The BLVD complex at SMU Boulevard and Greenville is a five-story apartment/retail complex built by Prescott Realty.
Beginning in late July, Prescott Realty expects to break ground on a 200-unit, five-story apartment/retail complex just off Wildcat Way in the Lake Highlands Town Center. At least, that’s what city councilman Jerry Allen told the Greater East Dallas Chamber of Commerce Tuesday during the group’s monthly meeting, which featured several council members talking about projects in their districts.
The apartment project (which we assume is the same one announced several months ago) likely will be similar to what Prescott is building at SMU Boulevard (formerly Yale Boulevard) and Greenville Avenue. That project, called BLVD and pictured above, features four stories of high-end-looking apartment units over a ground floor of retail that will soon house Nodding Donkey (a self-described “Texas Sports Saloon,” which is a dangerous-sounding name for what appears to be a decent neighborhood sports bar), Torchy’s Tacos (which also is planning a restaurant in Casa Linda Plaza), and several other retail outlets.
If you want a peek inside the BLVD apartments to get an idea about what the Town Center project might look like, check out this link on apartmentguide.com — there you’ll see pictures of the project’s interior, floor plans and a breakdown of monthly rents, which run about $1,055 per month for a 494-square-foot NYC-sized studio apartment to $2,705 for a 1,520-square-foot place. For those of you keeping track, that is roughly $1.75 to $2 per square foot in monthly rent.
That’s not to say that the Town Center unit mix, size- or price-wise, will be the same as the BLVD project, but it’s safe to say that the basic template you see at SMU and Greenville is a pretty good predictor of what we’ll see in Lake Highlands.
Two of our staffers, frequent Town Center writer Keri Mitchell and marketing director Meghan Riney, raised an interesting question about comparing the two projects: Clearly, the BLVD is geared to SMU students, with the small units seeming pricey but actually comparably priced (or less expensive) than SMU dorms.
Imagine that the project now sits in the middle of the Town Center and in the middle of Lake Highlands: Will young urban professionals be willing to pay relatively high rents to live in more of a residential than a hip neighborhood? Will LHHS grads returning from college to start careers want to live in the middle of LH rather than moving to Uptown or even the BLVD, where there’s a little more action? My prediction: Yes. With DART within walking distance, the small park nearby and a brand-new apartment building, I suspect this project will be popular and fill up quickly, assuming pricing is a bit lower than comparable units like BLVD.
The Town Center apartment project appears to be following Prescott’s latest master plan, which calls for construction of the apartment complex to lead off the Town Center’s construction, to be followed (depending on whom you talk with) either later this year or early next year with the HUD-backed parking garage and an anchor grocery store and a few other tenants.
As we all know, the grocery anchor has yet to be named, and there is no official timetable from Prescott on when any of this will happen. What appears to be happening is that Prescott has settled on a grocer to anchor the center, but lacking funding for the HUD-backed garage — which is now an essential part of the project — Prescott appears to be waiting until the last-possible minute to make any official announcement, probably in the hopes that a better deal will come along or to line up additional mini-anchor tenants to blunt the announcement that the grocer will be one of the big-box stores, which at least some neighbors have argued will change the promised feel of the Town Center.
In our discussions with Nodding Donkey and Torchy’s, both have been approached by Prescott about opening stores in the Town Center, and both say they’re open to the idea. Nodding Donkey owner Anthony Winler says he hopes to work with Prescott on the Town Center project as soon as an anchor is established, and that “we are definitely one of their preferred vendors.” Given the oft-delayed deadlines set by Prescott to announce Town Center tenants and plans, it makes sense for Prescott to present a bigger splash during its eventual announcement, simply from a PR standpoint.
As always, we contacted Prescott for comments about the apartment complex and the grocery anchor. No calls were returned today, but we will report any updates if we receive them.
