Frisco City Hall Opens, nearby developments abound

Frisco City Hall set to open doors
Workers, visitors to bring foot traffic to up-and-coming area

Dallas Business Journal - June 30, 2006
by Sandra Zaragoza Staff Writer

Main Street in Frisco will start to bustle on July 3 when city employees show up to work at the new Frisco City Hall.

The building anchors Frisco Square -- a development with office, retail and apartments -- near the intersection of Main Street and Dallas Parkway.

Over the next few months, City Hall employees will be joined by construction crews ready to build retail, office and residential projects along Main Street, where Frisco Square and Pizza Hut Park soccer stadium sit alongside green pastures.

The owner of Frisco Square, Fairways Frisco L.P., is set to break ground on a new phase of the mixed-use project in August. The latest phase will include two four-story office buildings, each with about 17,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, and a 47,000-square-foot building that will house Studio Movie Grill and additional retail. The first office building will be completed in early 2007, while the theater and second office building are slated for summer 2007 delivery.

Frisco Square is not the only development ramping up activity in the Main Street area:

Across the street, Allen-based Dallas International Realty Advisors plans to break ground in September on World Cup Plaza & Main Square, a 92,921-square-foot retail and office project. Plans call for almost 78,000 square feet of retail and about 15,000 square feet of office space, along with a 125-room hotel. World Cup Plaza has signed Pei Wei Asian Diner and several other restaurants. The project, which is expected to be complete next summer, is being marketed by Paul Harmon and Dan Shoevlin of Dallas-based Henry S. Miller Commercial.
Dallas-based Archon Retail is proposing Frisco Commons, a 500,000-square-foot development on 104 acres at the southwest corner of Main Street and Dallas Parkway. Staubach Retail in Dallas is handling leasing for the proposed project.
Dallas-based John T. Evans Co. is marketing a 23,000-square-foot project on Main Street, east of Dallas Parkway.
Nearby, big retail players like Chicago-based General Properties and Forest City Enterprises of Cleveland have staked their claims on huge parcels at Dallas Parkway and U.S. 380.
Ripe for retail
So far, Frisco Square has had more success with residential and office than retail.

But Brant Bryan, a partner in Fairways Frisco L.P., says office and residential demand has shot up in the last year and he expects retail to follow. About 51,600 square feet of office space is almost 100% leased and 114 apartments are about 98% leased.

The project's 40,000 square feet of retail is about 60% occupied.

"There are enough things going on with City Hall and Pizza Hut Park, office and residential demand, that (retail) is going to have critical mass pretty quickly," Bryan said.

In addition to the theater, Frisco Square signed Mattito's Tex Mex restaurant. It is in lease negotiations with Starbucks, an ice cream shop and a diner. And it is in talks with a few fitness center tenants and specialty grocers.

When it opens next week, City Hall will bring in about 200 employees and 500 visitors a day, said Ross Golman, of Dallas-based The Retail Connection, who is handling leasing for the center.

But the expected September 2007 Dallas North Tollway completion, which will link State Highway 121 with U.S. 380, will usher in far greater changes, Golman said.

"By September of '07 there will be a lot of traffic and a lot more density of retail and restaurants," he said.

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Frisco smart to consider eco-friendly standards

Editorial: Frisco smart to consider eco-friendly standards

07:34 AM CDT on Friday, July 28, 2006


Frisco's talking green again, and we love it.

Six years ago, Frisco became the nation's first city to require eco-friendly building standards for residential construction. The program has been very successful, prompting Frisco to consider similar standards for new commercial construction.

We'll reserve final comment until we see the program details, which Frisco's city staff expects to present to the City Council for review in August. Much like the residential program, though, the commercial program is likely to require developers to more efficiently manage water, energy and waste recycling.


For example, there's talk that encouraging developers to install heat-reflective roofs is a possible option among many that the staff is considering.

We applaud Frisco for continuing to exhibit forward thinking. Frisco has purchased hybrid vehicles for its city fleet, encouraged drought-tolerant landscaping, and established more parks and green space. The city's recycling program, "Keeping Frisco Clean ... with Single Stream," was recently lauded nationally.

While many cities have embraced more rigorous energy standards in newly constructed public-owned buildings, relatively few have pressed commercial developers to be more energy-wise.

Some commercial developers have pursued energy-efficient policies as good business, but many have not, in part over concern that tougher standards would drive up the cost of new construction. We urge developers and Frisco to work closely to make eco-friendly commercial standards tailored to the needs of North Texas a reality.

