Realty Capital Management, master developer of Lakeside, has submitted an application to the town of Flower Mound to extend the Lakeside mixed-use community across FM 2499 onto the fourth and only remaining undeveloped corner at Lakeside Parkway.
Lakeside currently includes over 40 shops and restaurants, 260 single-family homes, 1,090 multi-family residences, and 165,000 square feet of office space. The proposed extension of Lakeside would bring additional restaurants with patios, shops, services, luxury residences for lease with secured structured parking, multiple open spaces including another music/entertainment plaza, an arts plaza, an activities plaza, public trails, a four-story office building, and a hotel with a high caliber brand, according to Realty Capital.
Last week, Lakeside East received a recommendation of approval to Town Council from the Flower Mound Parks Board. The Parks Board’s assignment was to review the public open space components of the concept plan and make a recommendation to Town Council of how much of the project’s planned open spaces should be counted towards the town’s parkland dedication requirements and/or how much cash to accept in lieu of required parkland, according to a Realty Capital news release. Based on Realty Capital’s concept plan, which includes up to 350 residences, the Lakeside expansion is required to dedicate 9.73 acres of land out of the entire 21-acre parcel, or 46% of the total land area, to parkland and/or privately owned public open space.
Flower Mound’s parkland dedication requirements generally deter residential uses in mixed-use projects due to the amount of parkland dedication required, Realty Capital said, but because it is planning to build two parking structures that will provide secured and covered spaces, the developer was able to set aside an ample amount of land for public use.
Open spaces in mixed-use projects tend to be different than the swaths of park spaces dedicated in large single-family home communities. The open spaces in mixed-use projects are much more intentional in nature and are programmed to activate the project and to be complimentary to the businesses near them. As an example, one of public plazas in Lakeside East will contain an interactive art sculpture and another will offer activities such as cornhole and Jenga. The Lakeside Music Series plaza, which Lakeside East intends to expand on with a second performance space, is another example of an intentional programmed open space that brings the public to the project while serving the adjacent businesses in a positive manner.
“I’m excited about what you may be able to do with those plazas. Hope you hit the mark,” said Parks Board Vice Chair Rick Kenyon. “The Plazas on the other side (of FM 2499) are very well-utilized and these plazas look like they could be even better.”
The initial hearing for the open space plan on April 4 was tabled to allow Realty Capital time to go back and incorporate some of the Board’s recommendations where it could. After doing so, the final plan was unanimously recommended for approval to council.
“After conducting a series of public meetings with residents of southern Flower Mound, we know there is a strong desire for more of what people already love about Lakeside, which is a walkable mixed-use community that provides a variety of experiences, many of which are driven by our open spaces such as Sunset Point, the Boardwalk, or the Lakeside Music Series plaza,” said Jimmy Archie, Managing Partner for Realty Capital Management. “The nicest compliment coming out of these public meetings where we presented the expansion to the public was a question asked at every meeting. The question was, ‘How do we build a bridge across FM 2499 so that we can safely walk from one side of the project to the other?’ This question tells us people understand exactly what we are trying to do with Lakeside East.”
Realty Capital is currently requesting a proposed zoning change and master plan amendment to allow for the extension of Lakeside. The property is currently zoned C-2 under the “Campus Commercial” master plan designation, which would permit a variety of retail pad site uses such as a bank, dry cleaners, a convenience store, a gas station, and fast-food restaurants to be built on the site.
“The Lakeside East property is located at a high-profile location, right at the southern gateway to Flower Mound,” said Sam Pan, Development Partner with Realty Capital. “It’s the perfect location to expand Lakeside and create an even better gathering place that can benefit the entire town. Even if residents aren’t joining us for a free concert, enjoying a meal on a patio or walking their dog along our shaded nature trail, they would benefit from the project’s significant economic impact with annual tax revenue to the town among the highest per acre in Flower Mound. We think a walkable community that allows residents, hotel guests, and employees to walk to various shops and restaurants adds more value to the town than a series of strip shopping centers and pad sites, of which the Town already has plenty.”
In addition to incorporating the Parks Board’s comments into its plan, Realty Capital is accepting recommendations from the public on the names of retailers and restaurants they would like to see open in project. The public is invited to visit the website, LakesideIsGrowing.com, and offer their suggestions to the types of businesses the developer should target as they finalize the tenant mix for the project.
“With the Town of Flower Mound’s approval of our proposed zoning request, we would create a beautiful, cohesive entryway to Flower Mound with all four corners of the intersection of FM 2499 and Lakeside Parkway feeling intentionally connected with the same Mediterranean architectural design and eye-catching appeal. I can’t think of another intersection in all of Dallas-Fort Worth, and certainly in Flower Mound, that is so clearly integrated at all four corners,” Archie said. “We want the intersection of Lakeside Parkway and FM 2499 to feel well-planned and very intentional, and we want visitors to feel like you are supposed to walk across FM 2499 from one corner to the other and take it all in as one place.”
