In Collin County, plans to revive a dying mall took a major step forward this week.
Monday night, Plano's Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to recommend a zoning change that would pave the way for developers to build new apartments and homes, in addition to shops and offices, at Collin Creek Mall.
The full city council would still have to approve the zoning change. The developer hopes to break ground in July.
"It's just deserted, abandoned almost," Clyde Shank said.
Shank has lived near Collin Creek Mall since 1990 and has seen its rise and decline.
"We've seen how that mall has gone from the meeting place, the place to go… to nothing," Shank said.
Over the years, efforts to redevelop the mall have been complicated by multiple owners, but a new group has acquired most of the property. JC Penney owns part of the mall property, while Centurion American Development Group owns the rest.
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Mehrdad Moayedi with Centurion American Development Group said his company planned to close a sale with a third owner later this month, leaving the mall to two key ownership groups.
Centurion's plans call for 2,300 apartments, 300 senior living units, 500 homes, a hotel, restaurants and shops. The plans include parks, two hiking trails and a one-and-a-half acre lagoon.
"It's going to have a real feel of a village to it as you come in," Moayedi said. "You don't see many cars, they go underneath and park and people come up."
Moayedi said this section of Plano near Highway 75 and Plano Parkway has been overlooked -- despite the job growth in Collin County -- with several corporate headquarters setting up in and near Plano.
"I think the time is now for that area because of all the job creation," Moayedi said.
"We are hoping the redevelopment of the mall itself will impact the surrounding property," said Plano's planning director Christina Day. "The health of the mall will bring traffic, and the draw of the additional patrons should have a positive economic impact throughout the corridor."
Jim Cooper, president of the nearby Pittman Creek Estates HOA, said he and other HOAs surveyed home owners in the Dallas North Estates neighborhood and Canyon Creek in Richardson. Out of 129 responses, Cooper said 81.5 percent were in favor of the development.
Others, said Cooper, were either neutral or opposed. Those in opposition expressed concerns about apartment density, overloading local schools with new students and traffic in the area.
"We can't pretend to know all of the answers, we just think this is directionally correct," Shank said.
"What we want is a prime property there," he added. "Nicely developed that will bring in some good tax revenue to support our base here and it only makes sense -- it's just going to a waste right now."