Frisco officials recognize that they must manage its rapid growth in part by promoting efficient energy use. And they recognize that every bit counts.

In the U.S., buildings account for 39 percent of the nation's total annual energy consumption, which means that energy-efficient construction can make a difference.

For example, since its inception in 2001, Frisco's energy-wise residential construction program has saved the city's 8,000 "green" homeowners more than $430 a year in utility costs each and kept tons of pollutants from the air. So far this year, about 96 percent of new homes in Frisco have been built to green standards.

As Frisco continues to demonstrate, it's not only easy being green, it's smart.

DMN Suburban Editorial Board
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Will the economy save the housing market?

Economy may save housing market? Agree or disagree?

San Francisco -- Just when things looked awful for the real estate market: higher mortgage rates, high rates of foreclosures, oversupply, time on the market longer and a liquidity crunch -- something happened: a ROARING economy evidenced by 5 percent growth rates, strong consumer confidence and job growth. Rates are central to a thriving housing market, but nothing tops job growth. When people are employed, they buy houses.

Take San Francisco: lines at restaurants, traffic is backed-up, commercial office space is filled up and people are making money.
We call it the Google effect out here. But it is not just a SF phenom. I just left Dallas where the economy is on full throttle.

Who knows how long this will last but a friend at Cal Berkeley predicts a period of global prosperity as China and India lift all boats.
What do you think?
-- Bradley Inman
Inman News Service Blog
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Frisco stretch may become shopping mecca

Frisco stretch may become shopping mecca

07:43 AM CDT on Friday, May 5, 2006
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News


At the dead end of Dallas Parkway, the vacant fields are lush green, thanks to recent rains.

The Collin County landscape 35 miles north of downtown Dallas still appears rural. But the steady stream of traffic on U.S. Highway 380 is a sign of things to come.

Real estate developers are betting that this country crossroads will be one of the region's next shopping meccas.

Construction linking the Dallas North Tollway north to U.S. 380 will be completed next year.

And shopping center builders and land investors will be waiting there for the highway to arrive.

"The developers are positioning themselves now,"



said real estate broker Rex Glendenning, who began selling land at the intersection in the early 1990s.

Back then, Mr. Glendenning had to spin some tales to make investors believe in this stretch of U.S. 380. Now, he doesn't have to do any arm-twisting.

"The major players are all looking to get into that market now," he said. "You are probably two or three years away from seeing rooftops and buying a pair of socks.

"But it could be sooner."

Indeed, two of the nation's biggest shopping center developers – General Growth Properties of Chicago and Forest City Enterprises of Cleveland – have staked their claim on the southwest corner of Dallas Parkway and U.S. 380.


The two builders separately control more than 300 acres on the north edge of Frisco that can accommodate more than 2 million square feet of construction.

"We are interested in seeing that development occur as soon as the market will support it," said Jim Gandy of the Frisco Economic Development Corp.

Frisco acted as an intermediary in General Growth's purchase of 200 acres and worked to lure Forest City to the site next door.

Frisco's leaders hope that development at U.S. 380 and the tollway may rival construction at State Highway 121 and Preston Road – one of the largest shopping concentrations in the country, with almost 5 million square feet of space.

"Four million square feet might happen in the area around U.S. 380 at some point in the future," Mr. Gandy said.


Big plans

The building total could even top that.

Dallas Cowboys owner and developer Jerry Jones' Blue Star Investments hopes to build a 2.8 million-square-foot residential and regional shopping complex on land he owns on U.S. 380 between Dallas Parkway and Preston Road.

Investor and developer Avex Properties has a 190-acre tract planned for commercial and retail construction in the same area.

Blue Star general manager Joe Hickman said the U.S. 380 strip still needs utilities and roadwork to support construction. Mr. Hickman estimates that it will be at least 24 months before work starts on any of the Blue Star properties, which the Jones family has owned for about 10 years.

"The market up there will become a lot more viable when the toll road becomes a reality," he said. "It's like Frisco before the tollway got there."

The nascent development district is about seven miles north of the shopping hub at Preston and State Highway 121.

"Everybody is looking further and further out to identify where the next retail junctions are going to be," said Steve Lieberman, chief executive of Dallas shopping center broker the Retail Connection. "That U.S. 380 intersection is clearly going to be a significant hub over time."


Sooner than expected?

And retail builders say the U.S. 380 corridor will take off sooner than planners expect.

"I think U.S. 380 already carries more than 50,000 cars a day," said David Palmer, executive vice president with Dallas-based Cencor Realty. "There is a lot of land on both sides of the street with good players.

