'Glory[hole] Park' Dead

L

LonghornLawyer

500+ Posts
As I predicted, the development that was promised for the area surrounding the new Cowboys' stadium will not happen. Hicks is making some noise about having a scaled down development, but the truth is that it's scrapped.

So there it is, Arlington taxpayers. $400 million down to toilet, and no additional development to show for it. You could have listened to me four years ago, but you didn't. But at least you'll now have national and international recognition.

. . . as Jerry's little *****.
 
LL,

You beat me to it.
I was about to post this, but got summoned into a conference call.

Some of us were skeptical of this for a long time, and the entire idea that a football stadium was going to turn Arlington into the entertainment capital of the DFW metroplex.

I had lunch yesterday with one of my clients who is a motel owner in the midcities and he was absolutely giddy over the business he was set to get because of the new stadium.

He also said the major downside to the HEB, mid cities, Arlington area was the lack of good food options. He told me that he tells all his hotel guests to go to Dallas if they want fine dining, or if they want down home cooking unique to Texas.
Someone from Boston, New York, California isn't going to want to eat at Chillis, Hooters, or On the Border.

They want real Texas BBQ, local mexican food or even soul food. If not that, they want to eat somewhere exclusive and expensive.
 
What, "The House That Cletus Built" wasn't the be all, end all for taxpayers in Arlington?

Next you're going to tell me that the lottery didn't solve all the education problems in the state.
 
I don't have any love for Jerry Jones, but it's hard to pin this one on him. Yes, the City used the promise of development and tax dollars to help the vote. But it was Hicks who promised to do the development, not Jones.
Frankly, it really goes back further to the group that built the Ballpark (the group that Bush was part of). That group, and the City, promoted the Ballpark as part of a larger development around the area -- that has never happened.
 
I cant believe, with all of the entertainment venues they have in Arlington allready they have not managed some better upscale development of some sort.

Jerryworld wouldnt be the tipping point, thats what 8 events a year, maybe a few more? If Six Flags (6 months of the year), baseball (80+ events a year) and the waterpark (6 months of the year) arent going to spur upscale development, a venue that sits unused 90% of the year sure isnt.

Also, rename "road to six flags". Even Six Flags blvd or Six Flags road sounds better.
 
Your current conclusions are based on insufficient information.

While the delay in the Glorypark Project is unfortunate, it is far from “dead.” It is a dead as Victory was in the years following 9/11, which means it actually isn’t. The equity contribution for the $500 million Project was increased from 20% to close to 30%, and that caused some problems, as Hicks is also trying to build a new stadium for his Liverpool soccer team. There was also some dissonance in the development group about the final composition of the development and progress made that needs to be ironed out. The economy is what it is, but what Arlington will likely get will be more entertainment-oriented than retail-oriented, just like Victory.

Meanwhile, property values in the Stadium area are shooting up like crazy, and substandard commercial facilities in the are being bulldozed. That is where the true benefit to Arlington lies, in the increase in the property tax base. See the article below.

**************
Posted on Wed, May. 14, 2008
Dallas Cowboys stadium sends value of nearby houses soaring
BY ANDREA AHLES
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
A possible parking lot for the Dallas Cowboys stadium has increased property values in an Arlington neighborhood.
Residents on Slaughter and Web streets who have rejected purchase offers from the team because they thought they were too low received notices recently from the Tarrant Appraisal District that their home values had increased substantially, one by 250 percent.
Starting in fall 2006, a Cowboys executive started buying homes in the neighborhood, which is less than a block from the new stadium. The team has said it plans to use the 10 acres purchased, including the former Grace Bethel Church building on Randol Mill Road, for a parking lot.
Neighboring homeowners have been worried that the team, which has made offers to buy their land, will simply build the lot around them.
Increases in tax value
Most of the homes in the neighborhood were built in the 1950s and last year were valued around $70,000 each.
But when Shanna Medrano looked up the value of her 17,772-square-foot lot on Slaughter Street, TAD's appraisal had jumped from $71,500 to $242,500. The Cowboys had offered her $105,000 for her home in late 2006.
"I look back now at the offer of $105,000 ... and I would have been kicking myself if I had taken it," Medrano said.
Chris Cavanaugh, a firefighter who lives on Web Street, purchased his house in 2006. It was valued at $71,000 but TAD has reappraised it at $151,000. Another home at 305 Slaughter St. was valued at $78,400 and is now appraised at $239,400, according to TAD.
Because these are homesteads, the homeowners will not have to pay taxes on the full amount of the new appraisal value. According to state law, valuation increases are capped at 10 percent a year for homesteads.
Why values went up
The significant number of private land sales by the Cowboys in the area prompted TAD appraisers to revalue all of the land in the area between Slaughter Street and Randol Mill Road, said TAD Chief Appraiser John Marshall.
"We saw some large tracts in that area that sold for $6 a square foot, and we have some smaller tracts at $10 a square foot," said Marshall, adding that the area is now valued on TAD's property rolls for $10 per square foot.
The Cowboys declined to comment on the property-value increases but has previously said that they are not in negotiations for any additional parcels.
What's next
The homeowners have until June 2 to appeal the valuation of their homes. But Medrano said she won't appeal TAD's decision because it demonstrates that her property has more value as a commercial property than as a home.
She has already dropped the listing price of her home from $350,000 to $299,000 so it is closer to the appraised value. Even if the Cowboys do not make her a second offer for her land, she believes that someone else, an investor or businessman, may want the property because of its proximity to the stadium.
"I feel like if I do hold out, someone will see the value in this property, even with a parking lot around it," Medrano said.
ANDREA AHLES,
817-548-5523
[email protected]
 
I guess my point is that "they" (first the prior Rangers' owners and now Hicks) have been promising development at the site since before the new Ballpark was built. For whatever reason, no one has ever come through.
 
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