The grand opening of a new mixed-use luxury apartment community, called Junction 15, in downtown Plano was held on Jan. 27. Plano Mayor Harry LaRosiliere and other city officials were on hand for the celebration.

Located at 930 East 15th Street in downtown Plano, Junction 15 was developed under a public-private partnership between Southern Land Company, the City of Plano, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and the North Central Council of Governments (NCTCOG).

"Today, I think what we have is a great place for people to livewe are 100 percent leased on the retail, and then we have leased 30 percent of the units, and we are not even finished." said Tim Downey, the Southern Land Company CEO, who started the company in 1986. "It happened because all of these people want to live in downtown Plano. At the end of the day, it's an incredible place to live, it's safe, it's fun and it's great."

Junction 15 is a five-story urban mid-rise community featuring 279 multi-family units. The apartment homes sit above 8,000 square feet of retail space anchored by a 7-Eleven convenience store. Other retailers include Paws Dog Barkery, The Day Spa, Amazeballz and the newest retail tenant, Sweet as Sugar Children's Boutique, who just signed on January 26th. The first residents began moving in mid-December 2014.

"A lot of entities came together to make this work, and the result of this is 25-30 million dollars of capital improvement in our area", said LaRosiliere. "One more step in the renaissance and revitalization of downtown. More energy, more people and more feet on the ground."