Dive Brief:
- Construction crews are scheduled to break ground today on the $450 million Fort Worth (TX) Multipurpose Arena, according to the Dallas Business Journal.
- The HKS-designed, 14,000-seat project will be completed as a public–private partnership — with local billionaire Ed Bass pledging $225 million and The Beck Group of Dallas serving as general contractor — and will host the annual Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo performances, concerts and other events.
- In addition to the promised contribution from Bass, facility and parking taxes will pay for construction. When complete in 2019, the city of Forth Worth will own the venue, and the non-profit Multipurpose Arena Forth Worth will manage and maintain the facility.
Dive Insight:
The Dallas-Fort Worth area has seen significant development in the last year, both in the form of P3s and traditional projects.
Skanska USA took over construction last year of the $173 million Irving Music Factory, a P3 between developer ARK Group and the city of Irving, TX. The project will include a 100,000-square-foot Live Nation concert venue as well as restaurants and other entertainment spots. The Music Factory is expected to open sometime later this year.
HKS is currently underway with the design phase for another major DFW-area project, the new $1 billion Texas Rangers ballpark. The project will benefit from voter-approved financing in the form of $500 million in bonds, which are backed by new city taxes. The team is putting up a matching amount and will cover any construction overruns. The new facility will be integrated with the new $250 million Texas Live! entertainment complex.
Perhaps the largest development in the area is the group of mixed-use projects that make up the "$5 billion mile" in nearby Frisco, TX. The Dallas Cowboys moved their headquarters and training facilities there, and construction of the largest of the district's projects, Frisco Station, is currently underway. When complete, Frisco Station will offer a total of 650 hotel rooms, 2,4000 residential units, a 40-acre medical complex and 300,000 square feet of retail, dining and entertainment.
Texas was second only to New York last year in the pace of commercial development, according to a report from the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, or NAIOP. The state generated $44 billion in total commercial real estate output and $18.5 billion in direct spending, which supported nearly 311,000 jobs.