The developer will deliver the project in fall 2008. "It fills what we perceive to be a need for age-restricted housing in Farmers Branch," says the land deal's broker, Garry Gibbons, vice president of Dallas-based Prime Income Asset Management Inc.

Gibbons tells GlobSt.com that the seniors' independent-lifestyle project will consist of three- and four-story buildings that face the 1,200-acre Mercer Crossing's unnamed lake and neighbor two multifamily complexes, each about 200 units. The 206-unit Laguna Vista at 1580 Mira Lago Blvd. was completed in November 2006. Details about Churchill Residential's unit sizes and projected rents were unavailable from the developer, whose project will be the third multifamily development in Mercer Crossing. However, it will be the developer's eighth age-restricted Evergreen flag to be planted in the metroplex, according to Churchill Residential's website.

Churchill Residential bought the land from Transcontinental Realty Investors Inc. of Dallas. Land in the immediate area is fetching $14 per sf, with its location as the key contributor to the price. Mercer Crossing fronts Luna Road at the crossroads of Interstate 35, LBJ Freeway and Texas 190, the George Bush Tollroad. The acreage, which already houses 1.5 million sf of office space, also is earmarked for hotel, retail and additional residential development.