Hoque Global moved the needle on its ambitious University Hills mixed-use development in Southern Dallas, gaining momentum for the delayed project.
The Dallas-based firm executed a development agreement with the city for the 270-acre site, and it now has 60 days to buy the land, the Dallas Business Journal reported.
The Dallas City Council approved amendments to the development agreement in December, extending deadlines and increasing the public subsidy to $35.9 million. The firm’s minimum investment requirement rose to $62 million, and it was tasked with selling an additional 50 lots to third-party builders.
Hoque must purchase the site by May 12 and secure construction funding by August 10. Arthur Santa-Maria, vice president at Hoque, said the firm is on track.
University Hills, near the University of North Texas at Dallas and Interstate 20, is envisioned as a transformative project for Southern Dallas.
Plans call for thousands of residential units, 1.5 million square feet of commercial space and more than 50 acres of green space. The project could create a commercial hub in an area where median income levels are about 60 percent of the Dallas-Fort Worth average.
Hoque faced scrutiny from delays on other projects, and Dallas officials said the city would terminate the agreement if the firm missed any deadlines.
It missed a deadline last year for vertical construction at its $50 million mixed-use project in Mansfield, and it was removed as the master developer for the Evans and Rosedale Urban Village in Fort Worth last April, after the city cited “unacceptable delays.”
Hoque contested those claims but did not reapply for the project.
The firm last year sold 580 lots in University Hills to D.R. Horton and Lennar for townhome and single-family development. It is also a partner in the proposed $350 million redevelopment of downtown Dallas’ Bank of America Plaza with Mike Ablon of PegasusAblon.
— Judah Duke
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