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Plano gives thumbs down on Bush Turnpike mixed-use project

A California developer had planned office, residential and hotel on former Fry’s Electronics site.

Plano officials have nixed plans for a major mixed-use development on Bush Turnpike.

California-based Bay West Development wanted to replace the vacant Fry’s Electronics store between Bush Turnpike and Plano Parkway with a new office, residential and hotel project.

The 19-acre project would include two five-story residential buildings, a six-story office building and an eight-story hotel.

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The site is just across the turnpike from the $1.5 billion CityLine mixed-use center in Richardson.

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“CityLine has done a great job of creating a very walkable live-work district on the other side of the turnpike,” Bay West’s Byron Wolf told the Plano city plan commission. “We’d like to draft off that success and do the same here in East Plano.”

The developers wanted to build more than 800 residential units in two buildings facing Plano Parkway. The south side of the tract would include the office space and hotel.

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There was a small park in the middle of the development, according to plans by Dallas-based architect GFF.

Attorney William Dahlstrom, who represented the developers, told plan commissioners the project would benefit from the new DART commuter rail line connecting the area with DFW International Airport.

“There is no other site in Plano with this opportunity,” Dahlstrom said. “This whole area is transforming. This a very dynamic part of the city.”

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Maybe so, but plan commissioners weren’t having it and voted overwhelmingly against the development plan. The commissioners balked at the idea of including residential buildings in the project.

The vacant Fry's Electronics store and parking lots take up more than 19 acres between Bush...
The vacant Fry's Electronics store and parking lots take up more than 19 acres between Bush Turnpike and Plano Parkway.(City of Plano )