On our final day of our real estate tour we visited Dallas, TX. We started out by meeting with city officials. Paul Dyer was the first to speak to us and he talked to us about the city of Dallas and its parks and green space. He told us that they spent $1.5 million for a master plan and Chicago had actually invested in the same plan after Dallas. The Parks and Recreation department is very much involved in the much grander Trinity River Project. The reason for the purchase of the TRP is for flood control, parks, and transportation. Next we got to meet with the Mayor of Dallas. He talked to us about the emphasis of redevelopment in downtown. There are many different TIFs in downtown but the mayor pointed out that these TIFs only become useful if their is active redevelopment going on in those districts. This is tough when there are 40 office buildings vacant in downtown, which does not encourage development. He then got to brag on his city a little bit by telling us that Dallas in number one in the country in the purchase of renewable energy. After the mayor, we met with Tracy, who talked to us about Dallas' sustainable redevelopment program. She was very clear in pointing out that the city of Dallas in landlocked and that the focus going into the future needs to be on redevelopment and increasing density where needed. She told us that in the past 3500 permits were being issued a year, which would bring in $2 million in revenue to the city, but now only 700 permits a year are issued. She cited the reason for this being the capital markets are dried up and that most projects are now being publicly financed. Next was David Whittle. He spoke to us about urban design. He says the function of his department is to be an advocate of good design. They have been vital with the happenings of the Trinity River Project. Finally, we spoke with Carl of the economic development department. He told us that there is not a dominant developer in Dallas and how it has been a challenge to garner interest in from investors to redevelop certain areas. When no one is investing it does not inspire confidence to city officials or other people who have been tentative to parting with their money. He did mention a program, however, that if a foreign investor invests $500,000 or more he can get a green card for themselves and their family. This has been vital in raising capital for developers in the area. Apparently 75% participating in this program are Koreans.
ALOFT HOTEL
After meeting with the officials we walked over to the ALofts boutique hotel. The second I walked in there was only one word to describe the atmosphere, SWANKY. We got to talk to the developers and this is the 44th Aloft hotel to open in the U.S. but the first adaptive reuse Aloft project. They used an old historical warehouse and received historical tax credits and grant money from the city. They got $4.2 million from the city and another $5 million in tax credits. The developers told us that this money was the only way they could make the project feasible. The hotel has now been open for eight months and has 193 rooms. The cost of construction was about $170,000 per key but with all the government incentives it comes to about $120,000 per key.
CRAIG RANCH
For our final site visit of the tour we drove north to McKinney, TX and saw a massive community development known as Craig Ranch. We met with David Craig who is the visionary behind Craig Ranch. It is a huge development centered around the golf course, TPC at Craig Ranch, that will contain office, retail, single family, multi-family, condos, and its own medical facilities. Mr. Craig was very clear that some of the land was flexible and on the model had it as apartments and such, but he envisioned that land being used for big corporations that would relocate into the development. He is looking to create a walkable urban environment in a suburban area. He wants to truly create a work, live, play environment with lots of green space and first class amenities for a true balanced, healthy, and happy life.
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