NCX: Shops at Park Lane

[Kelley USA]

DALLAS-A trio of seasoned Dallas developers, flying a relatively new banner, is laying the foundation for a 700,000-sf, mixed-use project with a $100-million-plus price tag as a neighbor to NorthPark Mall. The first news to come from the camp is the hiring of a retail team to promote Park Lane Place.
The project got its start in June with the acquisition of NorthPark East, a trio of office buildings on 15.5 acres adjacent to a DART light-rail station at the junction of Park Lane and North Central. Developer Harvest Partners then slid in T.D. Briggs of Peloton Real Estate Partners in Dallas for office leasing and management. The residential and retail components will go up on a nearby tract, now under negotiation and off limits for details until the deal's done. Real estate sources are pegging the project at $100 million or more.

Harvest Partners picked a "pair of hybrids instead of standard brokerage houses" by hiring Madison Marquette of Washington, DC and Harberg-Masinter Co. of Dallas for pre-development leasing for the retail, Bob Baker, Madison Marquette's SVP and director of leasing for the West Coast, tells GlobeSt.com.

He and Madison Marquette's Steve Wehr in the San Francisco office are handling the pre-development planning; Mark Masinter and Nick Koejmans, with Harberg-Masinter, are working the trenches to find and sign a mix of predominately national names. Baker estimates the first wave of announcements will come in 60 to 180 days, particularly since he says talks are underway with retailers for about half the space, which is designed as two-story, big box formats.

Besides the 252,000 sf of existing office, the Park Lane Place plan is being primed for upward of 400,000 sf of retail and 300 to 450 residential units that are on the drawing board as "for lease" product, but easily could swing to "for sale" condos, according to Baker. The plan for now is to deliver the project in two stages: spring and fall 2005. The retail contract is in place "basically to take it through the opening of the project," Baker says.

Eliot Barnett, principal in Harvest Partners, says the emerging plan has equity backing from an institutional investor, but it's not a done deal until the acquisition of the final parcel is completed. The hope of Harvest Partners, whose other principals are Tod Ruble and Blaine Lee, is to redevelop the office component and create market-rate family housing along with the retail space.

[Columbus Civil]

Woah! I work in one of those office buildings. Sounds exciting.

Where did you get the article, Kelley?

[Kelley USA]

It was on GlobeSt.com this morning... Let's see if they can pull it off!

[CTroyMathis]

Hmmm, just what the doc ordered. Finally, a little TOD by Park Lane Sta.? Good news, would like to hear some more details come out.

[ibryant]

two-story big box retail huh? That doesn't sound like TOD!?!?

[snooch]

Forgive my ignorance, but what's TOD?

[gc]

Great news. Let's clarify the piece of land we are talking about. Can't wait to hear more about this.

[CTroyMathis]

Nope, it doesnt sound like a transit oriented development idea I'd brag about individually - if much at all. Thinking maybe more of a primer for follow-on developers to tack on to it with something that doesn't have a parking lot and has more substance. Who knows. Would like to see more info.

Where's the Ballston Sta. visionaries of DC/NoVa when you need them.

[ibryant]

TOD = Transit-Oriented Development

[Columbus Civil]

GCarey, Northpark East is the parcel of land at the southeast corner of Park and Central. The DART Red Line right-of-way defines the eastern boundary. There are three buildings together in one cluster - Northpark One (5 stories), Northpark Two (8 stories - Art Institute of Dallas is on first 4 floors) and a 2 story brick building that houses the Art Institute of Dallas Culinary Arts school (used to be a movie theater). There is another office building farther south (8+ stories) that is completely vacant.

[psukhu]

I have a cousin in the Culinary Arts School.

There's a restaurant there that is open to the public staffed by students.

[bloodandpopcorn]

Hmmmm... I'm anxious to hear more. I would love to see something TOD go up here... And it certainly sounds an intersting mix of traditional north Dallas development with TOD (throwing 450 new residential units into that area is going to take up quite a bit of the parking lots. Mabe their "big box" retail is more like the Virgin Megastore at Mockingbird Station?). At anyrate, I can't wait to see just what they actually plan here.

[coolsavvy1]

Great news for my neighborhood!!! I was curious about the zoning change that someone had reported this summer. Not sure if the exact result, but I think it's awesome!!! Can't wait to see renderings, etc!!!

