First Multifamily Development Rising in 1,000-Acre Mercer Crossing

Operating as Laguna @ Mira Lago Ltd., the developer has started scraping the 4.7-acre lakefront site and putting in foundations for Laguna Vista Apartments and the complementary parking garage along Lago Vista East, right at the water's edge behind the Doubletree Hotel near Interstate 635. The project was ready to go four years ago, but went quiet after 9/11 when market fundamentals started to crater. "The market finally got right again in that area," Gayle Temple, vice president with Dallas-based Malone Mortgage Co., tells GlobeSt.com about the lender's decision to go back to HUD for insured financing.

Malone Mortgage teamed the project to a 40-year HUD loan. The second application took 10 months to get HUD's qualifying nod for the 221 (d)(4) multifamily accelerated processing program, says Douglas Ryan, also a Malone vice president.

The four-story building, being outfitted with an elevator and two courtyards, has been designed by Samuel K.S. Ng, president of KSNG Architects in Dallas. Texas BBL LP., a division of Barry, Bette & Led Duke Inc. of Albany, NY, is the general contractor.

Laguna Vista will deliver in June 2006 as a gated mix of one- and two-bedroom units, some with lofts and dens. Projected rents are 90 cents per sf to $1.04 per sf.

"Arguably, it's the best multifamily site in Dallas," Ryan says, citing horizon views of the Dallas skyline and a strategic positioning within three miles of Las Colinas' office campuses. All he and Temple will say about the developer is that the equity source has owned the land for several years.

It's no secret around town that Mercer Crossing is owned by companies with ties to Gene E. Phillips, one of the largest landowners and most colorful characters in North Texas. Phillips is the representative to the Gene E. Phillips Children's Trust, which headquarters alongside its Prime Income Asset Management Inc. in the mixed-use park. Mercer Crossing's master plan includes multifamily and retail components in addition to office build-out, which now stands at 416,000 sf in three class A, mid-rise buildings.