McKinney: Craig Ranch (mixed-use)

[texman]

Craig Ranch: 'Living the dream'
'New urbanism' realizes developer's vision


11:50 PM CDT on Monday, September 27, 2004


By STEVE QUINN / The Dallas Morning News



McKINNEY – David Craig had a simple plan four years ago.

Accumulate property at the Custer Road-State Highway 121 intersection – where Plano, Frisco, McKinney and Allen converge – then prepare one-acre lots for estate houses and larger tracts for office buildings.

"Typical suburban sprawl," he called the development.

Today, Craig Ranch is anything but typical. Plans call for a pedestrian-friendly, new-urbanism approach to the 2,000 acres.

Thanks to a recently opened PGA Tour golf course, a sports complex and fast-growing residential communities, Craig Ranch could become North Texas' mixed-used development centerpiece.

Cooper Aerobics Center announced two weeks ago that it will open a 73,000-square-foot facility next to the golf course, helping Craig Ranch give McKinney the national cachet Plano has with Legacy business park.

When built out, Craig Ranch could be home to 30,000 people living on high-end estate lots, in townhomes and in multiplex buildings, and where 20,000 will work.

Craig Ranch sits about five miles south of where Mr. Craig, 48, first cut his teeth on land development along U.S. Highway 380 about 25 years ago. The 47-acre parcel, he says, became Meadow Ranch Estates.

In 1987, with the real estate industry in Texas beginning to fail, Mr. Craig kept an office in McKinney but also started operations in Southern California.

He returned to McKinney in 1994 and completed some smaller projects. Now he's become one of the area's high-profile developers and is reluctant to take days off.

Indeed, rather than take a honeymoon three years ago, he hosted a new urbanism seminar led by Florida architect Andres Duany.

His enthusiasm is unmistakable. A simple "How are you doing?" is greeted with "I'm living the dream at Craig Ranch."

And he's not afraid to go over budget.

Though he won't divulge investment details, the golf course – once projected to cost about $30 million – exceeded $40 million.

That, he says, is simply good business. Adjacent estate lots that started at $400,000 now fetch up to $650,000.

Mr. Craig has silenced project critics who believed new urbanism would fail at Craig Ranch because there was no surrounding employment base to support the project.

"It was an awful lot of development to start from scratch," said Art Lomenick, Trammell Crow managing director with no Craig Ranch affiliation but who's recognized for his work at Addison Circle and Uptown.

"It was bold – very bold – to bite off that kind of thing at the time, but he's pulling it off. He's got enough land with natural beauty."


A new idea

When it was first suggested to Mr. Craig that he consider dense housing and a new-urbanism format, he told John Kessel of the city's planning department: "Not in my lifetime. Not in my children's lifetime."

Slowly, however, Mr. Craig accepted the notion that it just might work. He visited town centers that fostered such development.

Within several months, the two men were on the same page.

"It's a matter of understanding how to take a concept that's popular, but at the time was not necessarily so in Texas, and apply it locally," said Mr. Kessel, McKinney's executive director of development services.

"It was a matter of how do we achieve financial results for the community and for the developer?"

Mr. Craig also faced a slumping and uncertain economy. He was planning to open memberships for the golf club on Sept. 12, 2001, the day after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

"We rescheduled a week later, and planes still weren't flying. Then we postponed indefinitely. Postponed is one thing. Indefinitely is another, so there was the rumor mill that it wasn't going to happen," Mr. Craig said.

But he moved forward with his plans.

Work was progressing on the TPC at Craig Ranch, the PGA Tour-caliber, members-only golf course designed by Tom Weiskopf, a 15-time PGA Tour winner.

"He said to me, 'I'm not a golfer and I don't know anything about golf, so you are my guy,' " Mr. Weiskopf said.

"That told me he was going to allow me to do what I needed to do. It was a great piece of land, and I could see a tremendous golf course coming from it."

