Las Colinas hopes rail will spur business

Irving, TX community

Vilas Bhuchar, Nov 30, 10.

Las Colinas business leaders believe the expansion of DART’s light-rail line and construction of other public projects, including a new convention center, will be help spur business in the years ahead, according to The Dallas Morning News:

“The Orange Line coming to Las Colinas will be a huge boost for this market,” said Mark Dickenson, a senior vice president for Cousins Properties. “By 2012, you won’t believe it.”

Dickenson said that along with the mass-transit line connecting Las Colinas to downtown Dallas and, eventually, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, the area will benefit from construction of additional retail, entertainment and meeting center projects.

“It’s going to turn into more of the 24/7 environment that companies want,” said Dickenson, whose firm leases some of Las Colinas’ biggest office buildings. “We are already seeing the beginnings of the turnaround.”

In fact, companies have already started relocating to Las Colinas, adds the story:

Last month, California-based Consolidated Electrical Distributors completed a deal to bring its 120-person headquarters to Las Colinas. The company bought a 27,000-square-foot building at 1920 Westridge Drive for its head office.

This summer, HMS Holdings Corp., a New York-based health care technologies firm, announced that it was moving its 350-job headquarters to Las Colinas.

PVR Midstream LLC is shifting its headquarters from North Dallas to the Williams Square complex in Las Colinas’ Urban Center.

“We chose Las Colinas based on a combination of value, amenities, location near both airports and proximity to a majority of our employees’ homes,” said Ron Page, president of PVR Midstream.

Also this year, telecommunications firm Shared Technologies Inc. and software giant Oracle decided to consolidate some operations in Las Colinas from existing offices in the Dallas area.

TXU Energy just renewed its almost 200,000-square-foot lease at 200 W. John Carpenter Freeway.

“We are seeing some of the most aggressive packages being offered in both the Urban Center and business center areas of Las Colinas,” said Greg Langston, managing principal for CresaPartners. “If you combine the proximity to the airport and area amenities, Las Colinas is coming back.”

The two new DART rail stations that will serve Las Colinas’ Urban Center, and are scheduled to open in 2012, will continue to lure companies to the area, says John Bonnot, vice president of economic development for the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce, according to the story: