Dallas Morning News January 11, 2008 Transit-oriented developments spring up near DART stops By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News Off Walnut Hill Lane in northeast Dallas, demolition crews are making quick work of a sprawling neighborhood of crummy apartments. In place of the crime-ridden units, developers will soon put up an urban village centered around a new commuter rail station. In years past, that Lake Highlands property might have wound up being used for just more apartments or a strip shopping center or even single-family homes. But that was before developers caught on to the benefits of mass transit. "One of the most important aspects of our overall project is having the ability to have mass transit in the development," said Vance Detwiler, managing director of Prescott Realty Group, which is building the new Lake Highlands Town Center. "In theory, you can build your projects more dense and have a little less parking." In just over a decade since the commuter rail system opened in Dallas, real estate projects that have sprung up around some of the stations have gotten bigger and more complicated. They are called transit-oriented developments, or TODs. And these projects are the real estate development's version of the iPod. They are the hot gadget that's remaking the business of building retail, residential and commercial space. Early TODs like Mockingbird Station and even West Village in Uptown showed developers that these complexes resonated with consumers. The two newest such developments take the idea to the infinite degree. The 33-acre Park Lane complex under construction adjacent to DART's Park Lane rail station will cost three-quarters of a billion dollars to complete. The first phase of the mammoth mixed-use development will open later this year. Page 1 of 3 "Our grand opening will be in February of next year," said Tod Ruble, a co-founder of project developer Harvest Partners. "We will have the first tenants in the apartment towers by May of this year." The high-rise complex going up across North Central Expressway from NorthPark Center shopping mall is one of the largest such developments in the country. And Mr. Ruble said the project wouldn't be happening the way it is without the adjoining rail station. "It's already come up several times in discussions with tenants about how attractive it will be to access the project through DART," he said. "As Dallas becomes more urban and people move back into the city, more of them are willing to ride the transit." Park Lane will be a city in itself with more than 600 residential units - mostly in high-rise buildings - and 700,000 square feet of retail space and 816,000 square feet of office space. The Valencia Hotel, which is just getting under way, has been increased to 250 rooms. And Harvest Partners is seeking tenants for a new office tower. "We are working on plans for a 400,000-square-foot building right on the corner of Park and North Central," Mr. Ruble said. DART's director of economic development and planning, Jack Wierzenski, said he isn't surprised to see that local TODs are getting bigger. "It's just the maturity and the reality of the market," Mr. Wierzenski said. "The early ones were more of a let's-see-if-this-works." And the impact of these projects are likely to spread beyond their boundaries. "There is a ripple effect," Mr. Wierzenski said. "Mockingbird Station was seen as a success but now look at what's - even more - going on around it." Lake Highlands homeowners who lobbied for Prescott Realty Group's project on Skillman Street also expect it to be a positive influence on the neighborhood. The 70-acre development is expected to cost as much as $400 million and will include about 1,600 residences, 300,000 square feet of retail and about 100,000 square feet of office space. Almost 20 acres is being set aside for park and public space. Crews are busy demolishing the old apartments to make way for the urban village. Page 2 of 3 "About 50 percent of the site is cleared," said Prescott Realty's Mr. Detwiler. "We have knocked down over 40 buildings. "We will start moving dirt and putting in the streets and other infrastructure by May." The first phase of Lake Highlands Town Center is to open late next year, he said. "We are hopeful that the new DART station will be ready by late 2010 or early 2011," Mr. Detwiler said. The addition of the transit stop to DART's existing Garland Line enabled the developers to seek zoning changes for more buildings for their project. "In order to make redevelopment work in an urban area, you have to have additional density because of the costs," Mr. Detwiler said. PARK LANE • $750 million transit-oriented, mixed-use development • U.S. Highway 75 and Park Lane • Adjacent to Park Lane light-rail station • 33 acres • 700,000 square feet of retail • 816,000 square feet of office space • 250 hotel rooms • 78,000-square-foot fitness center • 625 residential units • Developer: Harvest Partners LAKE HIGHLANDS TOWN CENTER • $400 million transit-oriented, mixed-use development • Adjacent to new Lake Highlands light-rail station • Walnut Hill Lane and Skillman Street • 70 acres • 300,000 square feet of retail • 100,000 square feet of office • 1,600 residential units • 20 acres of park and public space • Developer: Prescott Realty Group Page 3 of 3 Fort Worth Star-Telegram March 6, 2008 Rail stations expected to spur growth By SANDRA BAKER Star-Telegram Staff Writer FORT WORTH -- The more than a dozen passenger stops planned for the proposed 40- mile commuter rail line from southwest Fort Worth to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport will give Fort Worth and a few surrounding cities the chance to revitalize some neighborhoods as well as add to their tax base, a consultant said Wednesday. "The city of Fort Worth is already encouraging us to look at how development is going to occur," said Tim Baldwin, a senior associate and manager of the transit planning group URS Corp. in Denver. "Not every [station] is going to be a Mockingbird Station, nor do they have to be. There's lots of different ways." Mockingbird Station is a popular development of trendy lofts and national retailers along the Dallas Area Rapid Transit rail line in Dallas. The Fort Worth Transportation Authority wants to build the $390 million Southwest-to- Northeast Rail Corridor by 2012. Station sites have already been determined for the route, which will stretch from Sycamore School Road in southwest Fort Worth to downtown Fort Worth, on to Grapevine and the north end of the airport. Baldwin is working with The T on the project. He spoke to about 100 people about potential development along the rail line at an economic-outlook conference of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. "The things I stress over and over is that not every development around transit stations is going to be the same," Baldwin said. "Every community is different. It's market-driven, and it's not going to happen all at once." But, if done properly, the communities where the stations will be located, including Fort Worth, North Richland Hills, Haltom City and Grapevine, can benefit from reduced traffic congestion and use the transit-oriented developments as a way to start pulling back suburban sprawl, he said. Rail-station developments can include residences, shops and restaurants, Baldwin said. "We can at least start making the plans now by putting the regulatory changes in place in city zoning codes and building codes, and design standards," Baldwin said. Page 1 of 1 Dallas Morning News March 11, 2008 Construction to start soon on Brick Row complex in Richardson By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News Developers are kicking off construction on what will be one of the most ambitious redevelopments yet in Richardson. The Brick Row residential and commercial project will build an entire neighborhood of apartments, shops and townhouses adjacent to an existing light-rail station. Construction starts in less than a month on the $140 million project at Greenville Avenue and Spring Valley Road on Richardson's old east side. About 30 acres of old apartments and more than a dozen single-family homes that occupied the site have been cleared away for the development. "We bought this property years ago as an apartment renovation project," said Richard Barge, president of Dallas-based Winston Capital Corp. "Once we realized that DART was putting a rail station adjacent to the property, we got involved with the city of Richardson to plan a transit-oriented development," he said. What Winston Capital and Richardson city planners came up with is an urban-style complex with 500 apartments, 80,000 square feet of shopping and restaurant space, 140 townhomes, up to 300 condominiums and 11,000 square feet of office space. The development will surround Richardson's historic McKamy Springs Park, which will also get a makeover. Winston Capital is building the development in partnership with the Michigan State Public Employees Retirement System, which is represented by Dallas-based L&B Realty Advisors. The project is also getting $1.3 million from the North Central Texas Council of Governments and more than $9 million from a tax increment finance district set up by the city of Richardson. The first apartments and retail space will be ready by the summer of 2009, Mr. Barge said. BGO Architects Inc. designed the buildings in the character of early 20th-century commercial buildings, with brick facades and red-brick paving on the streets and walkways.