Pandemic or no, developers forge ahead on plans that ensure Dallas-Fort Worth will remain an innovative, forward-thinking place for generations to come. Here are some of the projects that can add to the region’s broad appeal.
Downtown Dallas /Deep Ellum
Hoque Global and KDC are developing NewPark—A Smart District. 20 acres of contiguous blocks are planned to become a major tech and educational hub adjacent to Dallas City Hall. The master plan includes three to five million square feet of office space centered around a new signature city park. Just south of I-30, Hoque Global will develop 15 acres of a former industrial site into a new mixed-use neighborhood called SoGood @ Cedars. The development will be connected to Downtown with a linear park that would run between Good-Latimer and Cesar Chavez along an abandoned rail line.
A downtown revitalization of the 52-story First National Bank Tower, dubbed The National, will provide 1.5 million square feet of new mixed-use activity. Todd Interests and Moriah Capital are redeveloping the 1964-constructed tower, which will contain a hotel, 324 multifamily units, 37,000 square feet of office space, and 43,000 square feet of retail. Earlier this year, Downtown Dallas Inc. signed on as the building’s first office tenants.
The East Quarter is just west of Deep Ellum in downtown Dallas. [Photo: Courtesy Todd Interests]
The newly designated East Quarter stitches the urban core to Deep Ellum offering walkable neighborhoods and urban revival. Todd Interests acquired 18 historic buildings, most of them former automobile showrooms dating back to the 1920s, in the East Quarter and is in the process of restoring them for retail, office, and residential use.
The Epic II, a mixed-use tower project in Deep Ellum, will house the 3,000-person Uber regional office in 450,000 square feet, along with 15,000 square feet of retail space. In March, COVID-19 prompted a temporary halt to construction until 2021, but company officials said they still expect to move into the building in 2022.
Also under construction in Deep Ellum is The Stack, a 16-story mixed-use project with 15,000 square feet of retail and restaurants on the ground floor and 200,000 square feet of Class AA office space above. The project, which broke ground in January, is slated for completion in 2021.
Fort Worth City Center
In Fort Worth, the city council approved a committee to design a significantly expanded convention center in January 2020. The anticipated groundbreaking will be in 2022-23. The $500M project would add a 1,000-room hotel and more than 50,000 square feet of exhibit space, with public art being a significant feature.
Mall redevelopment
[Rendering: Omniplan]
Dallas Midtown, a massive 430-acre redevelopment district that includes Valley View Mall and The Galleria, continues to move forward with Beck Ventures preparing to go vertical on the site of Valley View Mall. Life Time Midtown, a partnership between Beck and Life Time Fitness, will include 390 residential units, a 190,000-square-foot Life Time athletic club, and 50,000 square feet of coworking space. Beck’s portion of the project also includes the Park Tower at Dallas Midtown with more than 300,000 square feet of office space and 45,900 square feet of retail.
Work on RedBird Mall in South Dallas continues with construction on a 300-unit luxury apartment complex. This fall, construction is set to begin on a 150,000 square-foot medical center for UT Southwestern. Foot Locker, Foot Action, and Champs opened in a new 20,000- square-foot building on the property in May, and a Frost Bank branch will open soon. The project, led by investor-turned-developer Peter Brodsky, includes retail, restaurant, and office space inside the mall, which is still inhabited by a handful of stores.
The Centurion American Development Group has a pair of ongoing mall redevelopment projects: Collin Creek Mall in Plano and the old North Hills Mall site in North Richland Hills. The $1 billion Collin Creek mixed-use development will include retail and dining, office space, a hotel, single-family and multi-family homes, and parks. In North Richland Hills, City Point will offer 364 single-family homes, eight acres of multi-family development, 60,000 feet of commercial space, a trail system, and open green space.
More mixed-use
The Offices at the Realm. [Rendering: Bright Realty]
Bright Realty recently received approval from the City of Lewisville to begin construction on the mixed-use 140-acre Crown Centre at Castle Hills. Plans call for up to 2,000 multifamily units, 3 million square feet of office space, and up to 500 hotel rooms in this $1.5 billion effort. In August, Phase 1 of a Class A office building on the property is beginning to lease space. Crown Centre is located across the Sam Rayburn Tollway from another Bright Realty mixed-use project, The Realm at Castle Hills.
De La Vega Development has acquired 26 acres in Uptown Dallas to create a $2.5 billion mixed-use project called The Central. The proposed development would include five million square feet with an upscale multifamily tower, office space, luxury hotel, shopping, restaurants, and a 3.5-acre park. One of the first tenants at The Central is JPI, an Irving-based multi-family construction firm, which is slated to build Jefferson at Central, a 430-unit apartment complex located on North Carroll Avenue and Highway 75.
Future Workforce
Texas Instruments plans to build a new 870,000 square foot facility on Renner Rd. in Richardson. It will produce 300mm analog semiconductor wafers at the site. Upon completion, the new facility is expected to create more than 488 jobs and represent more than $3.1B in capital investment.
The University of North Texas will build a 100-acre campus in Frisco to accommodate at least 20,000 students focusing on careers that require digital literacy. The $100M project will include academic and administrative buildings, a wellness facility, student housing, and a library. Construction on the branch campus is set to begin by fall 2020.
Transportation
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport officials have authorized construction of a sixth terminal, Terminal F, to host up to 30 additional gates. Combined with newly announced Terminal C improvements, the $3.5 billion worth of projects will employ the latest technology to improve the passenger experience. Additionally, with more than 5,200 acres available for commercial use, the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is transforming from solely a transportation hub to a home for commerce and international business. During the pandemic, DFW has become the busiest airport in the world, although air traffic everywhere has been hit hard. Officials expect air traffic to rebound by 2022 or 2023.
Anatomy of a Deal
Here are five notable projects underway:
URBAN OFFICE
The Link
2601 Olive Street, Dallas
Delivering: Fall 2021
Read more.
SUBURBAN OFFICE
Phase IV, The Star
Cowboys Way, Frisco
Delivering: Late 2021
Read more.
MIXED USE
Weir’s Plaza
Knox and Travis streets, Dallas
Delivering: Fall 2021
Read more.
REDEVELOPMENT
Pegasus Park
3000 Pegasus Park Drive, Dallas
Delivering: Spring 2021
Read more.
E-COMMERCE/INDUSTRIAL
Alliance Center North 7
Litsey Road and Beach Street, Fort Worth
Delivering: Fall 2020
Read more.
Ben Swanger contributed to this story.
A version of this story first published in the Summer 2020 edition of the Dallas-Fort Worth Real Estate Review.
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