Watching 400,000 pounds of dirt getting pushed around and redistributed is different from seeing steel come out of the ground, so Mr. Craig still had no tangible proof that his project was working.

Arlington-based D.R. Horton was ready to begin building its dense residential community with a street layout that precluded dead ends and cul-de-sacs. But that wasn't enough to lure more projects.

"The struggle was to get people to believe that this was not a paper plan," Mr. Craig said. "We needed to get them to believe it would become a reality."

As the golf course was under construction, D.R. Horton's project was gaining momentum and division president Rick Horton – a former doubter – says the company has been overwhelmed with the demand.

Of the 1,400 lots on a tract called Craig Ranch North, he has sold 800 for home building and he says it could be 1,200 if the company didn't opt to build at a more reasonable pace.

Mr. Horton had a sign for townhomes on an eastern Craig Ranch location removed on the first day because his office could not field all the calls.

"At the time we bought Craig Ranch property, it was the single largest investment we made in Texas, and I questioned whether it was a solid investment," Mr. Horton said.


Key support

Through it all, Mr. Craig had the right backers – the city of McKinney and business partner Cecil Van Tuyl, co-owner of the Kansas-based mega auto dealer V.T. Inc.

In three separate deals, the city helped Mr. Craig recover some of his costs for road and utility work on land that had one water main when he first assembled it.

First, city and county officials approved $8 million worth of assistance for roadwork while helping Mr. Craig secure a $2.3 million grant from the North Texas Council of Governments.

Next, the city's community development agency, which is funded by sales tax, provided $6.3 million to help with construction on a soccer and softball complex on 65 acres donated by Mr. Craig.

And this month Craig Ranch will receive $3.25 million toward park, road and utility construction as part of a deal that will bring a Cooper Aerobics Center's first expansion – $15 million worth – to McKinney.

Part of that deal included a $1.85 million from the McKinney Economic Development Corp., another tax-supported entity that markets the city's business prospects and is led by president David Pitstick.

Mr. Pitstick also wanted to see results before he committed taxpayer funds.

"We can't be venture capitalists," Mr. Pitstick said. "That's not our job.

"But having the golf course and getting the Cooper clinic will give us national exposure and access to people who have resources to do all kinds of development."

[texman]

I like the whole Pedestrian Friendly idea coming to Mckinney (we seriously need it) but other than that I hate this guy. He owns half of the land in this town and the whole north side of SH121 from US75 to Frisco.

[psukhu]

http://www.craiginternational.com/intraclub/query/catquery.html?category=craig%20ranch

[drumguy8800]

*yawn.*

"typical suburban sprawl." what a guy..

Ya know, you could always move to Dallas instead of waiting for it to come up to McKinney. Dallas has plenty of new, old, and everything-in-between urbanism that'll kick your neourbanism's arse.

[freewaytincan]

*yawn.*

"typical suburban sprawl." what a guy..

Ya know, you could always move to Dallas instead of waiting for it to come up to McKinney. Dallas has plenty of new, old, and everything-in-between urbanism that'll kick your neourbanism's arse.

Dude, careful. You sound like me three years ago.

[sogod]

Ya know, you could always move to Dallas instead of waiting for it to come up to McKinney. Dallas has plenty of new, old, and everything-in-between urbanism that'll kick your neourbanism's arse.
Yes, but McKinney has nice empty land, and middle-class people with familes aren't afraid to, and can afford to, move there.

Anything remotly urban here is better than more of the typically sprawl found west of 75 in McKinney. I don't understand why you are so negative towards the northern suburbs, just because this development is on the wrong side of some invisible line (that is, Dallas city border) doesn't necessarily make it suck.

[tamtagon]

I don't understand why you are so negative towards the northern suburbs

It's like a mantra expected to bring enlightenment repeated incessantly everytime a neighborhood is built in satellite city. It is a mantra misguided, one which prays for the city of Dallas get built out to a concentration level similar to a city in the Northeast before another satellite city "usurps" the population growth.