"The construction along 380 is going to happen quicker than anyone realizes," he said.

Cencor Realty's sister company, Weitzman Group, is leasing a 515,000-square-foot shopping center planned on the south side of U.S. 380 west of Dallas Parkway.

Oakridge Investments and the Rudman Partnership are planning the 81-acre project to include a variety of shopping. Their research shows that 90,000 people currently live within a 10-minute drive of U.S. 380 in Frisco. By 2009, the population is expected to top 140,000.

Standridge Cos. owns the southeast corner of U.S. 380 and Dallas Parkway where it is marketing a 30-acre retail and commercial project called Frisco Crossing. "We are considering which direction to go with development," said Stacy Standridge. "We didn't think it would come this quick."

And broker Mr. Glendenning and his partner Steve Roberts have about 90 acres surrounding the Standridge tract that is in line for more construction.

"I sold my first properties at that intersection back in 1993 or 1994," Mr. Glendenning said. "I told my clients that were buying there that in the next 10 years we would see land in that area trading at $5 per square foot.

"It turns out I was right."
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Dallas market 'undervalued'

Steve Brown: Dallas market 'undervalued'
This time, being on the low end of a survey probably isn't so bad


09:34 AM CDT on Friday, June 16, 2006
Dallas Morning News

Dallas has more to brag about than its basketball team.

A new survey finds that Big D has the most undervalued housing of any big-city market in the country. That's right – the best buy in the nation.

Normally, it wouldn't be bragging material to have "undervalued" real estate.

But with the buzz about cooling residential prices in many cities, it's good news that

Dallas doesn't have a housing bubble hanging overhead.

Indeed, homes in the Dallas area were almost 19 percent undervalued in the first quarter, according to an analysis by financial firms Global Insight and National City Corp.

Compare that with Naples, Fla., where the median home price was more than 100 percent overvalued. Or Salinas, Calif., which was 79 percent overvalued in the first quarter.

"Seventy-one metro areas, accounting for 39 percent of all single-family housing value, were deemed to be extremely overvalued," the housing sector report warns. Most of those hot markets are in Florida and California.

But there are signs that a correction is in the works. "Quarter-to-quarter price appreciation is slowing in most metro areas and is nearly flat in San Diego and Boston," the analysts said.

The cities at the top of the "undervalued" column have something in common – they are all in Texas. Bryan-College Station has the biggest spread – almost 24 percent undervalued. Next comes Dallas, and then Fort Worth with 18.5 percent undervalue in median prices.

The study also points out that the Dallas area lost more than 18 percent of its housing value during the "correction" of 1986 through 1989. Only someone who wasn't here for the regional economic collapse of the late 1980s would refer to it as a "correction."

Texas homeowners who watched their real estate values evaporate would have more colorful descriptions of that real estate crash.

No doubt the folks in Florida and California will have something to say about home values before the current "correction" is over.

Overvalued
Naples, Fla. 102.6%
Salinas, Calif. 79.1%
Fort Pierce, Fla. 77.4%
Merced, Calif. 77.0%
Bend, Ore. 76.4%
Stockton, Calif. 74.9%
Punta Gorda, Fla. 73.4%
Santa Barbara, Calif. 73.0%
Madera, Calif. 72.5%
Riverside, Calif. 68.7%

Undervalued
Bryan-College Station 23.7%
Dallas 18.9%
Fort Worth 18.5%
Houston 15.8%
Killeen 15.1%
Midland 13.6%
El Paso 13.1%
McAllen 12.9%
Shreveport, La. 12.7%
New Orleans 12.4%

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Rentals for Seniors in Frisco

Rentals for seniors in Frisco

Developers in Frisco will break ground next week on a rental project for seniors.

Called Parkview Frisco, the complex is being built by a partnership of Dallas-based LandPlan Development and Zerga Investments.

Parkview Frisco will be on the north side of Stonebrook Parkway and east of the Dallas North Tollway. The 202-unit complex

is scheduled to open next summer.

Architect Galier French Tolson designed the three-story building.

The community will offer residents full services, including meals. Rents will range from $1,200 to $2,000.

A community center will contain a dining room, library, theater, exercise room, executive business center and a beauty salon.

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Population Numbers in Frisco

Population Numbers

As of July 1, the population of Frisco is estimated to be 88,469. On Jan. 1, it was estimated at 83,127 residents. Comparitivey, on Jan. 1, 2000, it was estimated that the city had 33,714 residents.

