Billion-Dollar Texas Project Spanning Millions of Square Feet Approved Near PGA of America Hub

Developer Tees Up Commercial Space in Fast-Growing Frisco

The 240-acre mixed-use development, called The Link, was recently given the green light on zoning changes near the PGA of America headquarters in Frisco, Texas. (Stillwater Capital)

The development group behind the PGA of America's new corporate headquarters in Frisco, Texas, has the go-ahead to proceed with plans for a $1 billion, mixed-use hub nearby in a move that tees up millions of square feet of proposed real estate in the country's fastest-growing large city of the 2010s.

The Frisco City Council's rezoning of 240 acres of agricultural land for commercial use about 27 miles north of downtown Dallas clears the way for the mixed-use hub. Called The Link, the project will surround the PGA's new headquarters, two 18-hole championship golf courses, a short course and an Omni resort hotel near PGA Parkway and Legacy Drive.

Stillwater Capital is developing The Link, which is expected to be the Dallas-based real estate company's largest project ever with an estimated 10-year build-out period. The first phase includes infrastructure and a mix of office, residential, retail and entertainment space and should get underway this year to be open to residents and visitors before the summer 2023 opening of the new Omni resort hotel. Read Full Story

Stillwater Capital is also the developer of the $500 million PGA Frisco project, transforming about 660 acres into what is being planned as a hub of golf innovation that includes the 105-year-old golfing trade group's headquarters relocation from Florida.

"We were pretty involved in recruiting the PGA to relocate to Frisco from West Palm Beach," said Clay Robbie, managing director of Stillwater Capital, in a phone interview. "We bought just under 1,000 acres for the PGA of Frisco and were left with 240 acres at the end of the process, which we are developing into The Link after this rezoning process took two years to get over the goal line."

Frisco is also expected to be home to adjacent plans from another developer for a much larger $10 billion mixed-use project comprising 2,000 acres called Fields that received approval to move forward with infrastructure earlier this year.

Robbie said the neighboring projects are not being coordinated but all parties are "friendly" in terms of wanting to develop this part of the region.

An overview map of The Link, which recently received the go-ahead from the city's zoning commission. (Stillwater Capital)

Early plans for The Link include direct connections to the PGA Frisco project with an expansive network of green space. Potential corporate tenants and residents would be able to take a golf cart directly to the PGA championship golf courses and have immediate access to the resort and conference hotel being built by Omni.

At full build-out, The Link is expected to have 2 million to 2.5 million square feet of office space, 300,000 to 400,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space, about 2,700 apartments, condominiums and townhouses and two hotel sites, with one earmarked for a high-end boutique hotel and one for a limited-service hotel.

Some entertainment tenants lined up for The Link are expected to be unveiled later this year, Robbie said. Construction is expected to be completed by those third-party entities, which he declined to disclose. Other development partners could also be brought in on other portions of the project.

Frisco's growth rate was 71.1% between 2010 and 2019, according to the Census Bureau. The city also sits in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area, the nation's fourth-largest metropolitan area, which led the country in overall population growth over the period spanning 2019 and 2020.

Robbie said the development team plans to begin marketing office space at The Link to tenants this summer, and he anticipates high demand.

"It's very hard to have an urban-commercial environment next to a resort, but we think they will have synergy offering amenities to office tenants that are very hard to find," Robbie said.

The development firm has yet to determine if it will require preleasing to kick off the project or if it could be developed on a speculative basis.

"We are having those strategic conversations now on what an appropriate anchor might look like and how that could set the tone for what the development could be," Robbie said. For the Record

Chris Jackson and J.J. Leonard of Stream Realty Partners have been hired by Stillwater Capital to market and lease the office space. David Fogel of DSF Capital and Stephen Summers of Highland Park Village are helping evaluate the possibilities of retail leasing at The Link.