[Jack Flack]

I'm not a big fan of rampant suburban growth but if people are going to move out there at least the urban form is one that is more pedestrian and potentially transit friendly in the future. Just because a city or town is not the central city doesn't mean it can not be designed to be walkable. McKinney used to be that way anyway.

I am part of the team at COG that provided some funding for this project. If this project is built out as envisioned it will be a great project and model for future suburban development. If all suburbs were designed like Craig Ranch I wouldn't have as many gripes about the suburbs as I do.

[tamtagon]

I'm not a big fan of rampant suburban growth but if people are going to move out there at least the urban form is one that is more pedestrian and potentially transit friendly in the future. Just because a city or town is not the central city doesn't mean it can not be designed to be walkable. McKinney used to be that way anyway.

I am part of the team at COG that provided some funding for this project. If this project is built out as envisioned it will be a great project and model for future suburban development. If all suburbs were designed like Craig Ranch I wouldn't have as many gripes about the suburbs as I do.

Has the COG reviewed any NE Tarrant County proposals which follows the neighborhood design improvements showcased by Craig Ranch?

[Jack Flack]

Has the COG reviewed any NE Tarrant County proposals which follows the neighborhood design improvements showcased by Craig Ranch?

No, I do not believe so. The first time we did the program was in 2001 and only recall a few projects from NE Tarrant County and they were not at all like Craig Ranch. I guess the closest being a project for a town center type development in Colleyville.

[rantanamo]

great model, but like Frisco Square its focusing on nothing and taking away from the real core. Better than the typical land-use, but still wrong in so many ways. A place like Eastside Village gets it right. I guess this could be done right with connectivity in the future. Right now it lacks that.

[Jack Flack]

great model, but like Frisco Square its focusing on nothing and taking away from the real core. Better than the typical land-use, but still wrong in so many ways. A place like Eastside Village gets it right. I guess this could be done right with connectivity in the future. Right now it lacks that.

Agreed, but if the residents and the development are going to be there anyway at least these developments are taking the form that they are.

Ideally it would be nice if Frisco and McKinney would build on their exiting core areas and expand from there replicating the street grid and urban design elements already in place. Unfortunately, these cities are going the way of standard suburbia but at least they are making efforts that are creating "urban" places that might cause greater change in land use decisions due to their popularity

[tamtagon]

Agreed, but if the residents and the development are going to be there anyway at least these developments are taking the form that they are.

Ideally it would be nice if Frisco and McKinney would build on their exiting core areas and expand from there replicating the street grid and urban design elements already in place. Unfortunately, these cities are going the way of standard suburbia but at least they are making efforts that are creating "urban" places that might cause greater change in land use decisions due to their popularity

Plano, now Frisco and soon McKinney developments represent the leading approaches to suburban neighborhood design, but it takes at least ten years before design improvements are based on real feedback versus theory. Frisco's more an intermediate step, with the most noteable improvements in neighborhood liveability to occur in NE Tarrant County or more accurately, the area Grapevine Lake, Fort Worth, DFW Airport and Alliance Airport.

Jack Flack, this has to be a very exciting time for you, considering your job with NCTCOG and development need of the anticipated population growth, I know I love it!

[Jack Flack]

I really enjoy it. At COG we are really trying to promote "sustainable development" land use practices and increasing the rates of cycling, walking and transit use. With the region almost doubling in size over the next 30 years we are trying to set programs and policies in motion to redirect as much growth as possible to the inner cities.

[mikedsjr]

Doubling in 30 years? This being because the human race is going to double in 30 years? Have 12 Billion people and half as many ecosystems left?

Is the COG looking at developing another "urban core" like the Frisco-McKinney area? And if this area is going to double in 30 years, doesn't that naturally mean that the "sprawl" will continue? This doesn't sound like a region where Dallas suffers unless you mean that Dallas has to do away with its ISD and let suburbs or a business handle the teaching of kids in Dallas.

[Jack Flack]

There are around 4-5 million here now and COG is forecasting around 9 million by 2030.

