High Five SE Corner / Forest / 75 Development

[Mephis Gooseberry]

A new planned construction sign is up at the old AutoNation Car Lot at Forest and 75, shows Forest Park Medical Center to be completed 2009. It appears to be a fairly large spread out one to two story structure to be located on the north end of the lot. I assume they left room to the south for the Shops at Forest Lane Retail development.

Also a bit further North , a Demolition trailer is set up at the abandoned strip office/warehouse south of Churchill Way, that homeless shelter and graffiti artist canvas is finally going down. Maybe the cops will finally run the bums out from their Cottonwood Creek hovel. They keep starting campfires down there and stinking up the Hamilton Park neighborhood when they burn plastic trash and tires.

Looks like this corner of the High Five is about to see some improvement.

[grantboston]

I've been fairly surprised at how well the entire corridor has bounced back from the High Five construction.

On a slightly related note, does anyone know what is going to happen with the old Westin Hotel near the Benihana's on the SW side of the intersection? It closed up a while back and was a HUGE eyesore the last time I drove by.

[SDORN]

Oh man, More documentation coming up.
I am going to Richland college tommorrow to register for some classes so I paln on making some stops along the way for some updated shots. These palces shall be on my list.

[aygriffith]

does anyone know what is going to happen with the old Westin Hotel near the Benihana's on the SW side of the intersection? It closed up a while back and was a HUGE eyesore the last time I drove by.

It looks like they are stripping the hotel from what I can tell... The structure itself is still very relevant for a hotel property, it like most hotels from that era was probably just in dire need of a makeover. You could see lights hanging on the metal wall studs awhile ago...

[grantboston]

It looks like they are stripping the hotel from what I can tell... The structure itself is still very relevant for a hotel property, it like most hotels from that era was probably just in dire need of a makeover. You could see lights hanging on the metal wall studs awhile ago...

So the hotel might be coming back? From the Westin website, the Westin is still in operation, but the Sheraton (the gutted one) is nowhere to be found.

[US75Guy]

........and yes, just for clarification: The Westin Park Central is still very much operating as usual, no changes. The Sheraton is what closed and is now being gutted for unknown purposes.

[SDORN]

Oh man, More documentation coming up.
I am going to Richland college tommorrow to register for some classes so I paln on making some stops along the way for some updated shots. These palces shall be on my list.

[clipper]

from DMN:

Doctors, Staubach teaming up on North Dallas medical complex
Hospital, offices to go up at Forest, N. Central
08:20 AM CST on Friday, December 28, 2007

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
stevebrown@dallasnews.com
A major medical complex will soon be going up on a prime North Dallas corner.

Forest Park Medical Center is planned for the northeast corner of North Central Expressway and Forest Lane.

The tract previously housed an automobile dealership and, before that, the Gemini drive-in movie theater.

Early next year, a group that includes a team of prominent doctors and Staubach Co. will break ground on complex.

"It's going to be a master-planned medical campus," said Rod Booze, whose Ascension Group Architects designed the complex. "They have a powerhouse team of doctors backing this.

"And it's a fantastic piece of dirt – you can't find a better location," he said.

The developers are buying the tract from Westmount Realty Capital, which has owned the land since early this year. Real estate broker Newt Walker has been marketing the property.

Westmount's president, Cliff Booth, said that after the 4.3-acre sale to the doctors' group, his firm will continue to develop the rest of the property.

"This clearly establishes this location as a medical campus," Mr. Booth said. "We are very happy about this hospital coming to the site, and there are other medical-related transactions we are in discussions about at the moment."

The high-profile corner has long been considered one of the best development sites along North Central Expressway.

Partners in the Forest Park Medical Center plan include Corazon Ramirez, Wade Barker and Richard Toussaint – all prominent Dallas physicians. Dr. Ramirez is also a top officer in the Pinecreek Medical Center of Dallas.

Mr. Booze said the first phase of the project will include about 170,000 square feet in the specialty hospital and medical office building. "They wanted something that was a signature destination," he said.

[LH_Newbie]

The entire North-East quadrant of Dallas seems to have announcements and starts on new projects. It's amazing.

[MarkL2023]

I've been fairly surprised at how well the entire corridor has bounced back from the High Five construction.

