Denton Developers Want Input on Fry

Denton Record-Chronicle

A public meeting Wednesday could help shape the proposed redevelopment of Denton’s once-vibrant Fry Street area.

The company behind a proposal to build student housing on a mostly vacant block bordering the University of North Texas is inviting residents to offer their views on the area’s fate. The meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall.

 “We have ideas on what we want to see,” said Josh Vasbinder, a vice president with The Dinerstein Companies, a Houston apartments, real estate and development firm. “But I want to make sure our ideas align with what the community wants to see long-term for that property.”

Company officials plan to mostly listen during Wednesday’s meeting, Vasbinder said. They’re planning a second gathering, tentatively set for Feb. 17 at City Hall, to present revised plans incorporating feedback they receive, he said.

Company officials are already talking with community leaders to gather their views on the project, said Patrice Lyke, who leads the Denton Neighborhood Alliance, a consortium of local neighborhood groups. By contrast, the developer behind Fry Street Village — the doomed development planned for the same block in 2006 — didn’t reach out to neighborhoods until its plans were set in stone, she said.

“Time will tell, but this early willingness to listen to the neighborhoods is a really good sign,” said Lyke, who also serves on the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission.

The Dinerstein Cos. and Dallas-based Winkelmann & Associates Inc. filed a pre-application with Denton city officials last month to build 210 Dallas apartments for students in Denton with 586 beds in a four-story complex split by a multistory parking garage.

When the plans became public, some area residents said they’d rather see a mix of housing and retail uses at the site, a 3.8-acre lot bordered by Fry, Hickory, Welch and Oak streets. Others raised concerns about increased traffic on Oak and Hickory — two roads already stressed beyond their capacity.

City staff members reviewed the application and issued a report Dec. 31 listing potential conflicts with city codes. For example, buildings in the Fry Street district can’t exceed three stories, according to the report.

“What was submitted doesn’t meet city standards on a number of levels,” said Mark Cunningham, the city’s planning and development director. “My understanding from the applicant is that he just wants to … get feedback from the community and then factor that into the design of the site” before offering new plans.

The submitted plans were preliminary, and the company is open to changing them, Vasbinder said.

“People want to see more of a mixed-use concept,” he said. “We’re pushing to try to figure out what the best utilization of that mixed-use concept is, how that new urbanism can be done correctly.”

The block has been a center of attention since Houston-based United Equities Inc. bought most of it in 2006 and announced plans for new retail shops and eateries.

An opposition group, Save Fry Street, formed to fight the project, and nearly 9,500 people signed a petition supporting preservation of existing buildings and Denton apartments, some of which dated to the 1920s.

United Equities ultimately demolished five buildings, including one that housed The Tomato, but not before someone set fire to the iconic restaurant in an apparent protest of the project.

In December 2007, a divided City Council rejected a drive-through lane in the proposed Fry Street Village, derailing plans to build a shopping center anchored by a CVS pharmacy. A chain-link fence has surrounded most of the block since then.

United Equities still owns the land. Tim Sandifer, the project manager for Fry Street Village, did not return a call seeking comment.

If The Dinerstein Cos. can win city approval of its project, it likely would buy the block from United Equities, Vasbinder said. It also plans to develop and manage the property, he said.

“It’s our name on the building; it’s our reputation,” Vasbinder said. “We want it to be a long-term benefit to the community.”

Homebuilders Hope Boomers Return

Dallas News

Baby boomer buyers fueled a big run-up in U.S. home construction and sales in the 1970s and 1980s.

Now beleaguered homebuilders say they're hoping aging boomers, who are just entering retirement age, will once again give them robust housing sales.

 "We believe this segment of the market is going to lead the housing industry toward recovery as the market turns around," said Sharon Dworkin Bell, a senior staff vice president of the National Association of Home Builders.

The 55-plus homebuyer is being targeted by builders all over the country and was a focus of the industry's annual conference last week in Las Vegas.

