Addison Circle

[CTroyMathis]

Any updates on the follow-on phases?

Rendering from the urban design section of, once again, RTKL...

http://www.rtkl.com/portfolio.asp?s=Urban+Design&St=0
http://www.rtkl.com/portfolio_images/addisonMP.jpg

[psukhu]

I heard that they are just waiting for the economy to pick up. They should start in about a year on the next phases.

The new park has made significant progress. It should be open by Oktoberfest.

[gc]

Addison Circle is such a cool development. I hope it has continued success.

[CTroyMathis]

I agree!

[jsoto3]

a few weeks ago my girlfriend and i went to a play at the theater there on the west side of the addison circle roundabout, just north of the park. it was designed by cunningham architects (http://www.cunninghamarchitects.com/) and i dare say it is one of the nicest pieces of architecture in the metroplex. if you get a chance check it out.

addison conference and theater center (http://www.cunninghamarchitects.com/pdf/add.pdf)

[chiboi]

We need an employee of RTKL on the forum. They always seem to be involved in the hottest projects in town.

[jsoto3]

.

[jammin]

Dropped by Addison Circle to pick up a cigar, and noticed that they were starting to clear land(there were also big mounds of dirt) where phase 2 is going to be. Can anyone add any additional info?

[jsoto3]

It's weird to read my last post in this thread because I am happily able to say now, as most of you already know, that I do infact work for RTKL now. Anyway, I haven't heard anything about Phase II but I'll check into it (we designed all of the buildings there, but maybe not Phase II, which would surprise me).

[jammin]

lol...knowing you wound up working there that last post made laugh...thanks jsoto.

[Foucault]

Does DART own the Southern Pacific line that runs near Addison Circle?

[freewaytincan]

Yes they do, and it goes on for a ways, all the way from west of Farmer's Branch, across Preston, Coit, under GBT, over Central, and on east from Plano. I believe another rail company now has a lease of sorts, and will continue to use it as a freight line until DART transforms it into commuter or light rail.

[psukhu]

It looks like the townhouse division of Centex is planning on building townhomes in Addison.

http://www.cityhomesusa.com/

[jammin]

Cool...thanks for the info.

[Mballar]

Urban-inspired development in Addison
11:18 PM CST on Thursday, February 10, 2005
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

ADDISON – Addison Circle was designed to bring Uptown living to the suburbs – and it must have worked. The popular Addison apartment community has more than 1,300 rental units and is about to get two large townhouse and condo developments. Buildings are also planned for the last remaining sites. That's not bad for an area that was mostly vacant land 10 years ago, say officials with the town of Addison, which has spent about $9 million in public funds on the complex. "We have on the books right now about $184 million in improvements out there," said Carmen Moran, Addison's director of development services. "We feel like we leveraged our money very well." More important, she said, Addison Circle gives the northern Dallas County suburb an identity. "One of the reasons we wanted to do Addison Circle is we wanted a center for our town," Ms. Moran said. "We are very proud of how it has turned out."

Started in the late 1800s, Addison grew up around a mill, cotton gin and depot on the St. Louis Southwestern rail line. The community takes its name from the first postmaster, Addison Robertson. In the early 1970s, Addison still had just 600 residents. But as Dallas grew northward and the Dallas North Tollway was extended, the town of about four square miles boomed. The current population is 14,166.

Town growth

In the mid-1990s, developers teamed with the town to turn some of its last undeveloped land – 70 acres near the northwest corner of the Dallas North Tollway and Arapaho Road – into Addison Circle. Addison already had its conference center and theater on an adjoining site. "That's one of the reasons we thought this would be a good place for an urban mixed-use development," said Ms. Moran, who's worked on the Addison Circle project for more than a decade. "When we started it, we also wanted owner-occupied housing but could only get apartments in the early phases." An 86-unit condo building called Aventura was built in 2001. The next phase of construction will dramatically increase the number of homeowners in Addison Circle. CityHomes, a division of Dallas-based Centex Corp., has begun construction on 180 three-story townhouses on Quorum Drive in Addison Circle that will sell for between $237,000 and $280,000.

