Prosper OKs zoning for Pradera, a 35-acre development

The Prosper Town Council approved zoning and a development agreement for Pradera, a major mixed-use project on about 35 acres on the west side of the Dallas North Tollway extension at Prosper Trail.

The project, which is a development of Fort Worth-based Cornerstone Projects Group and Orion Real Estate Capital of Frisco, will take about 20 years to complete and will include office, retail, apartments, townhomes and a hotel.

David Hoover, director of development services, shared what had changed since the last council meeting, which included the tallest of the buildings being lowered from 12 stories to eight. The townhomes will be three stories with other buildings being five stories.

“Some of those are maximum heights and not required height, so in some instances they may be less, especially in the middle,” Hoover said. “A couple of them have designated uses with limits of four stories, so they may be smaller. This is a rough idea elevation.”

The project has a multifamily component of 730 units. Some will be in the form of condos for sale and others in apartment dwellings.

Mayor David Bristol wanted to make sure that developers know that once this agreement is in place, the town has reached its limit of multifamily units unless something changes with town guidelines.

“This puts us at our cap that we have set in our comp plan, and it would be very difficult to move forward on further multifamily zoning until things happen to change the zoning that we have, and the units that are already allocated on the ground,” Bristol said.

Council member Chris Kern voiced concerns about reaching the maximum number of multifamily units at the far north side of the tollway district, which could hinder potential developments in the southern portions, especially with the project taking a long time to finish.

“I continue to have heartburn with the overall number and the longevity of this project,” Kern said. “It’s not an objection to multifamily in general because I feel like that’s always a thing. … I just have a little bit of concern. It feels like we’re allowing our max at the furthermost point of the tollway district.”

Bristol said developers and landowners on the southern side will be asking for more.

“So there’s a box being put out there that we’re getting wrapped around,” Bristol said. “So that everybody can hear, very point blank, to the rest of the development community, we have to resolve the issue that we have and that is the total number of units along the tollway corridor.”

The mayor and council members applauded the applicant’s effort in meeting with residents and staff to incorporate changes asked of them.

“They continued to reduce their count to get to where we wanted them to be,” said council member Amy Bartley. “They mixed in for-rent and for-sale, which was a big deal to me because I wanted people to be able to purchase condos or other kinds of lifestyle housing and live here and be invested here.

“I think that this is going to be a good example to any other developer on the tollway that wants to come and do something that incorporates the design guidelines, taking into account our setbacks, our landscaping, our materials, and all the things that are included here in this development agreement,” Bartley said. “So I’m very pleased with the final product.”