Dallas has approved its largest project yet — 615 units for affordable housing via the city’s 75-year property tax abatement program.
The City Council on Wednesday approved a development agreement for a new four-story, $177 million northwest Dallas apartment complex roughly 15 minutes from downtown. Council greenlit two 400-unit projects last year, which was the previous highest number of apartments the city had approved.
The Park at Northpoint at 9999 West Technology Blvd. is expected to be built in two phases, with the city planning to give Kentucky-based firm LDG Development a $10 million loan in federal community development block grant money to help build the project. Construction on the first part is planned to start in October and be done in late 2025.
Council approval means the property will be taken over by the Dallas Public Facility Corporation, a city nonprofit organization that can acquire, develop and own property for public use, making the land tax exempt. The corporation will then lease the property to the developer for 75 years in exchange for offering half of the total units to people earning at or below 80% of the area median income. The corporation’s board also approved the deal in February.
In Dallas, 80% of the area median income ranges from $54,550 a year for a single person to $77,900 for a family of four.
Council member Omar Narvaez, who represents the area of the planned apartments, said he and surrounding business owners are excited about the project. He noted the 15-acre site is near a lake, trail system and restaurants, but was originally developed to be a commercial area. The property currently has a vacant 75,000 square-foot office building on the site that the apartments will replace.
“To take something that is no longer needed and change it to housing is a perfect place for us to do this,” said Narvaez, who is the council’s deputy mayor pro tem.
Council member Cara Mendelsohn, who has voted against most of these deals — about a dozen — approved by the council since 2022, raised concerns that city documents laying out the project didn’t list any estimate on how much money Dallas would be foregoing on property tax revenue by approving the apartments.
“I think it’s pretty outrageous to vote on something when you don’t even know how much money you’re giving up,” she said. The council approved the project by a 13-2 vote, with Mendelsohn and council member Adam McGough casting the opposing votes.
David Noguera, the city’s housing and neighborhood revitalization director, estimated the city could be giving up about $4 million a year in property tax money over 15 years. But he cautioned that it was a hypothetical guess and “behind the envelope math.”
Jake Brown from LDG Development told the City Council he believed the lease payment his firm will pay would likely be higher than the property tax bill. Wednesday marked the fourth project the firm has been approved by the city to develop under this model.
“The property tax bill for what it’s going to be in the future is an impossible number to know for certain because it’s calculated on an annual basis,” Brown said. “I don’t have a crystal ball for that number, unfortunately.”
The planned northwest Dallas apartment was one of two DPFC deals approved Wednesday by the council allowing the 100% property tax break for developers in exchange for including mixed-income housing. The council also approved a $70 million, 290-unit complex to be built near Fair Park in South Dallas with a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments.
Since the start of last year, Dallas has now approved 14 apartment complex projects to be built through DPFC. The method is part of a statewide model that has been lauded for allowing cities like Dallas to quickly get the creation of more apartments in its pipeline to keep up with the growing demand for affordable housing. But it’s also raised concerns statewide over oversight of these programs, the lack of a cap on how many deals can be approved, and the lost property tax revenue possibly leading to cities shifting the burden onto homeowners and others to make up the money.
At least one developer has dropped out of overseeing the building of a project since City Council approval. JPI Companies told The Dallas Morning News it’s no longer involved in building the planned Jefferson University Hills apartments, the 400-unit complex on the northwest corner of University Hills Boulevard and East Camp Wisdom Road.
“We are not actively developing that project, nor do we have immediate plans to do so,” said Jody Lee, a JPI Companies spokeswoman, told The News. She didn’t respond to follow-up questions asking why.
