Hall Park, one of the first and largest office parks in Frisco, could include a live, work and play concept in the future.

Craig Hall, developer behind Hall Park, presented his master plan to update the office park Wednesday in a joint work session of the Frisco City Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission.

“We are looking to update and modify our current planned development zoning to continue to stay relevant,” Hall said during the meeting.

The expected project cost would be $3 billion, and the size of Hall Park would increase from 2.5 million square feet to 8 million square feet, according to the plans.

Hall Park is a 162-acre development with 200 companies and more than 10,000 employees. The first building opened in 1998 with four floors, and just this year it opened its 17th building at 12 floors.

The updates Hall and his team presented include residential, taller buildings, more open space, retail, hotels and even a performing arts center. To accomplish this, Hall and his team said they would repurpose the surface parking lot and parking structures to add more space.

The plans show the developer would shrink the size of the actual parking area and construct a five-to six-story parking garage with an office building built on top. This would create taller buildings all the while creating more open green space where that parking surface would have been. There are currently 17 office buildings in the development.

Hall also said while Hall Park will be for the most part focused on office space, office parks are changing across the country. He said studies show traditional suburban office park development has dramatically changed and evolved. According to these studies, “pure” office parks are on the decline, Hall said.

To change that, Hall Park has to evolve too, Hall said. In his plans, Hall includes space for more retail and restaurant development. However, for those businesses to thrive, Hall said he believes there needs to be a residential component as well.

“These restaurants will do really well during the lunch hour, but outside of that not so much. That’s why we need an 18-hour environment,” Hall said.

Hall also said having residential development within the park would help ease traffic congestion in Frisco.

“One of the biggest problems in Frisco is traffic and a way to solve that is by having people live closer to where they work,” Hall said.

To execute this master plan, Hall and his team will need approval from City Council for residential zoning and a revision of the height restrictions for the buildings.  Hall is seeking changes in height requirements for certain portions of the project. Right now the tallest building in Hall Park is 12 stories and if the height restrictions are approved buildings can reach up to 25 stories.

 

Hall and his team have already submitted their requests to the city, and they will go before the Planning and Zoning Commission and then to City Council for final approval. Dates have yet to be determined.

Performing Arts Center

In the proposed plans, there is a site that Hall and his team have chosen within Hall Park that could be used for a performing arts center and/or a convention center and hotel.

Hall said the developer is prepared to work in partnership with the city and Frisco Arts to make these facilities happen. The performing arts center would be a venue that would be used for various type of events.

According to the plans, if the city does not want to proceed with the projects, the sites will be used for more retail and a hotel. Hall would not have to request a zoning change as the current zoning does allow for hotel and a performing arts center.