The builder has been bowled over by the buyer response, said Doug Stempowski, vice president of marketing. Last fall, he said, 39 people bought homes in one weekend even though the units wouldn't be complete until this April. "There are 60 sales to date," he said. Mr. Stempowski said the buyers are a mix of Addison Circle renters and others from the area. "We've also had some buyers who've been driven out of Uptown because of the cost," said Steve Langridge, sales manager for CityHomes. "They are living the same lifestyle."

The next phase

Buyers will soon have more options in Addison Circle. Fairfield Residential of Grand Prairie has received approval from Addison to build a seven-story, 140-condo building across the street from the CityHomes project. Fairfield's eight-acre development includes three buildings and a 1.5-acre park. Fairfield officials did not return phone calls, but details of the project are on file with the city. "The two phases that face Quorum Drive would be condos," said Ms. Moran. "It looks like a very nice project." Fairfield is the same company that's building an apartment complex and a condominium building in the Victory development near downtown Dallas. Mixing condos and apartments is becoming common in locations like Dallas' Uptown, Addison Circle and – more recently – the Austin Ranch community in The Colony.

"Having a large community of apartments helps make an urban location more desirable," said real estate analyst Ron Witten. "It supports more restaurants and retail and neighborhood conveniences any condo buyer would enjoy." Addison Circle has more than 100,000 square feet of retail space and is built around small parks and landscaped boulevards. "It establishes the neighborhood as a viable place to live, and that's really what has happened at Addison Circle," Mr. Witten said.

More attention

Developers certainly get it. The remaining vacant tract in Addison Circle not owned by builders – between Spectrum Drive and the tollway – is attracting attention. PM Realty Group recently had the land under contract with plans to build a large residential, retail and office complex. But this week the buyer dropped the deal. "I would work on it again if we could solve some disagreements we had with the seller," said PM Realty's Bryant Nail. "I think the synergism with the new [CityHomes] townhomes will be great for Addison Circle." Post Properties, which owns more than 1,300 apartments in Addison Circle, is also tinkering with a final four-acre tract it owns on Quorum Drive near Airport Parkway. "We are dusting off our plans and evaluating that property for both rental and for sale product," said David Ward, executive vice president for Post's Southwest region. "We are encouraged with what we are seeing there." Mr. Ward said Post's apartments at Addison Circle have only about a 4 percent vacancy rate. "The rent is well above the market because of the place we created there," he said. "It has stayed full through some tough market times."

E-mail stevebrown@dallasnews.com

[texman]

They just need DART rail to tie into it and then it would be perfect.

[drumguy8800]

They just need DART rail to tie into it and then it would be perfect.

They're going to. And if the rail up the DNT goes as planned (that is, alignment wise,) it will most likely have a two-line intersection (cotton belt and dnt). Anyway, space is already left open for the station- smackdab in the middle of the development. Regarding the new development, I've seen the construction going on @ Addison Circle since the beginning of the year.. on the east side of Quorum, north of the development.

[gc]

^ Addison has a lot of positive momentum to build on over the next several years.

[CTroyMathis]

Urban-inspired development in Addison
11:18 PM CST on Thursday, February 10, 2005
By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

The next phase

Buyers will soon have more options in Addison Circle. Fairfield Residential of Grand Prairie has received approval from Addison to build a seven-story, 140-condo building across the street from the CityHomes project. Fairfield's eight-acre development includes three buildings and a 1.5-acre park. Fairfield officials did not return phone calls, but details of the project are on file with the city. "The two phases that face Quorum Drive would be condos," said Ms. Moran. "It looks like a very nice project."

Time for a lookie, 15 months later:

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/3352/addisonfairfield0018qi.jpg

[John N Allen]

They're going to. And if the rail up the DNT goes as planned (that is, alignment wise,) it will most likely have a two-line intersection (cotton belt and dnt). Anyway, space is already left open for the station- smackdab in the middle of the development. Regarding the new development, I've seen the construction going on @ Addison Circle since the beginning of the year.. on the east side of Quorum, north of the development.

I've always thought the DNT would be a logical alignment for the DART rail, but I have never seen anything indicating any plans to do so. Can you point me to a source?

I agree with everyone here though, that part of Dallas & Addison would greatly benefit from an LRT, IMO.

Thanks!