Well it also can't hurt that 635 is scheduled to be torn up and replaced so developers and owners are expecting tenants to relocate to new locations like NCX.

[Mephis Gooseberry]

Two Demolition Excavators were offloaded onto the property Feb 2. The abandoned strip office/warehouse is about to come down.

Further north I noticed fencing and demolition signs up at a ghetto apartment complex northwest of coit and lbj. Its east of the Valley View Park pond and near where a new megachurch is supposed to be built, not sure if its related. They may be just bulldozing to replace with updated units like many of the other apartment developments around here.

[LDSR]

Two Demolition Excavators were offloaded onto the property Feb 2. The abandoned strip office/warehouse is about to come down.

Further north I noticed fencing and demolition signs up at a ghetto apartment complex northwest of coit and lbj. Its east of the Valley View Park pond and near where a new megachurch is supposed to be built, not sure if its related. They may be just bulldozing to replace with updated units like many of the other apartment developments around here.

That apartment complex was fenced in several weeks ago and it finally looks like some demolition is occurring. Over the past couple of years, the area near Coit and NCX has slowly been rebuilding... we lost a ghetto Arby's, renovated that little shopping center, fenced up the apt complex (still have the same number of homeless people....).

[Random Traffic Guy]

........and yes, just for clarification: The Westin Park Central is still very much operating as usual, no changes. The Sheraton is what closed and is now being gutted for unknown purposes.

Unknown into the future, but definitely caused by Katrina refugees.

Megachurch, are you talking the one built now at Park Central @ 635, or something else? That one's not too mega, but still good land off the tax rolls :mad:

SE corner high five looks interesting, need to keep the Whataburger though. I heard Zachary was making more money from the land than they did on the high five construction.

[BGM]

I just don't see how that abandoned building just south of Churchill Way will turn into any great development--that location is very hard to get in and out of if you are wanting easy access off of 75 and LBJ. That is true I think for the old Autonation site but we will see.

[trolleygirl]

Okay I must be completely retarded because I thought the SE corner of the High Five is a concrete batching plant. Maybe I'm too specific....????

I drive to my (new) residence this way every night. I take 75 north to 635 east and the Greenville exit, which I think is technically part of the interchange.

Soooo.....WTF are y'all talking about???

[SDORN]

I ned to find a way to get those apartments that are slated for demolition. Dallas demo is doing thst one

[Sky Time]

Okay I must be completely retarded because I thought the SE corner of the High Five is a concrete batching plant. Maybe I'm too specific....????

I drive to my (new) residence this way every night. I take 75 north to 635 east and the Greenville exit, which I think is technically part of the interchange.

Soooo.....WTF are y'all talking about???

South of that plant.

[Mephis Gooseberry]

Megachurch, are you talking the one built now at Park Central @ 635, or something else?


Another planned new church, north of lbj near the park/pond.

[Random Traffic Guy]

Another planned new church, north of lbj near the park/pond.

Sigh... good thing I don't pay Dallas property taxes, I'd get annoyed.

[LH_Newbie]

Sigh... good thing I don't pay Dallas property taxes, I'd get annoyed.
I'm confused - why would you be annoyed about paying property taxes if a church moves there?

[galore]

I'm confused - why would you be annoyed about paying property taxes if a church moves there?

My guess is that he doesn't like that churches sit on ultra-prime-land and pay no taxes. Like Park Central Baptist Church, which is appraised at (a low for the parcel) $2.3M and pays ZERO $ in property tax.

[LH_Newbie]

I was unaware that churches don't pay property taxes. Just did a quick lookup and geesh, we better get rid of all these tax exempt properties: churches, schools and charities. Come on - if someone dislikes church because they don't pay taxes really need to get out a little. If you need to look at it from a financial perspective... they pump way more money than the tax roles would collect into the community, offsetting the need for many incremental programs the city would be supporting...

[xen0blue]

I was unaware that churches don't pay property taxes. Just did a quick lookup and geesh, we better get rid of all these tax exempt properties: churches, schools and charities. Come on - if someone dislikes church because they don't pay taxes really need to get out a little. If you need to look at it from a financial perspective... they pump way more money than the tax roles would collect into the community, offsetting the need for many incremental programs the city would be supporting...