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1,000 Acre home development could be home to more than 10,000 Frisco residets

Frisco to open 1,000 acres to development
Phillips Creek Ranch project could be home to more than 10,000 people



08:44 AM CDT on Monday, July 10, 2006
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News


A Michigan developer has received approval to build on one of the largest undeveloped tracts in Frisco.

Crosswinds Communities Inc. plans to develop almost 1,000 acres on Lebanon Road west of the Dallas North Tollway into a master-planned residential community. Work will begin next month.

Plans for Phillips Creek Ranch were approved this week by the city of Frisco. The project could ultimately house more than 10,000 people.

"When we bought the land,

it was zoned for approximately 5,100 homes," said Joe Cotter, who oversees the project for Crosswinds. "We have down-zoned it to 3,228 homes so we would have a lot more open space.

"We wanted a master-planned community that had the feel of a ranch," he said.

To get that, developers will create 140 acres of parks, several lakes and wide landscaped boulevards.

At entries on Stonebrook and Lone Star Parkways, parks will include waterfalls, ponds, stone picnic pavilions and huge bronze equestrian sculptures.

The running horse statues will be a nod to the property's past as a quarter horse ranch owned by B.F. Phillips.

The Phillips property was acquired by developers in the late 1990s and became part of the 3,500-acre Lone Star Ranch residential community. But in 2004, lender Beal Bank foreclosed on the land.

The bank sold the property in September to Crosswinds, which has residential developments from New Jersey to Southern California.

"We wanted to make sure that when we made our entry into the market, it was with a project that had high impact," said Mark Singerman, Crosswinds senior vice president. "This was an opportunity for us to develop a diverse community."

Along with homes priced up to $2 million, Phillips Creek Ranch will have land set aside for townhouses and apartments.

Two shopping districts are also planned.

Almost a dozen parks and greenbelts will be included in the development.

"We'll have a pedestrian trail system so regardless of where you live, you can walk to the park," Mr. Cotter said.

The developers are talking to more than a dozen builders and have preliminary agreements to sell a large number of lots.

Construction will start on the roads and utilities next month, and the first lots will be ready for homebuilding to start in fall 2007.

Crosswinds is also developing large residential projects in San Antonio and the Houston area.

"We are looking for additional opportunities in the Dallas area," Mr. Singerman said. "We are very high on Texas."

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LandPlan dives into Prosper with 2,500 High-end homes

LandPlan latest developer to dive into Prosper
Brookhollow to have 2,500 high-end homes
Dallas Business Journal - May 12, 2006

Jerry Jones isn't the only one moving into Prosper.

A few weeks ago, the Dallas Cowboys owner inked a deal to develop 500 acres on the north side of U.S. 380 at Preston Road, via his real estate company, Blue Star Land L.P.
Now LandPlan Development Corp. is joining the party.
The Frisco-based company plans to develop about 2,500 residential lots in Brookhollow, a 1,300-acre project east of

Jones' property and north of U.S. 380 between Coit and Custer roads. A section of the land along the highway has been set aside for commercial uses, such as retail, office, medical-office, multifamily and townhome.
The 27-square-mile town of Prosper is situated north of Frisco and northwest of McKinney. Jim Williams said he and his LandPlan partner, Bruce Smith, began buying up land in the tiny burg about three years ago.
So far, they've put together 10 transactions to get to the 1,300-acre total. They've closed on 600 acres and expect to close on the remaining 700 acres within a few weeks. Williams declined to reveal purchase prices for the various parcels.
"My philosophy on buying land is to be ultra-conservative," he said. "We started with 100 acres. I lived through the 1987 crash, so it's hard for me to sign notes when I don't know what's going to happen in the future. But I've become more and more comfortable with the decision to buy in Prosper as time has gone on."
His comfort level is increased, Williams said, by three things: the extension of the Dallas North Tollway to U.S. 380, which is expected to be completed by September 2007; North Texas Municipal Water District's planned expansion of area sewer systems, and the fact that Stonebridge Ranch, the massive residential development adjacent to Brookhollow in McKinney, to the southeast, is projected to be sold out of lots by the end of next year.
LandPlan aims to begin development work at Brookhollow this year, with lots available sometime in the second half of 2007. Homes will start at about 3,000 square feet and range in price from about $300,000 or $400,000 up to $3 million-plus. 'Scramble for land'
Ted Wilson, partner at Residential Strategies Inc., said the custom-home market there is on fire.
"The upper end of the market has been very strong," he said. "Sales for homes in the suburbs priced at $500,000 and above are up 38% over last year, for the 12-month period ending March 31."
Wilson said lot prices are escalating due to the "scramble for land" by developers.
"Prosper is going to be a pretty good alternative price-wise," he said.
Karen Gandy, executive director of the Prosper Economic Development Corp., said the town is the fastest-growing among cities in a four-county region. Population grew 28% from 4,000 in 2004 to 5,200 in 2005.
"Everyone has found Prosper -- it's a great place to live," she said. "There's more of a rural atmosphere here, and it seems to appeal to a lot of folks migrating to the north."
Williams and Jones have known each other for years. Both were teammates on the University of Arkansas' 1964 NCAA national championship football team, and both are Arkansas natives. Williams' hometown is Warren, Ark., which had a population of about 6,000 when he was a child.
"The strange thing for me is, we'll probably have more people living on this property than I did in my hometown," Williams said.

