Part of Telecom Corridor to change course
Urban-style retail, office and apartment project planned for Richardson
08:48 PM CST on Tuesday, November 29, 2005
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
RICHARDSON – More than 200,000 cars drive by the southeast corner of North Central Expressway and Campbell Road every day. Developers are planning to give them a reason to stop.
Three firms are teaming up to build a $90 million town center project at the busy intersection.
The Eastside development will contain an urban-style shopping center, more than 400 apartments and office space built around a two-acre park.
Developers Greenway Investment Co., Fobare Commercial and Post Properties Inc. got approvals this week from the city of Richardson and plan to break ground next summer.
The Eastside mixed-use development will be at the southeast corner of North Central Expressway and Campbell Road in Richardson.
"We saw this property a couple of years ago and couldn't believe there were almost 30 acres to redevelop at this intersection," said Gerald Stool, chief executive of Greenway Investment.
It will construct more than a half-dozen retail and office buildings in the project.
"You have all these people working in the area," he said, "but you don't have the type of mixed-use developments we have in Uptown, Southlake or some of the other cities."
The Eastside development is about a 10-minute walk from two of DART's light rail stations.
To make the stroll more pleasant, a $1.5 million improvement project will upgrade and landscape the walkways running along the east side of North Central between the DART stops.
"Our hope is to [eventually] take it all the way down to Spring Valley," said Richardson City Manager Bill Keffler.
The 90,000-square-foot retail center will be designed by architect O'Brien and Associates and leased by the Retail Connection.
About half the space will be leased to restaurants, Mr. Stool said.
Next to the shops, Atlanta-based Post Properties will build a four-story, 425-unit apartment complex with ground-floor retail. Post has done similar projects in Uptown, Addison and Plano.
"We see a huge demand for the rental units, and it's a great retail location," said Post executive vice president David Ward. "We're filling a slot that's been left vacant thanks to the change in the office market."
BGO Architects of Dallas designed the Post project.
The heart of Eastside is an existing 10-story office tower.
An investment partnership represented by Dallas-based Fobare Commercial bought the former Ericsson tower and its 1,000-car parking garage in 2001.
The company also owns a one-story office complex farther south that will be phase two of the project.
"Initially the planned development was for 1 million square feet of office buildings," said company principal Tod Fobare. But since the tech sector crash, the Telecom Corridor has had an oversupply of office space.
"What Richardson was missing was an amenity for the office buildings with quality restaurants and retail," he said.
The huge parking garage in the center of the development also helped the deal move forward, he said.
Richardson mayor Gary Slagel said the Telecom Corridor office district is perfect for retail and residential.
"We have gone around the country and seen things like this," he said. "This project combines all the elements."
Fobare and Dallas-based Greenway also bought the Chase Bank Tower and surrounding 12 acres at North Central and Belt Line Road in Richardson and have a commercial building under contract on Greenville Avenue across from the Eastside site.
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Richardson considering transit-oriented complex
City has been seeking development near light-rail stations
12:00 AM CST on Saturday, November 19, 2005
By WENDY HUNDLEY / The Dallas Morning News
When light-rail transit opened in Richardson in 2002, city officials hoped it would spark a flurry of development like Mockingbird Station in Dallas or Eastside Village in Plano. But the city's technology-heavy economy was in a nosedive, and development had come to a standstill.
Now, plans for a mixed-use complex along the Dallas Area Rapid Transit light-rail line may put Richardson's hopes of attracting transit-oriented development on the fast track. Developers have proposed building a pedestrian-oriented project in the heart of the Telecom Corridor. The site, on the southeast corner of Campbell Road and Central Expressway, includes an 11-story office tower that was filled with Ericsson employees before the tech bust hammered the Swedish telecommunications company. If the project is approved by the City Council on Nov. 28, Mayor Gary Slagel said it would be the city's first transit-oriented complex that would combine stores, offices and apartments. He and other city officials look for similar projects around the city's four DART light-rail stations that stretch from Spring Valley Road to Bush Turnpike, just east of Central Expressway.
Officials think it's a prime area for redevelopment. "I think you're going to see, in the next few years, a complete transformation of the Central Expressway Corridor, south of Campbell to Spring Valley," Assistant City Manager Mike Wanchick said. Eastside, as the project is called in documents, calls for 90,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 450 multifamily units and 225,000 square feet of office space that includes the existing 191,104-square-foot office tower.
The proposal, approved by the Richardson Plan Commission this week, would be built around a central green space that developers envision as a site for art festivals, open-air concerts and farmer's markets, according to zoning files. DART trains don't stop at Campbell Road, but city officials say two light-rail stations – at Arapaho Road and Galatyn Park – are less than a half-mile away, and the city's hike-and-bike trail system runs through the site. "Transit-oriented development doesn't have to be right adjacent to a station," Mr. Wanchick said. "People can walk or ride bikes to the stations." Mr. Slagel said developer Tod Fobare had not requested economic incentives from the city. But other public funds may be available for the project.
On Monday, Richardson tabled a plan to build an underpass along Campbell Road at Central Expressway, relinquishing the bulk of the $25.5 million in federal, state and Dallas County funds allocated for the project. Mr. Slagel said the council's decision to delay the tunnel was unrelated to the nearby Eastside project. However, in lieu of the Campbell Road tunnel, the North Central Texas Council of Governments will ask the Regional Transportation Council for $4.5 million in Sustainable Development Project funds for the Eastside project, according to Michael Morris, director of transportation for the council of governments.
These funds are part of an $8 million package that the agency will request for Richardson. The remainder of the money would be used for the city's transportation needs. Sustainable development funds are earmarked for projects that improve mobility, enhance air quality and support economic growth.
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