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MANSFIELD, TX-The new owners of the 870-acre South Pointe land intend to follow through on the in-place plan for build-out, save for a few tweaks to the proposed $532 million of commercial construction and $530 million of residential. And, they'd like to start infrastructure work early next year.

Donahue Development Corp. and Chicago-based Rubloff Development Co. picked up the play in an off-market deal with Cadence Capital Group of nearby Irving. Talks started out as a joint venture about a year ago and swung to a full takeover, with Cadence available as an adviser if needed, Kent Donahue, president of the Dallas-based development firm, tells GlobeSt.com.

The planned development standards are in place, but Donahue says a more definitive site plan will be in city officials' hands by the end of the fourth quarter. "We should be turning dirt early next year," he adds.

The JV's already inked rooftop deals with David Weekley Homes, Grand Homes Inc., Meritage Homes Corp. and William Ryan Homes Inc. for the first 450 lots in a 2,000-lot plan of "for-sale" single-family and townhouse units. The initial phase will include the addition of a main thoroughfare, Lone Star Parkway. The model homes will be ready in spring 2008 if the schedule holds up.

Donahue says the 3.48 million sf of retail and office space will begin to rise within two years. The South Pointe plan calls for a 50-acre mixed-use town center at the heart of the development tract; 21-acre, grocery-anchored site at the intersection of Matlock Road and US Highway 287; 45-acre power-center site at the Lone Star Parkway-287 junction; and a regional retail site at the hard corner of Texas 360 and US 287.

Donahue says the town center will have street-level retail and office space, topped off with an undetermined amount of "for-rent" residential units. The JV will be talking with city officials about anchoring the town center with a municipal component like a library. The developer also has jumpstarted talks with the school district for three facilities. A 50-acre tract, also at the Texas 360-287 crossroads, is earmarked for an office park, but that construction will be demand-driven and inevitably will trail the retail, he says.

Allen Jordan, an independent broker in Dallas/Fort Worth, brought the buy-out opportunity to Donahue, just as he did in Euless, where plans are moving along for a 183-acre retail-and-residential development. South Pointe is the 10-year-old development company's largest undertaking in its history. The build-out, still planned as "villages," will take a decade to complete.

"Mansfield did a great job with the planned development," Donahue stresses, "and we're looking forward to executing it."

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