I think religious institutions shouldn't have to pay taxes ONLY of they aren't a certain size (ie. a megachurch). A reasonably normal-sized church, OK, but no "potters' house"s or anything like that, that's just ridiculous. Like we can't have a megachurch taking up an entire block (the first baptist downtown not withstanding because it serves other purposes).

[LH_Newbie]

I think religious institutions shouldn't have to pay taxes ONLY of they aren't a certain size (ie. a megachurch). A reasonably normal-sized church, OK, but no "potters' house"s or anything like that, that's just ridiculous. Like we can't have a megachurch taking up an entire block (the first baptist downtown not withstanding because it serves other purposes).
If the church fills with people - who cares about it's size as it relates to taxes? Instead of one mega church, you may then get 3 smaller churches. It'll end up being the same raw square footage and still not be taxed, but the megachurch has some economies of scale that may allow it to have lower operating expenses and therefore provide a greater % of it's tithes to help the community.

FYI: I'm not a fan of megachurches - they're not my thing - I go to a smaller church because I don't like being lost in a sea of people - but that's my choice. Megachurches have their place. Some people like them - and good for them. I just think this "large churches shouldn't get property tax benefits" argument is just a stepping stone to remove the benefit completely.

Should we only provide schools with property tax exemptions if they're of a certain size also? Maybe Plano shouldn't get that benefit because it's a large high school. Same goes for charities, huh? I'm just not seeing the logic.

Sigh - we're way off topic again, aren't we?

[Hannibal Lecter]

I had a real estate instructor ask the class how many churches were located in Highland Park. Nobody got the correct answer: zero. They don't want them, because of noise, traffic and the loss of property tax revenues. (I don't know if this is still true -- that was 25 years ago)

A few years ago Desoto refused to zone a prime property on the US-67 service road for a church, after the church had already bought the property. The only reason given was the loss of property taxes to the city. There was talk of a lawsuit -- I don't know what the final result was.

Personally, I think it's pretty pathetic when a city uses zoning as a way of maximizing revenue. Of course they all do it, but zoning is supposed to only be about compatible land uses.

[LH_Newbie]

I had a real estate instructor ask the class how many churches were located in Highland Park. Nobody got the correct answer: zero. They don't want them, because of noise, traffic and the loss of property tax revenues. (I don't know if this is still true -- that was 25 years ago)

A few years ago Desoto refused to zone a prime property on the US-67 service road for a church, after the church had already bought the property. The only reason given was the loss of property taxes to the city. There was talk of a lawsuit -- I don't know what the final result was.

Personally, I think it's pretty pathetic when a city uses zoning as a way of maximizing revenue. Of course they all do it, but zoning is supposed to only be about compatible land uses.

Isn't Highland Park United Methodist Church on Mockingbird a church in HP? It's been around since the 1920's.

[texcolo2]

Churches are not taxed... for anything, ever. That's the part of seperation of Church and State you don't hear about.

[clipper]

That Methodist church is in UP.

[hamiltonpl]

There are zero churches in the town of Highland Park. They were zoned out.

[OrangeMike]

Isn't Highland Park United Methodist Church on Mockingbird a church in HP? It's been around since the 1920's.


That Methodist church is in UP.

Don't want to flog an off-topic dead horse, but could you both be right? The map on the HP town website shows about three-fourths of the structure within the town limits.

http://www.hptx.org/cities/HighlandParkTX/docs/UploadedPages/hpmap.pdf

[US75Guy]

....back to topic:


Westmount Unveils Plan For Health Campus Flag
By Connie Gore of GlobeSt.com


Tuesday, February 05, 2008 - DALLAS-Locally based Westmount Realty Capital has seized an opportunity to begin a development program for branded medical campuses. A 27-acre site in North Dallas, bought in December 2006, is being primed for a 500,000-sf plan while the developer digs into talks to plant a campus on Houston soil too.

Cliff Booth, president of Westmount Realty, says the development team always believed the Dallas land was primed for medical uses due to its location, but the branding idea was spawned after selling a 4.35-acre tract at the corner of US Hwy. 75 and Forest Lane to a group of physicians for Forest Park Medical Center. "Now that we've branded this site as Westmount Health Campus, we're going to use that as a springboard," he tells GlobeSt.com.

