The approval came during a June 23 council meeting in a 5-1 vote with council member Arefin Shamsul voting against the facility. Council member Dan Barrios was absent from the meeting.
The details
The building has been vacant since AT&T relocated in 2022, City Planner Derica Peters said. The requested change is to modify development standards. If approved, the modified development standards would increase the one-story building height from 25 feet to 45 feet, which would help facilitate redeveloping the site with a new one-story building.
Peters said proposed uses for the facility include warehouse, distribution and administrative office support.
In addition, a “loving screen” consisting of evergreen shrubs and an 8-foot masonry screen wall will be constructed to shield the truck court and loading docks.
What else?
Box Investment Group Developer Todd Marchesani said the space would be used as an office, warehouse and show. He said Box Investment Group has a similar facility in Denton leased to one tenant, which is the ideal plan for Richardson.
Marchesani said the property is currently valued at $6.5 million but needs more than $8 million in tenant improvements to make it competitive.
“Redevelopment is imminent,” Marchesani said. “There’s no reason to invest $8 million into an office building that needs to be torn down.”
There is currently about 4.4 million square feet of office space available in Richardson, Marchesani said. Additionally, there are only three spaces with office, warehouse and showroom space and of those, only one was built after 2000.
What they’re saying
Shamsul cited potential traffic from semi-trucks as the reason for his vote against the facility. The current plan for the location includes 22 bays for semi-trucks.
When asked about reducing the number of bays, Marchesani said doing so would limit his ability to lease the property.
Council member Joe Corcoran said the area is already zoned for industrial use, meaning semi-trucks are allowed per the ordinance.
Additionally, he said there was a project where council denied a height modification and the developer built a portion of the facility underground to achieve the height they wanted.
“18-wheelers are going to come and go once they refurbish it regardless of whether we approve the height or not so why don’t we just approve the height and get the [tax revenue],” Corcoran said.
