Accolades

CMC planning $120 million development in Lewisville
Dallas Business Journal
by Amanda Bishop

LEWISVILLE-CMC Commercial Realty Group Inc. plans to convert 78 acres at the southwest corner of State Highway 121 and Denton Tap Road in Lewisville into a master planned development called High point Oaks.

Plans call for a 137,800-square-foot retail center, two extended-stay hotels, three low-rise office buildings totaling 284,642 square feet, two tech centers totaling 207,800 square feet, an 80,OOO-squarefoot call center and seven pad sites for restaurants, a gas station and a bank.

CMC purchased the land in May from Capital Management for an undisclosed price. The project, which is being financed through Today Realty Advisors Inc. of Dallas, will cost between $120 million and $150 million, said Subash Gaitonde, a partner at CMC.

Greg Vaughn, president of the Lewisville Chamber of Commerce and Visitor's Bureau, said the project is needed.

"All that stuff is welcome," he said. "Lewisville can easily support all those facilities. Office space is most needed. Lewisville is young in its development. We've had problems locating services buildings. The tech center is always exciting because that's going to be the site of primary jobs."

Gaitonde said he expects the technical centers to garner the most interest. He said the Metroplex lacks tech space.

"We can serve a group of clients that requires heavy office space but needs single-story buildings with high ceilings for manufacturing and storage and dock doors, and we can deliver it cheaply."

Lewisville has 30 tech buildings with a vacancy rate of 18.35%, according to Jamison Research Inc. The vacancy rate for the Metroplex is 11.9%.

CMC plans to charge $9 to $11 for each square foot of tech space and $17 to $19 per square foot of office space, plus utilities.

Tech space lease rates average $7.78 to $8.04 in Lewisville and $5.87 to $6.66 for the Metroplex, according to Jamison.

For Class B office space, lease rates range from $19.67 to $20.18 in the Far North Dallas area, which includes Lewisville, according to Jamison.

The location of Highpoint Oaks. offers other advantages to businesses, according to Gaitonde. "Denton Tap (Road) has just been divided into four lanes, and it's a 10minute drive to the airport," he said. "Lewisville offers a triple freeport exemption for industrial clients."

The residential areas near the planned development are also growing, according to Gaitonde. "We will build several office buildings anticipating the demand from residential communities," he said. "There's a lot of residential areas coming up, but not enough office and technology facilities."

Groundbreaking for the shopping center and tech center is scheduled for Oct. 1. Groundbreaking for the other buildings in the project has not been set.

CMC has no tenants yet and has not yet secured a flagship for the hotels, but Gaitonde anticipates. the project will be complete in four years, subject to demand and funding. The hotels, he said, will mainly cater to visitors at the office and technology facilities, as well as airport visitors.

More hotels are needed for visiting executives and tourists, Vaughn said. Lewisville, which has a population of 70,000, has 1,054 hotel rooms, with an average rent of $57.31 per night and a 67% occupancy rate, according to Source Strategies Inc., a San Antonio-based consulting firm. The occupancy is higher than the Texas average of 60% and the Dallas-Metroplex rate of 65%.

"The statistics tell me Lewisville could handle more hotels," said Bruce Walker, president of Source Strategies.

Hardy McCullah/MLM Architects Inc. of Dallas is the project architect