Dallas Developer Revs Up Mixed-Use Plan

Frisco Retail Partners LP, led by Roger Gault, is within two weeks of going to bid on a 12,500-sf retail center and 10,000-sf medical office building, now being designed by Good Fulton & Farrell in Dallas. In back-to-back transactions, a Norman, OK-based partnership carved out 2.5 acres for Gault from a six-acre tract bought from Connell Development Co. in Dallas, owner of the town's Northstar Business Park. The Oklahoma partnership intends to build a self-storage complex on its share of the land.

Gault tells GlobeSt.com that construction financing is in place for Centennial Village, a Texas Hill Country-style complex ticketed for the northwest corner of Coit Road and College Street. The retail center, excluding land cost, will cost about $2 million to build, says the developer. The construction tab for the office building is still being calculated.

With the retail now 50% pre-leased, Centennial Village will get under way in October or November, with the office building breaking ground about four months later. The office project has three doctors talking for space due to the proximity to a Tenet Healthcare Corp. project at the junction of Texas 121 and Coit Road. The 182-bed Centennial Medical Center and 13,000-sf outpatient surgery facility will open doors in June 2004. Signed retail leases are held by a national fast-food restaurant, nail salon, beauty shop and dry cleaners.

Frisco's reputation as one of the state's fastest-growing cities has land costs running the gamut, with a downtown tract tagged for sale at $7.50 per sf. Gault's land is situated on the city's eastern edge. Most land plays are "buy and hold" until rooftops rise. "It's a unique combination of existing rooftops on the west side (of the acreage) and an east side that's relatively undeveloped. There is plenty of upside with the future growth," Gault says.