UDR Ready to Start Work on $1B Vitruvian Park

ADDISON, TX-UDR Inc. tomorrow will break ground on the $1-billion Vitruvian Park, a mixed-use development with 5,500 residential units and up to one million sf of retail and office space. The build-out will be phased in through 2017.

The Highlands Ranch, CO-based REIT is beginning with 667 apartments, a 12-acre park, 36,000 sf of retail and 15,000 sf to 18,000 sf of office along Brookhaven Club Drive, where 21.5 acres are being scraped of the 382-unit Green Haven Apartments along with part of a 24-acre tract of the 360-unit Addison at Brookhaven at 4010 Brookhaven Club Dr. UDR has invested two years into amassing the 100-acre tract, containing nine multifamily complexes, and planning the project with Addison officials. It is the developer’s largest project in its 30-year history and the city’s largest sustainable green development.

Mark Culwell Jr., senior vice president of development for UDR Inc., says the second phase to the six-stage project is slated to start in 2009. Memphis-based Looney Ricks Kiss Architects Inc.’ Dallas team is designing a 500-unit expansion with about 40,000 sf of retail and an as-yet undetermined amount of office. Phase one was designed by WDG Architecture Inc. of Dallas. The general contractor is Andes Construction Co., also from Dallas.

Vitruvian Park Aerial

“We intend to build a variety of product that will appeal to several price points. We aren’t trying to recreate Uptown,” Culwell tells GlobeSt.com. “We have a 100-acre canvas. It’s a great opportunity to effect the landscape of a first-ring suburban city.” The first phase will be ready to occupy in early 2010.

Addison Town Council approved a $39.9-million abatement for Vitruvian Park. Culwell credits city officials with embracing UDR’s vision from the project’s inception while making recommendations about the end result during weekly work sessions with the developer. “Their fingerprints are all over this final design. As we encountered some hurdles, we sat down at the table. There really were no dark moments here,” he stresses. “I’m not sure if anywhere else in the country that we’ve enjoyed this kind of collaborative spirit.”