Las Colinas

While construction has ground to a halt in many in many cities, cranes are dotting the landscape of Las Colinas with more on the way. Work has already started on a $130 million Convention Center and construction will start soon on a $255 million entertainment center. Water Street, a mixed-use development overlooking Lake Carolyn, is scheduled to debut next year with a movie theater and shops. Before long the 14-mile DART Orange Line will connect the area with downtown Dallas. What’s next? The Dallas Morning News reports that city officials are hoping all the new activity will attract even more development to the area. “The ones that are down there now are successful,” says Chris Wallace, president and CEO of the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce. “We just need more of them.” Billy Bob Barnett, owner of the famed Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth, is already planning to bring in restaurants near the new entertainment center. “In a traditional commercial development environment, you are dependent on the leasing of your retail spaces or your restaurant spaces,” says Irving real estate and development director Brenda McDonald. “Here, with one operator, we know that those facilities will be operating from day one.”