Broker Picks City for Large Project
The Mustang Ranch agreement struck between the developers, led by property owner Rex Glendenning, and the city of Pilot Point provides future developers with an example of how to set up their agreement, the city manager said.
The development will include high-end housing, urban edge-style apartments, commercial development and refined amenities.
“We have, I believe, come to an agreement in terms with regard to what Pilot Point wanted to see regarding development standards and quality control and making sure that the project is conducive to the city long-term,” Glendenning said. “I intend to do that.”
The amenities planned for the development could potentially include a golf course.
With the PGA Frisco golf courses set to open in August of 2022, according to visitfrisco.com, and set to host 26 golf championships between 2023 and 2034, having a golf course within Pilot Point could help it become a location for smaller competitions.
Glendenning and his team discussed that possibility at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on Sept. 2. He gave an overview of it at the council meeting.
“We do have a high quality golf course development group that is working with us, that has approached us and is working with us and trying to convince me that that’s the right way to go,” he said Sept. 9. “I haven’t committed to that. We’re still in discussions at this time.”
He also complimented the city staff and attorney on their willingness to work with his warn since February to reach a compromise that works for both sides.
One key component for the city was the voluntary annexation of the property into the city by the developers.
Having that project build out as an official part of the city helps the city staff work more closely with the development team and to have more input into the development process.
The project includes the use of a Municipal Utility District to build the infrastructure-streets, water lines and sewer lines. It also includes a separate Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, which is set at a 75/25 split.
The developer will receive three-quarters of the property tax revenue to compensate it for its expenses, and the other quarter will go back to the city.
In comparison to Yarbrough Farms, for which all of the revenue funnels back into the TIRZ for the term of the agreement, the Mustang Ranch TIRZ will provide the city with the revenue it needs to provide emergency services and any other city services to that planned development, City Manager Britt Lusk said.
“The 25% of that TIRZ, by the time that we actually have to [handle) public safety in that area will cover that expense,” he said on Sept. 10.
If the bonds take less than 30 years to repay, Lusk added, the terms of the TIRZ will be satisfied and the “city then gets 100% of that” property tax revenue.
Glendenning’s company, REX Real Estate, has developed multiple high-end developments since 1987, including the development that became Trophy Club, Granite Park in Plano and the Gates of Prosper still being built out fully along U.S. 380, according to the company’s website.
He and his fellow broker Matthew Kiran’s professional successes throughout the Preston Road and Dallas North Tollway corridors also includes brokering the deal for The Star in Frisco.
Kiran, Rob Daake and Mindy Koehne came with Glendenning to both meetings and answered the questions of the P&Z and council members.
As he spoke to the council, Glendenning reinforced what Pilot Point ISD and Tioga ISD have been told in the last few months by Bob Templeton of Templeton Demographics: The Dallas North Tollway extension project turned Glendenning’s attention to Pilot Point.
Construction on Mustang Ranch will likely follow the extension project’s completion.
“You need that white collar demographics that are moving north from Plano, Frisco, Prosper, Celina, that are now basically right here in Pilot Point,” Glendenning said, calling the road “the catalyst” for “the synergy and the velocity that’s needed for projects, master-planned, single family developments like this.”
The development’s close neighbors near the junction of FM 1385 and the tollway’s path include large developments Talley Ranch and Bryson Ranch. Both of them are staying in the extraterritorial jurisdiction for now.
Members of the public expressed concerns about the possible conflict between the preliminary plans for the project and the county’s thoroughfare plan, the change from a rural area to a suburban community and the use of a TIRZ in the development.
The council also approved the budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 as well as the accompanying tax rate and utility rate increases.
Last year’s rate was 61.9717 cents per $100 valuation; the rate approved on Sept. 9 is 63.626 cents per $100 valuation, which is the voter-approval rate. It’s a 2.67% increase in tax rate.
All of the council members voted in favor of the budget and tax rate. Dean Cordell gave the sole no vote on the utility rate increase presented by the city staff to fund the upcoming budget.
Mayor Shea Dane-Patterson also recognized the city’s first responders, city staff, school district staff and mutual aid representatives for their response to the Sept. 3 bomb threat, thanking them for their efforts.
Pilot Point ISD Superintendent Todd Southard told the chiefs and the other representatives that he appreciated their hard work and dedication.
“On behalf of the school district, we appreciate so much the job that all of you did,” he said, agreeing with the praise Dane-Patterson gave the people who handled the situation.
Source: The Post-Signal - Abigail Allen, Managing Editor