Multifamily Developer Gets Trophy Tract on Galleria's Doorstep

DALLAS-With its development flag already planted in the Galleria submarket, Omaha-based Slosburg Co. has started interviewing architects to design another high-end residential project. This time, the project site is 3.58 acres on Macy's doorstep.

"We like what's going on there," says Rachel Slosburg, partner in an 88-year-old family firm that paid a possible record price for the 13420 Noel Rd. tract. "It's a premier piece," she says. "There's a need to make this an identity neighborhood. We're long-term owners and we want to know what we put up there is going to stand the test of time." She stresses that whatever rises will be designed to complement local developer Robert Shaw's $50-million Village on the Green, an urban-style, mid-rise setting with 200 apartment homes and 90,000 sf of retail.

The low-key developer of high-end multifamily properties is planning to advance the project "as quickly as possible," Slosburg tells GlobeSt.com. "By late summer or early fall, you'll start to see some development. We're excited. The Galleria has a lot of buzz going on."

Thomas Clarke, senior vice president in Dallas for Grubb & Ellis Co., and associate Lindsay Allen had the land on the market nearly four years at $40 per sf for Los Angeles-based USC Investment Partnership LP. "The pricing was such that it was the highest priced there," Clarke says.

Clarke says the deal closed within 30 days of Slosburg going hard on the price to outmaneuver three other offers. "They were willing to put money at risk and close quickly," he says. "This was the major sale of that pocket." In recent dealmaking, the highest price that he can recall was $32.50 per sf for vacant land. The new owner, he says, paid close to the seller's ask.

Slosburg will develop the site with Omaha-based partner, the Richdale Group, just as it did with its other Galleria footprints--the Dorchester Apartments at 5300 Spring Valley Rd. and Saxony Apartments at 14601 Montfort Dr. The newest undertaking, like the 1990s-era predecessors, is being planned as a long-term hold, Slosburg says.