[Columbus Civil]

Heard this morning that construction on a 7-story parking garage is slated to begin in two weeks. It will be located on Park directly across the street from Oshman's. The vacant office tower on the south part of the property will most likely be torn down. One of the higher-ups in our office compared the development to West Village. They apparently have a time frame of 2 years or so to finish it all out. Sounds pretty ambitious.

[evdallas]

cool!

[bloodandpopcorn]

GREAT news!!! I suppose our few fears were unfounded, then. I think this will be great for the area. The lower-income areas just a half mile to the east already have a LOT of foot traffic, hopefully this can spread that foot traffic all the way to central.

i love TODs!!!

[Columbus Civil]

I'll still be a bit skeptical about the whole thing until I see some kind of renderings.. Regardless, it will be fun watching all of it go up. The new garage will be right outside my window.

[Columbus Civil]

First construction pic of aforementioned garage..

http://kolache.userworld.com/park1.jpg

[coolsavvy1]

Yeah!! I am so excited this project is taking off. I drive by there every day & was getting a little worried about the fate of this project. I wonder if they will post any renderings for the press or at the site? Thanks for the pic!

[gc]

Purchase advances project
Last piece of land in place for large mixed development
10:34 PM CST on Thursday, March 4, 2004
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/030504dnbusparklane.189fa.html

Developers have bought the last piece of property they need to build one of the largest mixed-use projects currently planned in Dallas. Harvest Partners purchased a 17.5-acre tract on North Central Expressway from businessman and art collector Ray Nasher. The property, which includes a 10-story office building, is just east of Mr. Nasher's NorthPark shopping center. With the latest acquisition, Harvest Partners has 33.5 acres that it plans to turn into a mixed-use complex of shops, apartments and hotel space called Park Lane Place. "Our zoning will allow as much as 2.8 million square feet," said Eliot Barnett, a principal of Harvest Partners.

"We want to build a high-density urban development."

The project would occupy the entire block east of NorthPark, bounded by Park Lane, Greenville Avenue, Blackwell Street and North Central. The DART light rail line runs along the east side of the site. Harvest Partners began assembling the property last year when it purchased the One and Two NorthPark East office buildings on Park Lane. The latest purchase includes the Three NorthPark East tower. Nasher Co. built the office buildings, which have 450,000 square feet of space, in the 1970s. Harvest Partners plans to develop the vacant land and parking lots surrounding the office buildings into a shopping center. Mr. Barnett said the complex will also be designed with apartments and possibly a hotel. "We are still evaluating our options and are in the planning process," he said. Dallas architects Good Fulton & Farrell have been hired to plan the development. "In order to make it a high-density site, it will require substantial structured parking," Mr. Barnett said.

The Park Lane Place site is next to DART's busy Park Lane rail station and is connected to NorthPark mall by a bridge. It would be the largest new development in the area since the Mockingbird Station retail, apartment and office complex just east of Southern Methodist University was built. That highly successful project is next to the Mockingbird DART station. Harvest Partners and the Nasher Co. got a zoning change last year to allow for the redevelopment. Officials with Nasher Co. were unavailable to discuss the sale. Harvest Partners was formed about two years ago by Mr. Barnett and real estate executives Blaine Lee and Tod Ruble. The partners have experience in retail, office, multifamily and mixed-use developments. The company is also planning a $50 million lakeside retail development in Garland.

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com

[coolsavvy1]

This is really good news because I was actually going to list a post asking what ever happened to this project. Now I can't wait to see what retailers sign on, what renderings look like, and what adjacent development this causes!!!

[rantanamo]

Should be a goldmine for developers. Great, great, great location. Great mix of residents in the area. In my mind has tons more potential than Mockingbird Station. Wish I was in on it financially.

Gotta love the words used in the article: Substantial, DENSE, DART, High Density, Urban, Mockingbird Station(never hurts). I'm with coolsavvy1 in being very interested in renderings, sign-ons, etc.

[Jack Flack]

I've been hoping for TOD around Park Lane for such a long time. This area could be the first great transit neighborhood of Dallas if the other corners surrounding the DART station redevelop similarly. Having a large, relatively ped-oriented apartment community directly east of the station doesn't hurt either.

[Columbus Civil]

The guy in the office right next door to mine has renderings of the project, but I haven't asked him if I can see them yet. I'll post something if I found out anything.

[gc]

GET 'EM!

