Frisco City Council voted unanimously Jan. 15 to allow residential at Hall Park, a 162-acre business park near Frisco's southern border.

The vote came after numerous residents came to the council meeting to voice dissenting opinions about the proposed changes to the development, which includes plans for mid- to high-rise buildings and urban living units.

Those against the proposed changes were mainly residents in single-family neighborhoods that surround Hall Park. Some residents expressed concern that residents in high-rise apartments could see into the backyards of surrounding neighborhoods. They also noted these changes could add more noise and light pollution and traffic.

Those for the project included residents, business owners and employees of Hall Park. Some spoke to the desire of employees wanting to live closer to where they worked. Business owners and council members both addressed the need for Hall Park, a 20-plus-year-old development, to evolve in order to remain relevant and competitive.

"We have projects like the [Professional Golfers' Association of America] come into a greenfield site in the northern end of Frisco, but at the same time we have developments down by the mall on the southern end of town that are aging," Council Member Bill Woodard said. "... We're now having to look at not just how do we plan for those greenfield areas to the north, but what do we do to keep those developments on our southern boundary relevant so we don't end up with some of the empty developments you see further south in the Dallas area?"

In 2018, Craig Hall, founder and chairman of Hall Group, presented plans to update the office park in a joint work session of Frisco City Council and the Frisco Planning and Zoning Commission. The plans included future residential, commercial, office space, a centralized open space feature and a performing arts center.

Hall said at the Jan. 15 meeting that Hall Park lost out on companies such as The Boeing Company because of the development's lack of residential uses.