The developer who's redoing J.C. Penney's sprawling former Plano campus is pushing ahead to add apartments to the project's mix.
But he's got to convince Plano officials in the face of opposition to the plan.
"It makes no sense to me," said developer Sam Ware. "Why would you object to something that is beneficial to your workers."
Ware's Dreien Opportunity Partners in 2016 bought Penney's 1.3 million square foot headquarters campus in Legacy business park in 2016.
Since then he's been working to redevelop the property into a mixed-use project.
The former Penney offices have been converted into space for multiple business tenants. And the developers have been planning additional construction to surround the almost 30-year-old headquarters complex.
A site has been sold for a luxury hotel. And another developer is hunting tenants for a new office tower in the development that's called the Campus at Legacy West.
Early last month Plano's city plan commission approved a proposal to build almost 800 luxury apartments in the project.
But Plano's city council will have the final say.
Plano residents in the last few years have pushed back against additional apartment zoning - even in mostly commercial districts. More than 50,000 people work in the area around Legacy business park.
"This is the number two central business district in North Texas," Ware said. "Why would you not want to have these apartments?
"Half of the people who work in this area live in multifamily housing," he said. "They have built 3,000 units right across the street from me in Legacy West."
Maybe so, but the developer of Legacy West - Karahan Cos - plus other nearby owners have gone on the record against adding apartments to the old Penney campus.
"In our assessment, the referenced zoning change runs counter to the area's original vision, hence why we respectfully oppose this along with our neighbors and other companies in the Legacy association," Christopher Reynolds, Toyota Motor North America's chief administrative officer, wrote to Plano's planning director in a letter of opposition.
Toyota has its North American headquarters just blocks from where the apartments are proposed.
Representatives of FedEx Office - which has its U.S. headquarters nearby and property owner Gaedeke Group have also formally opposed the apartments.
Other stakeholders in the area including Granite Properties and Beal Bank have written in support of adding the rental units to the Penney site. Beal Bank is also a financing investor in the Penney campus redevelopment.
Ware said the opposition was unexpected since companies moving to the Legacy area have previously supported the addition of residential and retail to what was originally just an office district.
"We have made countless concessions to the City of Plano," he said. "We've gone from proposing 3,000 units down to 790.
"I've picked two of the best residential developers in Texas."
Dallas-based Trammell Crow Residential and Austin's Kairoi Residential would build the apartments, which would be a minimum of five stories tall.
"These will be the nicest apartments in Collin County," Ware said. "These things will average $345,000 a piece to build."
Plano's city council is set to take up the proposal next week.
"I've pulled it four times now," Ware said. "I want to move forward."
