‘Engineering stuff’ needs to be cleaned up before the project can proceed, commissioner says.
FRISCO, Texas — This article was originally published by our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. You can read the original article here.
Two site plans for the continued development of a multibillion-dollar mixed-use hub in Frisco have been rejected.
The Frisco Planning & Zoning Commission on Jan. 28 unanimously denied two sets of site plans for Firefly Park, a 217-acre mixed-use project rising near the Dallas North Tollway.
The proposed plans included a parking garage, a hotel/office building, and a plaza at the southeast corner of Brixley Boulevard and Breezeway Boulevard. However, city officials rejected them, citing noncompliance with the city’s zoning ordinance and engineering standards. The plans were first submitted to city officials on Dec. 16 and received a 30-day extension on Jan. 14.
The developer, Wilks Development LLC, received approvals for two other site plans on Oct. 22. Those plans allow for 191 living units on the southwest corner of Stromile Way and Breezeway Boulevard and 233 living units along with retail space on the northwest corner of Stromile Way and Fireglass Way. The documents do not need to be reviewed by Frisco City Council.
“We’re not always looking for denials, but this is just some … engineering stuff that’s just being cleaned up as they work through that process,” Commissioner Jon Kendall said during the Jan. 28 hearing. “It doesn’t mean we are stopping or canceling projects, but rather just letting them finish getting those details done.”
When fully built, Firefly Park is expected to be a $2.5 billion to $4 billion project –– bringing a blend of residential, commercial and recreational space to Frisco. Other major developments in the city include the expansion of Hall Park and Fields, which is getting a 100,000-square-foot resort called The Bays and a $550 million Universal Kids Resort. A Vegas-style hotel is also planned at a separate multibillion-dollar mixed-use project along Dallas North Tollway north of Main Street.
Since 2000, Frisco has grown by roughly 200,000 residents, reaching an estimated population of more than 234,000. The city is currently home to a variety of companies including the Dallas Cowboys, TIAA and PGA of America.
Plans for Firefly Park stretch back to 2015 when Wilks Development first acquired the land. The project — which has also gone by the names Frisco North and Oxbow at Frisco — has picked up momentum recently, with the start of infrastructure construction last spring. Construction on the initial site work is expected to conclude this year.
Phase one, slated to finish in 2027, will include a 190-room Dream Hotel with attached office space, 230 townhomes, high-rise and mid-rise residential buildings, 130,000 square feet of retail and dining space, a 5,000-square-foot private event chapel, a 25,000-square-foot amphitheater, and a 1,400-spot parking garage. Firefly Park is set to be built in three phases over the next decade.
In addition to Wilks Development, other members of the project team include Dallas-based BOKA Powell, Boston-based Sasaki, Baltimore-based Hord Coplan Macht, Dallas-based Kimley-Horn, Amsterdam-based UNStudio and Austin-based Michael Hsu Office of Architecture.
