Midwest Real Estate Players Aim to Ride Texas Growth Wave in Frisco

Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc. and Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises have partnered to develop a 400-acre master-planned site in North Texas. The development will ultimately include retail, residential, hotel and office space, according to the partners.

The site is in Frisco, north of Dallas. Until recently, a small town on the outskirts of the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex, Frisco has seen explosive growth in the last decade or so. In fact, according to the North Texas Council of Governments, the town is one of the fastest growing in North Texas. In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau put its population at about 33,700, up roughly 450 percent since the 1990 census population figure of about 6,100. Currently the population is over 81,000 residents, and by 2030, the Census Bureau estimates that Frisco will have a population of over 227,000--hardly an outskirts town anymore.

General Growth and Forest City had previously been working independently on planning to develop their land holdings in Frisco, which are roughly the same size. The partnership agreement puts an end to that rivalry.

“Our acreage is adjoining, so ultimately we decided that it would be better to work together,” Robert Michaels, president & COO of General Growth, told CPN this afternoon. “Together we’ll be in a much better position to take advantage of the extraordinary growth in this part of the Dallas area.”

Michaels added that the plans for the partnership’s development are still in the very early stages. Currently there’s no date slated for groundbreaking, though Michaels anticipated that it will be sometime in 2008.

The GGP-Forest City development will be southwest of the junction of the Dallas North Tollway and U.S. 380. Under the master plan, the partners will develop an open-air commercial and residential center around a waterfront town square park. The shopping center will be about 1.5 million square feet, and also include a pedestrian-oriented main street lined with specialty stores on the first floor and residences above.

The two partners, both real estate giants in their own right, are no strangers to Texas. GGP owns and manages the 1.6 million-square-foot Stonebriar Centre in Frisco, an enclosed shopping center, as well as 20 other shopping centers in Texas. Forest City is currently developing three additional Texas properties--in Dallas and in the towns of Mansfield and Prosper.