Redevelopment of Frisco’s Hall Park planned for start later this year

Plans for the huge project were rebooted when COVID-19 turned the real estate market upside down.

Developer Craig Hall plans to kick off construction on the first phase of his reimagined Frisco mixed-use development later this year.

His Hall Group was preparing to break ground on an ambitious redevelopment of its 162-acre Hall Park in Frisco when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

The three-decade-old development on the Dallas North Tollway at Gaylord Parkway is already Frisco’s largest employment center, with more than 2.5 million square feet of offices that house almost 10,000 workers.

For the last couple of years, Hall Group has been crafting new plans for the project that would increase the density and add multiple new uses, including residential, retail, hotel and entertainment.

To make way for the additions, Hall Group tore down two three-story office buildings last year at the corner of Warren and Gaylord parkways, across the street from the Dallas Cowboys’ Star in Frisco development.

Last month, Frisco approved a new tax increment finance district that would help pay for infrastructure improvements to Hall Park.

With new construction, the project’s taxable value is forecast to grow from more than $632 million to more than $2.6 billion by 2045.

Some of the additional construction that has been discussed includes a 27-story residential tower with more than 300 units, a food hall, a 20-story office building and additional residential high-rises.

A 1,500-seat performance hall and a new public park and green space with walking trails, plazas and waterways are also in the works, according to plans filed with the city.

Hall said he’s still refining the plans after making changes when the pandemic hit.

“We took what we were going to do and slightly downsized it,” he said. “I restated everything in the office plans and took away the hotel.

“Now I am adding back a hotel — but not the same hotel,” Hall said. “We are doing everything for COVID. We are thinking about wellness.”

Hall said office leasing during the pandemic has dropped to the lowest levels in 15 to 20 years.

“But people haven’t moved out either — the renewals have been short term,” he said. People are buying time and they don’t really know what the future will bring.”

Hall said he’s designing new offices to be more flexible and provide what a tenant of the future will want.

“In the last month or two, it’s starting to free up,” he said. “We are starting to see a number of companies looking for space this year.”

He said he hopes to break ground on the first of the new Hall Park projects “probably late third quarter or fourth quarter.”

“In general, it’s hard to known that the future will be because it’s a different time and we are coming out of this with different attitudes,” Hall said. “I have the confidence to spend the money that we will get it right.”