Shops at Legacy town homes

[Chelle Knijnenburg]

We have a town home in Plano at the Shops at Legacy. We are wondering what the development of Legacy West will do to our 11 year old town home in Legacy East. Legacy West is being built and we wonder : WIll it drive our price up or down? We noticed lots of investors buying and many of the town homes are rentals. Should we sell or rent and hold on for a few years? How many years? We pay 2,600.00 a year in HOA dues, plus our mortgage from 2010. Taxes are around $7K.

The town home is in what I call Legacy East is a lifestyle area on the east side of the tollway with about 120 town homes that are 10-and 11-year old split on the north and south side of Legacy. There are numerous apartments, a Marriott hotel,  dog friendly parks, walking paths, fountains and small "lake", entertainment venues, night clubs, retail, boutiques, yoga, gyms, restaurants and personal care beauty services minutes away, There are many corporate HQ's within a few minutes drive, plus it is on the tollway and 5 minutes from 121. Now the west side of the tollway, called Legacy West, is being built up with the same lifestyle with many apartments and many high end shops.

Clipped from Dallas News:

Legacy West is a 250-acre project includes an urban village with 280,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space; a 300-room, $82 million Renaissance hotel; and hundreds of apartments and offices along the west side of the Dallas North Tollway at Legacy Drive.

Within two years, more than 16,000 people will be working in the Legacy West project, making it one of the largest new job centers in the state.

In early 2014, when developers kicked off Legacy West, they said it could take as long as seven years to complete.  But at the rate the project is taking shape, Legacy West will be substantially developed in two or three years.

“I have 20 acres left, but that will be committed very soon,” said developer Fehmi Karahan. “This Chase project is even more significant on top of everything else that has happened.

In addition to them many corporate HQ (Frito Lay, Snapple, JC Penney, Banks, and more) JP Morgan Chase is building a 6,000 employee place. Liberty Mutual Insurance is moving 10,000 people. Toyota is moving @ 6,000 people.

[Mark S.]

Hi Chelle,

I actually looked at doing an investment property in the condos there but decided against it.  When I ran the numbers they just didn't add up enough to make it worth while.  I am not sure what the new properties will do but I cant imagine them driving prices up in the short term.  The influx of new housing will create a larger supply compared to what the Shops currently has and thereby driving down demand.  

One thing which might work in the area are corporate housing rentals.  With Liberty Mutual and Toyota both building large complexes across the street you may be able to offer rentals to their executives as they transition them from other parts of the country to Plano.  That being said these can be expensive to start up since you have to furnish them to higher standards and develop the contacts with those companies in order to get the deals.  

It is a great place to live though and people will always want to be there.  The schools are also great which definitely helps.  Best of luck to you!