Another mall in Frisco?

General Growth Properties, the company behind Frisco's very successful Stonebriar Centre mall in South Frisco has plans for an "open air mall" at the southwest corner of 380 and the North Dallas Tollway.

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Money Magazine's Best Places to Live

I was looking at Money magazine's 2006 "Best Places to Live" issue online, and noticed that Frisco did not make the list. In fact, nearby cities like Plano and Richardson made the list. So I'm perplexed - why didn't Money Magazine like Frisco? As a life long resident of the Dallas area, let me be one to protest, that it should have!

However, Frisco was compared in the site.

Here's some interesting tidbits:
The Family Purchasing Power of a Frisco resident was $96,470, compared to Money Magazine's Best Cities average purchasing power of $68,109. That means residents of Frisco can purchase an additional $28,361 by living in Frisco, than in Money's Best Cities in America! Perhaps Frisco should advertise this "Move to Frisco, get $28,000 more!"

Job Growth was 52.98%! Now, granted, that's in percentages, but still, quite impressive. Job growth is usually a very high factor for real estate investors. Money's Best Citie's averaged 10.97%

Home Price Gain for 2004-2005.... 7.8% compared to Money's Best Average of 9.26%. Yes, we're lower here, but 7.8% is actually very high for a Dallas exurb. I would guess that the Home Price Gain has actually increased since then, due to the increase in high end homes and the near completion of the North Dallas Tollway.

The Property Crime Index for Frisco was actually high at 105, vs. Money's Best Cities average of 74. Could this have kept Frisco off the list? Is Frisco a safe place to live? Personally, I'd say very safe. From what I understand, there are two problems relating to the high larceny rate.
First, Frisco is having a hard time keeping up with its rapid growth, and does need more police officers. Second, Frisco has a lot of shopping, which always results in more parking lot thefts, and, o.k., I have third...a lot of the theft is from new home construction, which Frisco also is abundant in. I have personally been one of those property crime victims since my move here 4 years ago, but on average, Frisco residents experience less crime than the rest of the Money's "Best" Cities. Frisco has 143 personal crime incidents per 100,000 residents, vs. Money's Best Cities average of 228. That's 37% less crime in Frisco. By the way, Frisco just recently opened a spectacular new Police station. (pictured)

Frisco scored high in the number of Movie theaters, with 43 within a 15 mile drive, compared to the Money Best Cities' average of 22.

If you're a drinker, Frisco may not be the place for you..at least, if you're a public drinker. Frisco had 17 bars within a 15 mile drive, compared to 127 on Money's Best Cities' average. I guess this is good news if you have kids and bad news if you make a regular practice of "tying one on."

Here's one for you, if you live in Frisco, TX, you are more than 50% less likely to die of a Cardiac related death, than in Money Magazines Best Places to live in 2006. Perhaps Money should stipulate that their "Best" places are only "Best" if you do, in fact, live....

If it turns out that you think Frisco might be one of the best places to live, or even Richardson or Plano, please give me a call and I'll help you find one of the best homes to live in!
Brian Marsh, Realtor - 214.520.4188 www.BrianMarshGroup.com







and the rest of the post here

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2,100-acre project headed to Prosper

Developer plans thousands of homes, commercial space

11:24 AM CST on Thursday, November 2, 2006

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

Forest City Enterprises – the real estate developer redoing downtown Dallas' historic Mercantile Bank Building – plans to build a 2,100-acre community in the town of Prosper.

The development on U.S. Highway 380 at Fields Road north of Frisco will include thousands of homes plus commercial space.

Cleveland-based Forest City is developing the project in partnership with the Mahard family, which has been a major landowner in the area for decades.

"We do regional master planned community development around the country, and we are very excited about the opportunity here," said Dean Wingert, Forest City's project developer.

"We plan a mixed-use development with a variety of residential types and amenities. There will be commercial development opportunities as well," he said.

Mr. Wingert said construction on utilities and streets on the property won't start sooner than late next year.

"We would like to move forward as quickly as possible," he said. "We have a great deal of entitlement work to do with the local community.

"There is a tremendous amount of design work to go through, too."

Leaders of the one-time farming town of almost 6,000 say they are glad to get Forest City as a builder.

"To have somebody of the nature of Forest City is huge," said Douglas C. Mousel, town administrator.

"It's always been my hope that we would see a single entity come in and develop a master planned community on that property, rather than a bunch of smaller developments."

The Mahard family has used the land as part of its Prosper egg farm operations and for other agricultural uses. Mahard Egg Farm is one of the country's largest egg producers.

Prosper's population increased by almost 30 percent last year, making it the fastest-growing community in North Texas, according to town officials. The town had 500 residents when it incorporated in 1914.

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Middle East Buying Dallas Real Estate

Is Dallas real estate a good place to invest your oil dollars? Well the Middle East seems to think so:

According to the latest Global Real Estate Capital report, "Record Volumes, Record Globalisation" by global real estate services and money management firm, Jones Lang LaSalle, almost $6 billion was invested outside the Middle Eastern region in the first half of 2006, with $4 billion flowing into the US and $2 billion into Europe, principally to the UK.Office investments dominated while large investments were also made in hotel and retail sectors. Almost half of the total investments in the US were in New York City. This includes the purchase of 280 Park Avenue by Istithmar, the investment arm of Dubai Holding for $1.2 billion. Middle East investors also made significant investments in Boston, Houston and Dallas.
-Khaleej Times Online

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