently just the beginning for the fast-growing area of northern Tarrant and southern Denton County.

Hillwood, one of the region’s largest real estate developers, and The Howard Hughes Corp. announced plans Wednesday to move forward with a 130-acre mixed-use development that includes the $100 million Schwab campus at the intersection of Texas 114 and Texas 170 near the Westlake-Roanoke border.

The project will include restaurants, retail shops, day care and a fitness center, said Mike Berry, president of Hillwood Properties, known for creating Alliance. It will also include residential areas and a 200-room hotel. Work at the site is expected to begin this fall and continue for several years, roughly following Schwab’s plan to open its campus by early 2019.

The main drive through the development will be dubbed Schwab Way, he said.

The new project will include more than 2 million square feet of mixed-use office, retail and entertainment space, comparable to Southlake Town Square about eight miles to the east. However, Berry said the Westlake development will likely have somewhat less retail than Southlake’s featured destination.

The architecture at the Westlake development will resemble the ranch/contemporary Hill Country designs seen at other public buildings in the city, including Westlake Academy, Deloitte University and the nearby Vaquero development.

Land for parks, open space and creeks will also be integrated into the development, officials said in a press release.

The initial work will include rebuilding Turner Lake to make way for both the Schwab campus and surrounding development.

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The TEX Rail project from Downtown Fort Worth to D/FW International Airport breaks ground next week.

Groundbreaking will begin Wednesday, August 24 at 9 a.m. and will be located at 705 S. Main St., Grapevine.

Read more here.

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Major beer, wine firm adds southern Dallas distribution center in I-45 corridor
Steve Brown
August 29, 2016

Constellation Brands — one of the country's largest distributors of imported beers and premium wines — is building a large new warehouse in Hutchins.

The New York-based company plans to break ground on the 450,000-square-foot project on Sept. 8. The planned industrial building will be in the Prime Pointe Industrial Park at 1600 W. Wintergreen Road.

The project is being built for both Constellation Brands and California-based logistics company Biagi Bros., which handles shipping for the firm, according to Scannell Properties' Patrick Marcotte.

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Another look on Plano's Willow Bend $100MM expansion:

Plano's Shops at Willow Bend tears down Saks; restaurant row, office tower coming
Maria Halkias
August 31, 2016

The pieces of a $100 million redevelopment are all about building traffic to the center, said John Albright, vice president of development at Starwood Retail Partners.

— A pedestrian-friendly restaurant row visible from the Dallas North Tollway will go in where Saks Fifth Avenue is being torn down after sitting empty since 2010.

— A nine-story, 200,000 square-foot office building will be built where a Mercury restaurant once stood. The tower's lobby will be connected to the mall.

— A boutique hotel or an entertainment venue is planned on the west side of the mall.

— And a fitness club is being courted for a spot between Crate & Barrel and Restoration Hardware where a fountain now sits.

The plan is to have all of it done by the end of 2018, Albright said.

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Hillwood Communities buys tracts in Collin, Denton counties for 1,000 homes
Candace Carlisle
August 24, 2016

Dallas-based master-planned community developer — Hillwood Communities — has closed on six tracts of land totaling 345 acres that will add more than 1,000 new home lots to two existing communities in Collin and Denton counties.

Terms of the land deal were undisclosed. Dallas-based Davidson Bogel Real Estate represented Hillwood Communities in the acquisitions.

The firm bought about 285 acres in two deals in Little Elm, which will expand the Union Park master-planned development by 817 homes. In all, Union Park will total 3,200 homes at build out.

Hillwood Communities also purchased about 60 acres of land in four deals in Melissa, which will expand its Liberty community by another 200 homes. In all, Liberty will have 1,500 homes at build out.

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Walsh Ranch development begins to take shape west of Fort Worth
Sandra Baker
September 3, 2016

On Wednesday, Aledo school officials will ceremoniously turn dirt to mark the start of construction of an elementary school on the legendary Walsh Ranch in the far west reaches of Fort Worth.

Nearby, crews have been scraping land, preparing the once-untouched prairie for streets and 580 home lots, just a portion of what’s to come. Developers estimate the land could one day be home to 50,000 people, roughly the current population of Grapevine.

About 1,700 acres are included in the first development phase of the 7,267-acre Walsh Ranch, which has been held by the family since the 1930s.

Going forward, the development won’t be called Walsh Ranch. Instead, it will be branded simply as the Walsh.

Over the past decades, every stitch of land has been thought about, down to the planting of a farm of 16,000 trees to be used within the development. About 700 of the trees are now being planted along Walsh Ranch Parkway north of Interstate 20. The road eventually will bisect the entire ranch on both sides of the highway.

Moreover, about 2,300 acres are being set aside for green space. The Walshes partnered with Fort Worth’s Botanical Research Institute of Texas to determine how to reclaim and restore the native prairie. The ranch’s unique hilly topography also will be retained. Curving residential streets will take in the terrain, in some places featuring vistas from 1,000 feet up or 90-foot drops.

The ranch is 11.4 square miles and will eventually feature as many as 15,000 homes. The entire Walsh development could take 50 years to complete. It will have at least eight elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school, and 35 miles of hike and bike trails.

The first batch of houses, going in north of the interstate and west of Walsh Ranch Parkway, will take about three years to complete, and the entire first phase about 15 years to finish. It will have parks and other amenities. Home prices will start in the low $300,000s and go up into the millions of dollars.

The developers have put together a 137-page book of standards and architectural details allowed in the Walsh. It relies heavily on some of Fort Worth’s historic neighborhoods.

About 770 acres are designated for commercial development and potentially a corporate campus.

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Scott Beck's Trophy Club development gets underway
Candace Carlisle
September 7, 2016

Dallas developer Scott Beck has begun site work on a mixed-use development he calls the "crown jewel" of Trophy Club Town Center, which will bring a new hotel, luxury apartments, office building, townhomes and retail space to the small North Texas town.

Beck is working alongside other development partners of the Trophy Club hub, which includes Plano-based Green Brick Partners (developing 39 townhomes), North American Properties (a 250-unit luxury apartment community), and a 110-room Hyatt Place hotel by Kriya Hotels.

The mixed-use development also includes a six-story, 75,000-square-foot office building being marketed by Dallas-based Stream Realty Partners on behalf of Beck Ventures.

The Weitzman Group's Gretchen Miller, Daniel Morales and Eric Vickers are marketing and leasing about 65,000 square feet of retail space for the developer.

In all, the construction will bring more than $100 million of new real estate to Trophy Club.

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Office project One Bethany is on the way near U.S. 75 in Allen
Steve Brown
September 16, 2016

Developers plan to break ground before the end of the year on a speculative office project in Allen.

The 5-story One Bethany building in the Millennium Office Park will have 115,000 square feet and will be just west of U.S. Highway 75 on Bethany Drive.

The building is scheduled to open in 2018.

It's in the same area where the City of Allen plans to break ground during the next few months on a $91 million hotel and conference center.

The more than 100,000-square-foot conference center at U.S. 75 and Bethany Drive will be connected to a 5-story, 292 room hotel.

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The Star / Omni Frisco via TexasStar: