KDC Moves Ahead on $1.5B M-U Project in Metro Dallas

 By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor 

Rezoning has been approved for Dallas-based KDC’s $1.5 billion, master-planned, mixed-use project in Richardson, Texas, clearing the way for the company to acquire the needed 186 acres of land and move forward with the development, KDC announced Tuesday. The Richardson City Council approved the rezoning on Monday night.

The acquisition of the land, which consists of two major blocks and is sited in a tax- increment financing zone, is expected to be completed by year’s end. The as-yet-unnamed development straddles Plano Road on the south side of President George Bush Turnpike (Texas 190) just east of the North Central Expressway (US 75), in the northern Dallas suburbs. The site is adjacent to the Bush Turnpike station on Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s Red Line.

The project reportedly is the largest in KDC’s history. The company previously developed three projects in Richardson: the 800,000-square-foot Nortel Networks Galatyn Park Campus in 2001 (now occupied by Bank of America and State Farm), the 1.1 million-square-foot Blue Cross Blue Shield campus in 2009 and the 535,000-square-foot Fossil campus in 2011.

KDC CEO Steve Van Amburgh told Commercial Property Executive that the new project’s first phase, totaling about $600 million to $700 million, should consist of more than 1 million square feet of office space, a healthcare facility of about 50,000 square feet, 75,000 to 100,000 square feet of restaurants and service/convenience retail, 600–800 units of multi-family, and a limited-service hotel.

Construction probably will start in February or March, with deliveries starting in the third or fourth quarter of 2014. That phase, Van Amburgh said, will constitute about 35 to 40 percent of the eventual total buildout.

As for the following phase, Van Amburgh said that KDC has been in meetings regarding a grocery-anchored retail center. This would be in line with the company’s desire to create, as Van Amburgh put it, “a great mix of amenities in a pedestrian-friendly environment … a live-work-play environment.” The development is planned to include 3,925 multi-family residential units when buildout is complete in four to five years.

Van Amburgh told CPE that demand for the project’s various components will be powered by job growth created by companies expanding in the area. The motive forces behind that expansion, he said, include Texas’ right-to-work laws and lack of corporate or individual income taxes.

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