A Trump Hotel in Plano's Booming Legacy Project? Developers Hope So

Developers that are turning Plano's J.C. Penney campus into a new mixed-use project are pitching the property for a new Trump hotel.News about the potential luxury hotel addition comes as the owners of the more than $400 million development in West Plano have just leased a big chunk of the vacant Penney office space.The 1.8 million office complex on Legacy Drive was purchased last year by a partnership led by longtime Dallas developer Sam Ware.The new owners have begun work to redevelop the decades old headquarters - that Penney will still partly occupy - into what's being called the Campus at Legacy West.Developer Sam Ware said he's also talked with representatives for the New York-based Trump Organization about building a hotel in the project."They are looking at the Campus at Legacy West," Ware said. "They haven't made a commitment but we are talking to them."Absolutely we are interested if they are interested."The Trump family's international hotel firm has looked at several potential North Texas locations for its new Scion brand, a chain of small luxury hotels.The New York-based company has said it's signed letters of intent to build new Scion hotels around the country.Earlier in the year, a downtown Dallas site had been suggested but that project didn't move ahead.Part of developer Ware's plans for the Penney campus is to add additional tenants and new types of construction to the more than 50-acre property.Penney's headquarters complex sits in the middle of the $3 billion Legacy West development - one of the largest and most successful such projects in the country. It's home to Toyota's new North American headquarters and also has huge regional office campuses for JPMorgan Chase and Liberty Mutual Insurance.Ware just signed a more than 200,000 square foot office lease in the former Penney building with high-tech firm NTT Data."It takes us to about 40 percent leased," Ware said.The big office transaction is one of the largest in North Texas so far this year and is a major win for the new owners of the Penney property.NTT Data - a company formed by Japan's Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. - has its new U.S. headquarters in a just completed building in the Legacy West complex near the Penney campus.The international company plans to consolidate more workers into the renovated space in the Penney headquarters.Dallas architect HKS is working on the redevelopment.And commercial real estate firm Colliers International is marketing the building to office tenants.The Penney campus - built in the 1980s - is right next door to the new Legacy West Urban Village, which includes apartments, more than 300,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.A new luxury Renaissance Hotel is also located on Legacy Drive just west of the Dallas North Tollway.  Continue reading...