[tamtagon]

I wonder how the Park Lane development timing lines up next to West Village timing. Is it safe to say that by 2010, all DART light rail stops between Richardson and the CBD will open to urban enclaves, each with a different character? This train track is making a carless life in Dallas not only possible but enjoyable.

[Columbus Civil]

One thing that is bugging me about Park Lane Place is that there's no easy way to get to the Park Lane Station from the proposed development. You have to cross Park Lane at Greenville Ave, and that's a really dangerous intersection. Maybe they'll somehow extend the DART platform over Park Lane and build an additional staircase or something.

[clipper]

From what I hear, the merchants at Park Lane Place will all be "big box" types like Ultimate Electronics, Old Navy, etc. I don't expect to see the same kind of thing at W Village, Knox St. or Mockingbird Station.

[rantanamo]

As long as it's done right, I don't mind who the tenants are. Especially in such a visible location. There are tons of examples in other cities where big box would actually fit an urban environment.

[psukhu]

I was living in NYC when Circuit City built their Manhattan location. (Union Square)

It can be done. Let's hope they do it right.

[drumguy8800]

Wow. that's awesome.. I can't wait until each station along all the lines turns into a major urban hub.. It would be cool to be able to go up and down the line and just stop at each station, get off, and have something really interesting to explore. Now.. onto the big box theme.. I really hope they don't do something.. (well its impossible to..) like they did at SH-121 and I-35E in Lewisville. That's not going to happen, quite evidently. But I also hope it doesnt look like the area directly north of the Galleria in North Dallas (Addison/Farmers Branch.. whatever it is right there. I think its Dallas.) Thats just a really weird shopping center. I can't think of what I'd like.. but.. I'm sure I'd like it if they want to build an 'extremely dense' urban center. Here are some images/pictures...

I assume that this is the lot? If I'm wrong, please correct me..

http://www.ovillachurchofchrist.com/derek/pictures/dallas/other/parklane/lot.jpg

(originally from Globexplorer.com, in case you couldnt tell, lol..)

This is from dallassky.com: I believe that it shows the buildings in it. Wow.. thats really cool.. you can see the loop thing on the aerial photo, and then look at the picture and kinda imagine where the picture was taken.. it offers a new angle.. cool.

http://www.dallassky.com/p4-9.h4.jpg

anyone have better pics..?

[gc]

I love the landscaping around Northpark. Imagine how nice Dallas would be if all the highways/exit ramps were landscaped similar to Northpark? Wow

[tamtagon]

I hope the view helps The Richards Group come up with a good campaign for Dallas, it is nice. I hope this new development adds vertically to the area. Does anyone know why Park Lane got the DART stop rather than busier NW Hwy?

[rantanamo]

<img src=http://img6.photobucket.com/albums/v19/rantanamo/DART/dfwmaps_RIS14465872142066.jpg>

[tamtagon]

Spot on with the picture!
Looks like Northpark Blvd. has much more traffic in its future.

[drumguy8800]

Hopefully, they'll extend northpark blvd. all the way to Greenville Ave. But of course, this might require the destruction of some of the office buildings- who knows whats going to happen to them.. I'm sure that the developer just wants to build around them.. or rehabilitate them.

Added: The parking garage at the terminus of North Park Blvd appears to be brand new Maybe they'll keep it for future parking and just destroy the other.. older (asphalt) parking lots and put in some parking garages like they said.. oo.. underground garages! now that would be cool.. Would leave more room for vertical development.

[freewaytincan]

No, I don't think they need to extend Northpark through. It would serve well to split into a dramatic T interstection, defining the design of the whole development. And for the record: that's not a parking garage right there. It's just repaired lots. There's only one garage there, and that's the one at the light rail line and Northwest Highway.

Well, you can see the UA theater and former entertainment complex. What a joke. The only thing it does is make my walk about a minute longer from the station across the parking lot to my psychiatrist's office in 9400NCX.

[drumguy8800]

Haha..whoops.. didnt mean to put parking garage.. thanks for the correction. And I agree on the extension being dumb.. a T-intersection would kind of define the place.. make a very cool starting point.. kind of like that at the galleria.

[bloodandpopcorn]

UA Plaza is anything but a joke... try going to a screening there on a friday night, almost all the theaters are packed. It's my preffered mainstream cineplex. If this development takes of, you can bet the retail area of UA Plaza will be taken up again. I can't wait, personally.

[Foucault]

I like UA Plaza too.