I don't think I follow your second paragraph. COG is forecasting the greater metro area to reach 9 million or so by 2030. Some people will move into the core cities while others will move to outlying areas and fill in now rural parts of Collin and Denton counties. As well as parts of Johnson and Ellis.

[mikedsjr]

I was rambling. Thanks for answering anyway. :D

I would think that is just a natural phenomenon. Some move to the core, while others outward.

[rantanamo]

nothing "natural" about human movement in the United States. Wherever people are wanted to be moved, they will be steered. I think the "steering" has already begun to the southern metroplex.

[rjlevins]

It's better than what McKinney could have done with that land. I was worried that their part of the inersection was going to suck and would remain undeveloped. They should force McKinney to put any money they earn from this deal to be put into the Collin County Performing Arts Center being built there that McKinney voters decided to not pitch in for.

[tamtagon]

nothing "natural" about human movement in the United States. Wherever people are wanted to be moved, they will be steered. I think the "steering" has already begun to the southern metroplex.

haha, which really decides where the boat goes, the wind or the navigator?

A large percentage of the transplant population to the Dallas area will recognize that McKinney is too far from the city especially as the dangerous and dirty stereotype diminishes with regard to most of South Dallas County, and thousands of acres are transformed into middle class+ neighborhoods. Additional influences putting the breaks on the nothern expansion is the more desirably located NE Tarrant county. The next 20 years will see the geographic expansion of the metroplex slow considerably, while the population density increases, with geographic pockets registering exceptionally higher density. Considering the communities of the whole metroplex as an extended family, the need for access to a well established nuclear family will easily balance the geographic distribution of the suburban population.

[psukhu]

A large percentage of the transplant population to the Dallas area will recognize that McKinney is too far from the city especially as the dangerous and dirty stereotype diminishes with regard to most of South Dallas County...


I have seen this first hand.

I have quite a few friends and family who have moved to DFW from the northeast in recent years. They usually don't want to wait around for the area to build around them. They want an established neighborhood and they have the cash to purchase almost anywhere in DFW. (the cash is from selling their regular home in the northeast for an astronomical price)

When they are shopping for a house, I give them the grand DFW tour. We go from Southlake to Cedar Hill to McKinney, and everywhere inbetween. Most say that McKinney is too far from the shops and employment.

The area from the area bound by 635/75/Parker/35 seems to be the area of choice for people with kids. Uptown, of course, seems to be the choice for those without kids.

[Lakewooder]

As Bette Davis used to say (sarcastically) "HOW NICE"

http://bochynski.com/charlespierce/images/bettecard.jpg

This Bette, like Main Street Disneyland and Craig Ranch, is ersatz.

[sogod]

nothing "natural" about human movement in the United States. Wherever people are wanted to be moved, they will be steered.
How is that unnatural?

[sogod]

It's like a mantra expected to bring enlightenment repeated incessantly everytime a neighborhood is built in satellite city. It is a mantra misguided, one which prays for the city of Dallas get built out to a concentration level similar to a city in the Northeast before another satellite city "usurps" the population growth.
I think you are about right there.

[noelamador]

Status as fastest growing in nation is both asset, challenge

09:08 PM CST on Saturday, November 13, 2004

By PAUL MEYER / The Dallas Morning News

McKINNEY ? Etched in black on the slick vellum-wrapped annual report published this month, the title says it all: "McKinney, Texas: 'The Fastest Growing City in America.' "

The distinction has quickly become valuable marketing currency here since June when the census crowned McKinney the nation's fastest grower during a three-year period among cities with more than 50,000 residents as of 2000.

"We're No. 1!" local officials went so far as to tout when they learned of the ranking.

Five months later, the title is recited almost daily inside City Hall, used in literature to attract new businesses, and employed by real estate agents to hook in new homebuyers.

