Westwood and the Oakridge team have been working on the residential plan for one year. To make it a reality, the developer had to amend its master plan with the city. “Everyone realized this is the route to go to finish out the park,” Allen tells GlobeSt.com. “With all the retail that's there, it makes sense to bring in residential.”

[IMGCAP(2)]The Centre at Preston Ridge's 30-acre second phase got under way earlier this year with a 117-room Hilton Homewood Suites, a development of Magnolia Lodging LLC of Dallas. The hotel will deliver at year's end. In recent weeks, work started on a 136-key Starwood aloft, an $18-million project of Dallas-based Champ Hospitality LP that's ticketed to open by midyear 2008. The Centre at Preston Ridge's master planner was Charles Hodges of Hodges & Associates in Dallas.

Westwood president John Carmichael says the two-building complex will be 70% one-bedroom units, ranging from 500 sf to 950 sf. “We were just trying to serve the young households that live and work in that area, in the offices and the shops,” he says. The remaining units will be two-bedroom designs from 1,050 sf to 1,275 sf and lofts that average 1,200 sf. The average rent will be $975 per month. The complex will feature two parking garages and interiors with nine-foot ceilings, garden tubs and faux wood floors.

Westwood Residential is a merchant builder by trade. “But, we think we're going to hold this one five to eight years,” he confides. “It's such a dynamic location. It's hard to find locations like this.” The Centre at Preston Ridge was designed by Archon Corp. of Dallas, with another Dallas firm, EnviroDesign Inc. as the landscape architect.

Westwood's development site is across the road from Frisco Sierra, a 36-acre multifamily project that got under way this week. Champion Partners of Dallas and Atlanta-based Post Properties Inc. are rolling out 300 of their 600-unit plan. And Dallas-based Hicks Sports Group has 37 acres banked for 1,000 residential units, office and retail to surround $114-million Frisco's entertainment and sports complex.

With residential projects now under way or poised to come off the drawing board, Allen says Oakridge will focus in 2008 on pulling together deals and starting construction on its last 80,000 sf of retail space. “This is the last major retail site in Frisco Bridges,” he says, adding that no decision has been made regarding the leasing team.

Allen points out that the 700-acre Frisco Bridges has gone according to plan. “Some don't work out, but this one really worked out as it was planned,” he says.