IRVING, Texas — Read this story and more North Texas business news from our partners at the Dallas Business Journal
Making up a huge share of a site long earmarked for potentially billions of dollars of development, a major land deal in Irving tied to casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. spans more than double the acreage previously reported.
An entity affiliated with the Las Vegas Sands, Village Walk RE 2 LLC, in July acquired eight properties totaling about 259 acres at State Highway 114 and Loop 12, near the former Texas Stadium site in Irving, Dallas Central Appraisal District and county deed records show. For about a decade, Irving economic development officials have called for major corporate projects on these and surrounding parcels, a dream long discussed but not yet materialized.
DCAD values the eight Sands properties — all bounded between State Highway 114, Loop 12 and Spur 482 — at just over $36 million. D Magazine and other media outlets previously reported on the largest one of those properties, which is 108 acres, which DCAD pegs at about $22.5 million in value.
The cluster of properties across State Highway 114 from the former home of the Dallas Cowboys include some frontage along the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, which flows along the Dallas city limits. While most of the land is within the city limits of Irving, 22.5 acres is in unincorporated Dallas County. A FedEx Ground facility sits to the east of the acquired site.
Whether the site becomes a casino depends partly on whether gambling is ever legalized in the Lone Star State. A Sands spokesperson told the Morning News that the 108-acre Irving land purchase was not related to Miriam Adelson and her family's purchase of the majority of the Dallas Mavericks from owner Mark Cuban, and instead fits into a longstanding interest in DFW. The spokesperson hinted at future land purchases down the road.
Beth Bowman, president and CEO of the Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber and its partners at the city and the Irving Convention & Visitors Bureau "believe the former stadium site is one of the most exciting development opportunities in the North Texas region and are committed to unlocking its vast potential with a transformational project that will drive economic success for our city and region for generations to come." She declined to comment on specific details of the plans.
Sands representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Dallas Business Journal. City officials directed requests for comment to the chamber.
Even if the Irving site doesn't become the home of the Mavericks, Cuban has been vocal about partnering with Sands on a casino project and the potential of a Vegas-style destination in Texas. "Imagine creating a Venetian or Bellagio that you've seen in Vegas … in Dallas, in Austin or in Houston,” Cuban said Dec. 1 at an event in Austin.
In 2015 the seller of the Irving site — Village Walk Texas LLC, which is linked to a limited liability company out of Midland called Legacy Lift Partners LLC — assembled the 256-acre former parking lot and Central Freight facility and proposed an upscale mixed-use development known as Village Walk Texas, according to city documents.
A tax increment reinvestment zone, or TIRZ, was established in 2016 to help fund public improvements for the redevelopment of the area. The zone spans across 452 acres of buildable land, including what is now the Sands site and the former Texas Stadium site, as well as neighboring properties. The stadium was demolished in 2010 and has since been used as a highway construction staging area.
In 2016, the city's plans called for an "intense blend of corporate headquarters, an international business district, retail, and services, with a mix of residential buildings in a walkable urban environment, accessible to the region and the globe." A DART Orange Line rail station was also proposed between what is now the Sands site and the former Texas Stadium site.
Dallas Business Journal reported in 2014 that there was speculation at the time that American Airlines would move its headquarters from Fort Worth to the 78-acre former stadium site. That did not happen.
The construction of highway infrastructure was critical to bring new life to the area, city leaders had argued. A new bridge across State Highway 114 connects the former stadium site to the Sands site. Work to reconstruct the interchanges at State Highway 183, State Highway 114, Loop 12 and Spur 482, a $301 million project, began in late 2020 and is set to be complete by mid-2024, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.
The total property value within the 452-acre financing zone was estimated to grow between $1.6 billion and $5.4 billion by 2041, according to city of Irving documents from when the zone was established in 2016. A study for the city prepared by TXP Inc. and Specialized Public Finance Inc. estimated the area could house 10,000 residential units and 20,500 jobs.
"It's become an interesting piece of property between Dallas and Fort Worth ripe for development," former Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne told DBJ in 2014.