But is it a virtue or vice?
By the numbers
93,062

Population of McKinney
2,950

Single-family permits issued this year, through October
693

Nonresidential permits issued
509,341

Library circulation
28

Number of city parks
729

Miles of water and sewer mains
648

Miles of streets and alleys
603

Number of city employees
42,994

Number of public safety calls for service

Is it akin to being the strongest man in America ? the product of rigorous training, informed decisions and good genes?

Or, is it more like being named the fattest man in America ? a quirky distinction that may land you in the Guinness annals but won't ensure a very long or healthy life?

It's the difference between growth and smart growth.

"It's both [a virtue and a vice]," says Robert Lang, head of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech University in Alexandria, Va. "What I think about is: What are their advantages at the moment, and will they last? They're the new place, and a lot of Americans like new things."

In McKinney, almost one new resident is added every hour. Crews laid 32 miles of new streets last year, and the city limits expanded by more than a square mile.

But ask almost any local official, and they'll tell you this is a city trying to retain the feeling of a town.

It's a challenge.

At the local chamber of commerce, a volunteer team has a tall task as they stuff 400 gift bags a month ? complete with cookies ? distributed to new residents as a sign of Southern hospitality.

The task for city officials isn't much easier. A recent study of 15 area suburbs found McKinney with one of the lowest numbers of city staff members per citizen in the region.

And officials have only been able to fund about half of the park projects identified as needed.

"I think it's entirely who you are as to whether [the record growth] is a blessing or not. That's not something we sought, but then we're not surprised when we were told about it," McKinney City Manager Larry Robinson said.

"We'd rather ... be recognized as the most well-considered and well-planned city in America."

To that end, the city has spent almost $1 million to put a new comprehensive plan in place to guide the city's development with the help of a team of economists, planners and consultants.

At the same time, they're spending millions on the city's 19th century downtown and on the east side where waves of Hispanic immigrants keep coming and affordable housing remains a priority.

At Keller Williams Realty, J.R. Russell says agents routinely roll out McKinney's record growth as a way to lure prospective homebuyers.

From May to July, the office had its best three months ever, closing 360 houses.

"We tell them it's the fastest growing city. It's a wagon to hitch your horse to. It's a vehicle. It's something nobody else can say. It's a bit of a marketing tool," said Mr. Russell, team leader and broker manager at the firm's McKinney office.

"People are coming here for a reason."

Unlike other regions, there's no natural reason for them to stop. Unlike Southern California, there's plenty of land left. Unlike areas outside Denver, there are no mountains to block development patterns. Unlike parts of the southwest, water isn't a pressing issue.

Still, everyone in McKinney knows the growth will one day slow, even as the city approaches its projected build-out of 355,000 residents.

They only have to look a bit south to Plano ? the suburban darling of the 1980s ? for proof.

"We look at the good things they did," Mr. Robinson said. "And they have been very open about some of their other issues. I've asked what would you do different, and we've been told."

Mr. Lang, completing research for a book on booming suburbs across the country, has traveled twice to North Texas towns, including McKinney, to study the growth.

"Even though you're in the midst of chaos, imagine the city in 2030 or 2035. Plan for it to be a livable place even at that point," he said.

"Now is the time to create the pattern that will help you make it a livable place."

[drumguy8800]

What?


Number of city employees
42,994

Population of McKinney
2,950

Number of city parks
729

Library Circulation
28

What's up with these numbers, exactly?

[psukhu]

You're reading wrong because the formatting probably off.



By the numbers

93,062 - Population of McKinney

2,950 - Single-family permits issued this year, through October

693 - Nonresidential permits issued

509,341 - Library circulation

28 - Number of city parks

729 - Miles of water and sewer mains

648 - Miles of streets and alleys

603 - Number of city employees

42,994 - Number of public safety calls for service

[freewaytincan]

"Now is the time to create the pattern that will help you make it a livable place."

Yeah, like that'll happen.

[drumguy8800]

Yeah, like that'll happen.

I heard about them dropping like flies up there.

