New Plan in Works for Huge Arlington Site

Mayor Bob Cluck says the Lazarus proposal is "the best chance Arlington has to develop the site."

By NATHANIEL JONES
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

ARLINGTON - A Dallas developer wants to build single-family homes, apartments, retail shops and warehouses on the long-abandoned Lakes of Arlington property, the city's largest undeveloped tract.

Lazarus Property Corp., which specializes in rescuing distressed properties, plans to build $250,000 homes and luxury apartments surrounded by retail stores and some warehouses on the secluded site bordered by the Trinity River, Farm Road 157, Green Oaks Boulevard and Texas 360.

Developer Samuel Ware said he is seeking city approval of a tax-increment financing district, which would allow tax revenue generated by the project to be used to pay for infrastructure such as roads.

City officials will get their first peek at the details Friday during a special meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission at 3 p.m. at City Hall, 101 W. Abram St. Ware said he needs City Council approval of zoning necessary for the project by July 1, his deadline to close on purchasing the property from Credit Suisse First Boston.

"The property has been an eyesore," said Ware, who has been aware of the property for 20 years. "That vacant site has not contributed to the tax rolls of the city of Arlington, the county or the H-E-B school district."

Ware did not disclose the purchase price. He said he is talking with CalPERS, the California Public Employees' Retirement System—a major national pension fund—about financing the project.

Mayor Bob Cluck called the Lazarus proposal the best chance Arlington has to develop the site. He said he supports the concept of a tax-financing district for the property because "we'll be adding to the tax rolls without taking a risk."

Lazarus' proposal is the first specific plan filed for the property since previous owner Jim Salim, a stock trader, attempted to develop the 1,950-acre tract in the mid-1990s. Salim eventually spent $14 million over six years clearing and grooming the property, which he later sold for stock in a company that went bust.

Some Arlington leaders had pitched the site as a location for a new Cowboys stadium complex in summer 2001, but team officials never moved beyond initial discussions with city officials.

Last spring, an $86,000 economic analysis of the land funded by the city and Credit Suisse suggested that the property needed more than $100 million in road improvements to accommodate most development scenarios.

A mixed-use development is about the only use for the property, Ware said. His plan reserves about 1,392 acres for single-family homes and open space and about 45 acres for multi-family development.

Ware has earmarked 150 acres for community services, 161 acres for warehouses or other light industrial uses and other land for neighborhood services. He also is seeking city and state permission to drill a dozen gas wells on the site because he believes natural gas may be underground.

Councilmen Steve McCollum and Joe Bruner said the current proposal should work. Bruner added that the tax-increment financing district could be the deal maker.

"There are a lot of intense uses that we should be able to control," said Bruner, whose north Arlington district includes the site. "It's going to be a balancing act on what residents want and what they are willing to go with."

If zoning is approved by July, Ware said he plans to begin moving dirt in September and to began building on the site by May 2004. Demand would dictate whether residential or commercial development comes first, he said.

"Studies have already been done on the land, so we already know what we need to do," he said. "We just need the continued support of the city to make this happen."

Lazarus has turned a Dallas office building into luxury condominiums and has transformed a former Kmart building in Euless into a technology call center.

The company has also worked on the former Builders Square headquarters in San Antonio, a former Lockheed Martin missile plant in Austin, empty buildings and land in Houston, a vacant financial and reservations center for Delta Air Lines in Atlanta, and Incredible Universe locations in Georgia and Colorado, according to published reports.

Lazarus also is planning to develop Travis Ranch, a 4,600-lot site in Heath, near Rockwall.