[gc]

First Structure Ready to Rise in 700,000-SF Project
By Connie Gore - Last updated: Mar 16, 2004 11:18AM
http://www.globest.com/RMIEAJR4FRD.html

DALLAS-With 33 acres of prime infill land now amassed, Harvest Partners will ramp up construction within two weeks on the first building to a 700,000-sf, mixed-use plan near NorthPark Mall.
The first structure to rise will be a seven-story, 744-space parking garage, Eliot Barnett, one of three principals in the development firm, tells GlobeSt.com. The project will take 39 weeks to complete and will be positioned on the north side of Two Park Lane Place. When it's done, the door will be open to develop the balance of Park Lane Place, envisioned as a $100-million-plus neighbor to NorthPark Mall.

Harvest Partners recently acquired 17.5 acres from Raymond Nasher of Dallas to complete the land mass necessary to advance the project. Last June, Harvest Partners bought a trio of office buildings on 15.5 acres at the intersection of Park Lane and North Central Expressway. "We have all the land amassed so we can now evaluate all the different development options that we have," Barnett says of the work ahead for the partnership, which includes Tod Ruble and Blaine Lee. Part of the decision will focus on the fate of a 10-story, 450,000-sf building on the just-acquired tract. Barnet says the garage was a necessary first step to free up valuable space now used for surface parking by office tenants.

Peloton Real Estate Partners, which oversees office leasing, is in the midst of "clearing out" a 65,000-sf, four-story office building so the floors can be gutted and retooled for the repositioning, says T.D. Briggs, a Peloton partner. With the structure at 60% occupancy, he says "there are a lot of moving parts" in accomplishing the feat. It appears a 12-story, 200,000-sf office building is on the calendar to be razed to make way for retail, but a 162,427-sf structure with a 75% occupancy seems to have made the developers' cut in determining what goes and what stays in a development with a "best-guess" of retail exceeding 400,000 sf, up to 450 residential units, several office buildings and a series of parking structures.

[F4shionablecHa0s]

Anyone have any renderings? I'm interested to see what this project is going to look like.

[crescentboi]

I just can't believe that they are willing to tear down high rises that are from what I understand to be in perfectly good shape to build more retail! Isn't there enough space around the project to sustain those buildings? Couldn't they make them into something else that would be more usefull rather than just raising them? Hopefully some renderings would proove usefull in trying to figure out what they are doing. I wonder as to what architectural style there are going for in the development and whether or not it will blend in with the area or if it's meant to stand out. I hope that the parking garage is astetically pleasing and not just a grey concrete eyesore.

[rantanamo]

Office, Retail, Residential, Parking Garage > Plain Glass Box and surface lots.

I think it just shows this might really be some thing good if they want to tear things down for it.

[freewaytincan]

Originally posted by rantanamo
Office, Retail, Residential, Parking Garage > Plain Glass Box and surface lots.

I think it just shows this might really be some thing good if they want to tear things down for it.

ESPECIALLY if they do an implosion, which is the only efficient way to take down a twelve story building. Hah, I can't believe they're going to take it down! I'm pretty sure that it's because of that building that my mom had to resign from her job while she was pregnant with my brother in 1981. The smells of a brand new building don't go over well with her, especially then!

[psukhu]

So where will the Art Institute of Dallas move to?

Maybe they'll move to a new pedestrian friendly building that will go up before the old ones come down?


Hopefully this will top Mockingbird Station!

[Columbus Civil]

Is the Art Institute moving? I work in the same building that the Art Institute is in, and I haven't heard anything. Two of the office buildings on that site are occupied (Northpark One and Nortpark Two), and I think they're going to stay where they are. The only building to be torn down will be the vacant Northpark Three tower as far as I know.

I remember someone on here suggested the Art Institute should move to the Arts District. I thought that was a great idea.

[freewaytincan]

Is the Art Institute moving? I work in the same building that the Art Institute is in, and I haven't heard anything. Two of the office buildings on that site are occupied (Northpark One and Nortpark Two), and I think they're going to stay where they are. The only building to be torn down will be the vacant Northpark Three tower as far as I know.

I remember someone on here suggested the Art Institute should move to the Arts District. I thought that was a great idea.

I'm thinkin' where the arts district tower would go, along with arts-related offices, galleries, and the like. I've said for some time that there should be some higher education in the area.

[Foucault]

What's the Art Institute? Is it a school?

[coolsavvy1]

http://www.aid.edu/