What a bleaugh way to put things, although I'm guilty of it. Unless you're talking about Mars or like New Jersey or something, where the heck ISNT livable?

(sorry about the nj jab ;))

[freewaytincan]

Unless you're talking about Mars or like New Jersey or something, where the heck ISNT livable?

Hah!

[texman]

This is sad...I was born in Mckinney and have absolutly no pride (except for maybe east of 75) and I'm a little embarresed to tell people I'm from here..

[freewaytincan]

This is sad...I was born in Mckinney and have absolutly no pride (except for maybe east of 75) and I'm a little embarresed to tell people I'm from here..

I know I would be. Even I, at times, am careful about where I say I am from. I try as hard as I can to make Richardson sound close to Dallas, because when you say, "North of Dallas," it sounds like you're talking about areas north of Plano.

[mikedsjr]

What is not to have pride over? I have Plano Pride. I always will, even though I don't live there. It holds alot of great memories.

[Lakewooder]

Build out of 355,000 - yikes!

[tamtagon]

DMN: McKinney to get its own 'Times Square' (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/090106dnbusmckinney.5302975c.html)

10:40 AM CDT on Thursday, August 31, 2006

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News



Evergreen Realty
An artist's rendition of the Times Square development planned for McKinney. A new development promises to bring a bit of Manhattan - at least in name - to McKinney.

The Times Square at Craig Ranch complex will contain apartments and shopping on 4.62 acres north of State Highway 121.

Developers Evergreen Realty and DXE Commercial Development said Thursday that they will break ground in October on the mixed-use complex.

The urban-style development is the latest addition to the 2,500-acre Craig Ranch community.

“Times Square at Craig Ranch will offer a lifestyle unlike any other in the metroplex,” Steve Everbach, managing partner of Evergreen Realty Partners, said in a statement. "We have already seen interest from retailers that could fill a majority of the retail space.

"We are hoping the building will be the centerpiece for activity in the Town Center at Craig Ranch."

The 5-story complex will total more than 800,000 square feet, with 320 apartments and about 80,000 square feet of retail space.

The buildings will be located across the street from the Cooper Aerobics Center and TPC Craig Ranch Golf Club and are expected to open in early 2008.

The project was designed by PB2 Architecture and Engineering and the general contractor is Dallas-based Precept Builders.

Apartment developer and manager JPI Inc. will lease the rental units and Weitzman Group has been hired to lease the retail.

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com

--------------------------------------------------------------
Like, I know they have to say stuff like this to help sell the place, but come on, really, it's not going to be so unlike a baker's dozen of other Metroplex masterplanned community developments.


“Times Square at Craig Ranch will offer a lifestyle unlike any other in the metroplex,” Steve Everbach, managing partner of Evergreen Realty Partners, said in a statement.

[slfunk]

Good news....I love how they always try to market it. "....“Times Square at Craig Ranch will offer a lifestyle unlike any other in the metroplex,” Steve Everbach...."

[St-T]

Plz... I'm so sick of all of this odd crap they do up there.

[Tnekster]

Now that being in the city is hot they have to pass themselves off somehow as being all citylike.

[grantboston]

Are little suburban town center villages like this becoming the next frontier of urban sprawl?

It seems like many of these developments get around concerns of quality nowadays by slapping up some master planned community center with some ground level retail. I'm just not too sure how different this is from a strip center in an older Dallas neighborhood.

[Tnekster]

Palladium to test high-rise condo concept at Craig Ranch
Dallas Business Journal - February 23, 2007by Holli L. EstridgeStaff Writer
A Dallas-based upscale multifamily developer is taking high-rise living to the suburbs.
http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2007/02/26/story2.html


Palladium USA International Inc.'s $125 million Palladium at Craig Ranch project will include two seven- to nine-story condominium towers, plus 80,000 square feet of retail space. It will be developed in two phases and will break ground in early fall.