'Scramble for land'
Ted Wilson, partner at Residential Strategies Inc., said the custom-home market there is on fire.

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Gated High End "Hills of Kings Wood" near Lone Star Ranch in Frisco

Homes planned for isolated Frisco land
Developers plan to build access road, bridges for project
Dallas Business Journal

March 3, Several Dallas developers have tapped into landlocked Frisco acreage, with plans to develop a $300 million high-end gated community.
The Hills of Kings Wood, a 480-lot subdivision, with homes priced from $400,000 to $3 million, will be located on the south side of Lebanon Road, east of F.M. 423. The purchase price of the land was not disclosed.
Dallas' Southbrook Development and the Tower Group expect to break ground on the first 114-lot phase of the 330-acre development in

eight to 12 months. Highland Capital Real Estate Advisors, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Highland Capital Management L.P., is an investor in the project, which backs up to Tomlin Properties' Lone Star Ranch.
"The property hasn't been developed, because it's landlocked," said John Zouzelka, chairman of The Tower Group. "We're spending money to bring an access road and two bridges in."
The partners are investing $4 million in a new road and bridges to the development.
The property is situated near heavily wooded Army Corps of Engineers land, surrounding Lake Lewisville. Zouzelka said the land's elevation places lots 60 feet above the trees. "The land is just so physically beautiful," he said.
It's unlikely that the developers will presell lots to builders and instead will focus on custom homes, Zouzelka said.
"Some of the areas that have been the long-term producers for custom housing, like Starwood, Stonebriar Park and Chapel Creek, are all running out of lots, or will be over the next few years," said Ted Wilson, principal of Residential Strategies, an operation that studies the new-home business in the Metroplex. "There's been some head-scratching as to where the custom market goes from here."
Wilson said much of the new development is heading up to Prosper, with construction of the Dallas North Tollway pushing out toward U.S. 380. "I think what the Tower Group is going to try to do is target a certain segment of those custom buyers who want to live in Frisco," he said.

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Waterfront Town Square 380/Tollway in Frico

Chicago REIT to develop Frisco site
Dallas Business Journal - April 19, 2006

General Growth Properties and the city of Frisco are teaming up to develop a 194-acre site in Frisco that will contain shopping, homes, a hotel and office space.
Under the concept plan, approved by the city on Tuesday night, General Growth, a Chicago-based real estate investment trust, would develop an open-air commercial and residential center around a waterfront town square park.
The center, at the southwest corner of the Dallas North Tollway and U.S. 380, would have anchor stores, entertainment, restaurants and a main street lined with retail stores on the first floor and residences overhead.
"We envision much more than a place to shop," said Butch Papon, first vice president, development, for General Growth. "This will be a self-contained community offering an enviable quality of life for those who live and work there, while also being a great place for visitors from afar to spend a day dining on the waterfront, people-watching, shopping and finding entertainment. It will offer what some call 'a sense of place.' "
The city agreed to designate the parcel a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone.
"We are committed to this type of development because it helps reduce commuting, pollution and congestion by placing people in easy travel distance of their home, work and shopping," said Frisco Mayor Mike Simpson.

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Move to Frisco, become a Millionaire

Business 2.0 magazine's list of cities that "mint millionaires" faster than
others includes McKinney and Frisco. According to the magazine: "These towns
north of Dallas were little more than I-35 interchanges a few years ago, but now
they're capturing the investment dollars that used to go to nearby Plano." Huh?
Of course you know that Interstate 35 neither runs through McKinney nor Frisco.
Says McKinney communications director Steve Hill: "Aside from the fact that we
want our I-35 interchange back, we're thrilled to be included in Business 2.0
magazine's list of millionaire-minting edge cities!" ...
-Dallas Business
Journal

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