"The project is really the leading development in Denton County and North Texas for the next 24 months. The magnitude is much larger than anything that anyone else has under way," says C. Joseph Gampper, president of Dallas-based Allegiance Development LP, which is teaming with Torreon Capital LP of Austin for the undertaking. Nearly 400 business leaders are expected to attend Rayzor Ranch's groundbreaking.
The massive development will rise over seven years. First out of the ground will be the $320-million retail component: a 1.2-million-sf town center, 885,000-sf marketplace and 430,000 sf of inline and street retail. It will be complemented by 300 to 500 multifamily units, 700 townhouses and brownstones, roughly 250,000 sf of office and a hotel and 90,000-sf convention center. The museum's first phase will be 35,000 sf, but is planned to eventually rival Austin's Texas heritage museum in size and scope.
The Greater Denton Arts Council this month will kick off a fund drive to raise $20 million to $25 million for the museum and subsequent phases, which include a sculpture garden, permanent library and corporate-sponsored galleries. The museum project is being seeded by $800,000 from the Rayzor family of Denton and a five-acre donation, valued at $2.2 million, from Allegiance.
"We're fortunate to have this be a part of our project," Gampper says, citing its draw as a national destination venue for the increasingly popular Texas art and culture. The museum is slated to open in late 2009.
Museum Rendering
Holcombe estimates site work will take four months. The $135 million of infrastructure upgrades include adding two lanes to US Hwy. 380 or University Drive, which should be completed by fall 2008. "Denton is growing just as fast as Collin County. We're at the right place at the right time," he says of a city with the University of North Texas and Texas Woman's University as economic engines in addition to a fast-paced medical sector.
Gampper says several buildings will have LEED-qualified components, but not necessarily be LEED-certified. The "green" features are still being defined and refined to suit the project. "We're focused on the environment as an interactive piece of the development," he stresses. "When you're in a university town, the intellectual and academic elements of the community will attach themselves to something like this."
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