Situated near the Cooper Aerobics Center, Palladium will be the first high-rise residential component at Craig Ranch, a 2,500-acre development in McKinney that stretches from State Highway 121 on the south to north of Silverado Road, and from Custer Road on the west, east to Stacy Road.

It's the latest in a string of new projects under construction at Craig Ranch. Other developments under way include a $100 million-plus, eight-story Golden Tulip hotel; the Michael Johnson Performance Center, an athletic training facility and stadium; and Times Square at Craig Ranch, a 320-unit apartment complex that also includes ground-floor retail space.

Palladium's Dallas-area developments are known for quirky amenities, such as regulation-size boxing rings, indoor basketball courts and on-site bars. Its Craig Ranch complex is being designed by Washington, D.C.-based WDG Architecture.

"I don't think the Craig Ranch concept has been replicated anywhere in the U.S.," said Tom Huth, CEO of Palladium USA. "The opportunity to be located directly across from the Cooper Center and near the town center was something we couldn't pass on."

Pre-sales of the condominium units are not yet under way.

Vacant housing
Ted Wilson, a partner with Residential Strategies, says the concept of bringing high-rise condominiums to outlying suburban areas could be pushing the envelope.

"I haven't seen high-rise development this far north," he said. "They've had some very exciting news at Craig Ranch. But what we're anxious to see is, is the buyer stepping up a little more to make a commitment to the community?"

Wilson said his concerns lie with pricing and demand for that type of space.

"Townhomes have performed well, but the difference in construction costs -- midrise construction vs. townhome construction -- is a big factor," he said.

As at other Dallas-Fort Worth area residential developments, Craig Ranch was left with too much vacant housing inventory at the end of 2006.

"There's a build-up of finished inventory in both The Settlement (a section with 385 lots) and Hemingway (a section with 354 home sites)," Wilson said.

According to Residential Strategies research, the Hemingway Townhomes closed 84 units, with 26 left vacant, and Settlement closed 19, with 20 vacant units remaining.

David Craig, master developer of Craig Ranch, says the Palladium adds to the urban environment being created in his project's core. "They (Palladium) give credibility to the town-center concept," Craig said. "They've been there and done it so many times. Tom Huth understands New Urbanism and creating an urban environment."

The Palladium development will feature upscale restaurants and boutique-style shops not typically found in suburban markets, Huth said. The average Palladium at Craig Ranch condominium unit will run 1,470 square feet and be priced at $375,000, or about $265 per square foot.

Townhomes in Dallas' Oak Lawn and Uptown areas peak at $275 per square foot, according to Residential Strategies. McKinney does not have comparable condo products, and townhome prices in suburban markets in Dallas-Fort Worth cap at $150 per square foot.

Among the planned amenities for Palladium residents are prepaid membership in the Tournament Players Club at Craig Ranch Golf Course and the Cooper Aerobics Center, and a second location of Palladium's Paris-based Kiron Espace Gallery, a cultural venue. Huth says Palladium is still considering the other amenities it will offer at Craig Ranch.

Palladium's other Dallas-area developments consist of Verona near the Dallas Galleria, the Grand Treviso and Canal Side Lofts in Las Colinas and the Cottages at Tulane in Plano.

Huth says the Canal Side Lofts, which opened in mid-2006, is 78% leased. The Grand Treviso, which Palladium converted from lease to for-sale units last year, is 80% sold. Verona is 92% leased and the Cottages are 90% leased.

hestridge@bizjournals.com | 817-693-0025

[St-T]

^I predict this will NOT get built.

[antoinekhuu]

$265 per square foot condo in McKinney :roflmao2:

[sogod]

Geeze. It sounds nice and all, and its definitely a good thing, but why charge so much. It would be nice to see someone build a high-rise that normal families could afford to live in.

[rantanamo]

So you escape to the quiet and comfort of McKinney to a highrise, urban community?