Booth says Dallas broker Newt Walker has opened talks with several subsets of medical users for the prototype campus, which is located 400 feet from Dallas Area Rapid Transit's Forest Lane light-rail station, beside Medical City Hospital and just north of Presbyterian Hospital. Westmount plans to develop some medical office spec, either single-handedly or in a joint venture. "We're having discussions on both right now," Booth confides, adding more news should be forthcoming in 60 to 90 days.

The developer says Westmount Health Campus Dallas will support at least 500,000 sf of medical space in addition to a parking structure. Booth says the site will be carved into two- to eight-acre tracts, with a sticker price of $35 per sf.

"We'd identified medical at the beginning as a logical use," Booth says. "That was a clear alternative. But, we typically let the market tell us what makes sense. All demand is supporting it."

[US75Guy]

The empty warehouse/ whatever it was, on the frontage has been knocked down. A sign has gone up on Central announcing the impending "Forest Park" medical center.

[US75Guy]

I just don't see how that abandoned building just south of Churchill Way will turn into any great development--that location is very hard to get in and out of if you are wanting easy access off of 75 and LBJ. That is true I think for the old Autonation site but we will see.

Access has improved a lot post-high five since they have connected the frontage roads continously for both 75 and 635. Still not a lot of high visibility, but access has been improved.

[tamtagon]

The good times keep on rolling...

Expansion planned for Forest Park Medical Center
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-recolbriefs_14bus.ART.State.Edition1.3cfbaee.html
08:07 AM CDT on Friday, August 14, 2009


By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
The Neil Richards Group has bought 10 acres near the northeast corner of Forest Lane and North Central Expressway where it plans to build a medical complex.

The property is part of the Forest Park Medical Center and will be used to expand the medical complex and incorporate a medical office building for the practicing doctors.

The first 66,000-square-foot building opened early this year and is substantially leased.

A second, even larger medical building is being developed on part of the new land purchase.

Dallas real estate broker Newt Walker arranged the property sale.

[MDE]

I saw the sign announcing the expansion just the other day. Their website has some additional details and a rendering.

http://www.forestparkmc.com/future/


...(it will be) a 4-story, 72,000-square-foot medical office building to the immediate north of our hospital. Approximately 13,000 square feet on the ground floor will be dedicated to 6 operating rooms that will add to the hospital's existing 8-operating-room capacity. The remaining 59,000 square feet will be available for physician offices.

...Additionally, potential future hospital expansion may occur to the south of the Forest Park Medical Center campus.

[MDE]

Developers of medical complex sell land to physicians group

12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, August 18, 2009
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News


Developers of a successful North Dallas medical complex have lined up the sales of two more tracts for new buildings. The Westmount Health Campus at North Central Expressway and Forest Lane already has a new hospital, and other construction is planned.

Westmount Realty Capital just sold an almost 7-acre tract on the east side of North Central to Forest Park Realty Partners III, a group of physicians and investors. The same buyers also optioned 3.8 acres of adjoining land.

...Construction was finished this year on a 66,000-square-foot specialty hospital on the property called Forest Park Medical Center. And the hospital owners have bought another 10 acres north of the hospital for a larger second phase.

The group's latest purchase from Westmount is south of the hospital. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-medical_18bus.ART.State.Edition1.3f6c58b.html

[MDE]

The second phase is definitely larger. They are constructing buildings on both sides of the existing structure.

Taken today:

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/4378/fpmc1.jpg

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/4406/fpmc3.jpg

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/3280/fpmc5.jpg

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/8929/fpmc6.jpg

[MDE]

Taken a couple of hours ago:



Looking Southeast:

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/3301/lookingeast.jpg

Looking North:

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/2586/lookingnorth2.jpg

[MDE]

Yesterday (1/25/11):

http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/396/1000642.jpg

"Additionally, 125,000 square feet of surgical specialty hospital is currently under construction, which will include 14 operating rooms, 48 private patient beds, and 12 ICU beds. The expansion includes a Class A, 6-story, 130,000 square foot medical office building."


Before (7/3/10):

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/4378/fpmc1.jpg