Argyle residents can start to envision the details of the commercial development expected to feature a major warehouse store, at least one hotel and other retail businesses.
The Town’s planning and zoning approved a zoning change that makes the 141-acre Heath Tract development, located at the northeast corner of I-35W and FM 407, a planned development.
With approval, P&Z added conditions that the developer will have to adhere to, including landscaping, construction guidelines and specific details in regard to tenants and land use.
“This is part of a fairly long process,” said Town Manager Mike Sims. “There has been quite a bit of discussion on this site in the past with many different ideas thrown out for this land.”
Sims added that planned development zoning would also give the town a chance to improve infrastructure at the expense of the developer.
“Lots of people build retail in Denton County, but none of them bring a road,” he said. “This forces the retail to bring roads along with the development.”
One of the conditions P&Z set when approving the planned development was the need for the developer to extend Gateway Drive north of FM 407 about halfway through the development with two lanes going in each direction.
In addition a road with two lanes going in each direction will also connect that Gateway Drive extension to Sam Davis Road on the west side of the site.
“This plan allows the school site to unload and lots of users to unload to I-35W, correctly,” said Sims.
According to the town, a hotel of some sort is planned for the tract, as well as a membership-based retail warehouse like Sam’s Club, Costco or BJ’s.
“For this size of development, we felt there is a need for an anchor to support the retail use there,” said Shiva Kondru, who represented developer Rise Commercial Investments.
Kondru said discussions with a hotel expert showed the best fit for the area would be two mid-scale hotel that would attract “quality, high-income, corporate and business clientele.”
Those include brands like Residence Inn, Home 2 Suites, Hampton Inn or Springhill Suites.
It wouldn’t be quite full-service, which is where the commissioners disagreed.
They preferred more of an upscale brand with full service, which would include three meals served per day, room service and a significant amount of space for conferences and meetings.
“I’ve stayed at thousands of hotels and they’re all over the place,” said commissioner Matt Nelson. “For Argyle, we want something that competes against others and people want to stop there.”
P&Z added a condition to their motion to approve that explicitly states hotel brands must be mid to upper scale with full-service, meaning serving three meals per day from a menu rather than a buffet, including at least 5,000 square feet of conference space and no more than 10% of occupants being allowed to stay longer than 30 days at a time.
As far as green space and landscaping, much of the Heath Tract is within a designated floodplain.
The developer plans to put in about one mile worth of 8-foot-wide trail and space for parks within that floodplain area.
According to Sims, the developer is preserving more green space in the floodplain than is required by FEMA.
Other conditions P&Z added to the planned development include a landscaping berm along FM 407, overall DarkSky compliance, no outside storage of merchandise, no permitted use of a temporary batch plant during construction and no visible loading docks.
The Heath Tract planned development will head to town council on March 23.
If approved by council, the developer anticipates the entire project will be completed by 2035.