[psukhu]

GlobeSt.com
Last updated: April 10, 2007 07:35am

JV Plans $250M Addition to $900M Cooper Life

By Connie Gore

http://www.globest.com/newspics/dal_cooperlifecraigranch.jpg

McKINNEY, TX-The joint venture developers of the $900-million Cooper Life at Craig Ranch, a health-centered concept community, have bought an additional 140 acres to add another $250 million of mixed-use space to their plan. Anchored by Cooper Aerobics Center, the 191-acre development is just two weeks from the construction start of its first residential units.

Wellstone Communities LLC, based in Cumming, GA and Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, the country's aerobics guru from Dallas, have amassed development land inside the 2,500-acre Craig Ranch for a health-oriented prototype that's drawn inquiries from the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Thailand and Italy as well as stateside bids for similar communities, according to Rusty Criminger, Wellstone's chief marketing officer. "What we want to do is get the majority of this one proven out and under our belt and then I think the opportunities will play out," he says.

Criminger says the JV has 55 commercial acres in Craig Ranch on the market that it bought before working out a deal for a 100-acre infill site to round out the residential, retail and office designs in its New Urbanism-style hybrid project. "It was a bit of a Rubik's Cube to put together," Criminger says. Since word got out about the commercial dirt, he says he's been approached by "a number of serious buyers."

Meanwhile, Criminger tells GlobeSt.com that he's holding a letter of intent from a multifamily developer for a 400-unit apartment complex on one pad site, is deep into talks with two hotel developers for another pad site and negotiating with one of the nation's health-oriented grocery chains for yet another. The original 51-acre tract has about 12 acres of uncommitted dirt.

Cooper Life, still being fine-tuned, will have roughly 250,000 sf of retail, at least 155,000 sf of office and medical office space, 225 townhouses or brownstones, a 124-unit condo tower and about 700 single-family homes. Infrastructure work is wrapping up; ground will break in two weeks on 18 townhouses. But coming soon will be 60 row houses and four single-family detached dwellings. If the plan stays on track, presales for the mid-rise condo tower will be under way by midyear 2008. The aerobics center and spa, which opened last year, is 75,000 sf with an abutting 55,000-sf medical office building, the first of at least three.

Wellstone's plan is to develop the residential, except for the one site that's under contract, and sell pads of all sizes to retail developers. Wellstone also is working on a 35-acre tract in Craig Ranch, where it's soloing on a 202-unit condo development. The first 16 condos have been sold and work's about to begin on another 16.

The Cooper Life-branded construction will line Alma Road and Collin-McKinney Parkway with street-level retail and upper floors of office or residential space. The interior land is being mapped out with amenities to innovatively integrate it with the single-family component.

Cooper Life's development within a development has more than the norm to support the JV's hybrid drive. Its land is across the street from the Cooper Institute for Sports Medicine Research and a world-class sports complex anchored by Michael Johnson's Performance Training Center--an eight-lane, 400-meter outdoor track with 4,000-seat stadium along with an indoor tracks, basketball gym, strength-training facility and physical therapy. And just a stone's throw away is a PGA Tournament Players Club golf course. The aura shows in Cooper Life's list of prospective residents--95% in the "40-something" or older crowd with a hardy mix of fitness-oriented lifestyles.

As Cooper Life takes shape, Criminger says designers are toying with innovative ideas like putting a swimming deck overtop retail space to lend to its drawing power. "If we're going to appeal families, we have to integrate amenities with a soft edge as a transition into residential from commercial," he says. "It's a challenge. Anybody can do it the block way. The challenge is can we marry community amenities with retail."

http://www.globest.com/news/881_881/dallas/159629-1.html

[CTroyMathis]

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/showpost.php?p=244564&postcount=40



To go along with posting the Palladium USA bit on Irving, here's the one for Craig Ranch in McKinney:



(If it's not been posted yet, here's a visual) :
http://www.livepalladium.com
http://www.palladiumusa.com/Buy.aspx

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/7382/palladiumcraigsranchmckwy9.gif

[DalMac]

More stuff at Craig Ranch:

http://mckinneynews.net/news.php?nid=7203&cat=7