The numbers are certainly there. By 2014, a quarter of the U.S. population – more than 85 million people – will be 55 or older.

"The number of people in that age group is increasing, and there is a lot of promise out there," builders' association economist David Crowe said last week.

While more than 60 percent of 55-plus homeowners say they want to keep their current homes, the rest say they are interested in alternatives.

Builders anticipate that buyers in this age group will account for almost 270,000 house purchases by next year.

Even in the down market, some 55-plus buyers move and downsize. Not all of them will want to live in Dallas apartments.

"The good news is they usually have a lot of home equity and can get a mortgage," Crowe said. "The bad news is they have to sell a house."

That worked out OK for Hunter and Judy Whitney, who sold their home in Pennsylvania just before the housing market took a downturn. The couple, both in their 60s, moved into a new house in Del Webb's Frisco Lakes development two years ago.

"When we decided to retire and relocate, we decided on the Dallas area," Hunter Whitney said. "Two of our three kids and six of our eight grandkids live in the area."

Moving closer to family is one of the top reasons 55-plus buyers move.

The Whitneys were wowed by the age-restricted Frisco development.

"We looked at a lot of places – the new construction," he said. "This is more than buying a house. You end up with a sense of community."

Frisco Lakes has sold almost 900 houses since it opened just over three years ago.

"We are one of the few places in North Texas still selling a ton of homes," said Mike Sander, divisional sales manager with Del Webb owner Pulte Homes. "We get a lot of out-of-state residents – probably 30 to 40 percent. Their kids live in Frisco."

Most of the buyers are in their early 60s, Sander said.

"About 30 to 40 percent of our residents still work in some fashion," he said. "But they want to downsize and get into a nice neighborhood."

Former Plano resident Jim Boyd and his wife downsized twice before moving into a 1,505-square-foot Frisco Lakes home in 2006.

"It was at the time in our lives we had begun to consider something other than a traditional single-family dwelling," said Boyd, in his mid-70s. "We liked the quality and variety of the community."

More than 75 percent of 55-plus buyers say they want a home in the suburbs.

But that doesn't mean they want a big house. Surveys show older buyers are more frugal about housing needs.

"The 55-plus buyers are not interested in growing their house size," Crowe said. "They are asking for about a 1,900-square-foot home" on average. "They're worried about energy costs."

Most older homebuyers surveyed are holding down their cost expectations, industry research shows.

"When we asked the consumer, 'What are you willing to pay?' they said $190,000," Crowe said. "And when we asked the builders, 'What are you building [for this market]?' they said $287,000.

"Obviously, there's a real big problem there."

Indeed, builders say they are in a quandary over what kind of housing to produce for 55-plus buyers.

"The baby boomers are absolutely unpredictable," said Andy White, a South Carolina developer who spoke to builders at their convention in Las Vegas. "There is no model to say what we ought to build.

"If a consultant comes to you and says they know what to build, they are lying," said White, whose company has been building developments targeted to older adults since the 1980s.

White said there are many risks for builders who might design the wrong product in the wrong place.

"Let's give it a few years and see what happens when the leading edge of the baby boomers reaches 70 years old, which is in 2016," he said.

Builders who aim at older buyers agree that it's a tougher sell with the recessions and housing market crash.

"Don't assume at all that everyone over 55 is looking for a luxury purchase or has unlimited funds to spend," said Atlanta builder Jim Chapman.

"Their existing homes are worth less," he said. "Some of them are afraid to put their homes on the market."

Many of these buyers are coming from nearby.

"They still want to go to the same shopping centers and see their friends," Chapman said. "The others are moving from out of the area to be near their children."

Builders who market age-restricted projects to older adults say they've seen an increase in demand for speculative houses.

"They are kind of flying off the shelf to people who have sold a home and are ready to do business," said Chris Harrison of Arizona-based Robson Communities.

South of Denton apartments, Robson is developing the Robson Ranch retirement development.

"We are seeing more activity," Harrison said. "Texas apartments for us did not have the big run-up in home pricing" seen in other areas of the country.