Don Silverman, president of Margaux Development Co., tells GlobeSt.com that the retail anchors will be signed within 30 days. To date, he's acquired 10 of the 12 tracts and is zeroing in on the final closings as he continues "intense negotiations" with "three or four class A anchor tenants," one rumored to be a top-draw grocer.
The class A development, which requires nine buildings to be razed, will be bordered by Good-Latimer, Texas and Live Oak streets--on the east side of Central Expressway, but with views of the Dallas CBD. "Theoretically, it's East Dallas, but I could take a rock and toss it into the CBD," Silverman says of his land assembly, quickly adding that Uptown is less than two minutes away.
Silverman's been looking since 1996 for an urban core site to develop, investing the past year into pushing the plan and taking down the tracts needed for City Lights. "This is timing meets opportunity," he explains of his push forward on a development ticketed to come out of the ground all at once. Delivery is penciled for first quarter 2006. When keys turn, Marqaux Development plans to carve out some space for itself and relocate from 14900 Landmark Blvd. in Dallas.
The City Lights plan has yet to reach city desks. Silverman has hired Jack O'Brien of O'Brien & Associates Inc. of Dallas to start designing a development that "follows adaptive reuse," wedding today's efficiencies to yesteryear's exteriors for office and warehouse structures. The preliminary plan calls for a trio of three-story retail buildings, 50,000-sf office structure and seven-story parking garage. Silverman says the design is open-ended until negotiations turn into signed contracts. "Until they agree, it's hard to finish the plan," he says.
As for the all-in development tab, it's too early to nail down. "We are still in the formative stages," Silverman says. The 11 acres, bought from a dozen property owners, were secured with financing arranged by Todd McNeill, senior director for Metropolitan Capital Advisors Ltd. in Dallas.
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