Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones' Blue Star Land Has the Dirt Flying in Prosper

One of Collin County's biggest new retail destinations is expanding with a second phase.The new development, a project of Dallas Cowboy's owner Jerry Jones' Blue Star Land, is at Preston Road and U.S. Highway 380 in Prosper.Construction was completed last year on the first 550,000-square-foot phase of Blue Star's Gates of Prosper shopping center on the northeast corner of Preston and U.S. 380.Now Blue Star — in partnership with developer Lincoln Property Co. — has broken ground on the second phase of the project with an additional 250,000 square feet of retail and commercial."We hope to deliver phase two next fall," said Blue Star general manager Joe Hickman. "There is pent-up demand for retail and restaurant up there, and we've been pleasantly surprised with the response."Major retail tenants in the first phase of Gates of Prosper include Walmart, Old Navy, Designer Shoe Warehouse, Dicks Sporting Goods, Burlington and Ross."We think we will be 50% leased on the second phase before the summer is over," Hickman said.The next phase of Gates of Prosper also has a site for a limited-service hotel. O'Brien Architects designed the project.Prosper Mayor Ray Smith said the new Gates of Prosper shopping center has been a boon to the city's tax base and is convenient for its residents. Before, the closest large shopping venues were almost 10 miles away in Frisco."The 10-mile spacing is what the retailers are looking for, and luckily for us it's in Prosper," Smith said. "I'm glad Blue Star developed when they did because I think we hit the retailers at the right time."I think that 380 is definitely our economic development opportunity."  Continue reading...