Hillwood launches new division to focus on urban mixed-use projects

Hillwood has launched a new division that will expand its reach beyond the sprawling Alliance development in north Fort Worth with mixed-used projects much like Alliance Town Center, as well as corporate relocations.

Called Hillwood Urban, the division will focus on large corporate office developments and mixed-use projects on core urban sites in Fort Worth and Dallas. Hillwood is the developer of the 18,000-acre AllianceTexas project and others in Dallas. The 900-acre Alliance Town Center is part of AllianceTexas, off Interstate 35W and Heritage Trace Parkway.

“We need to find opportunity to expand our presence in Fort Worth outside of Alliance,” said Mike Berry, Hillwood’s president, who will also oversee the new venture. “This will allow us to do that. We will chase new business.”

Hillwood Urban already has two projects in the works for downtown Dallas, including an office building at Field Street and the Woodall Rodgers Freeway and a multi-building campus in Victory Park near the American Airlines Center, he said.

In the past year, Hillwood has looked at a couple of Fort Worth locations but nothing has come to fruition. Berry said he anticipates it will happen because he predicts Fort Worth will be one of the hottest commercial real estate markets nationwide for at least the next decade.

Berry said Hillwood’s new division is an outgrowth of the company’s years of experience and many types of projects in Fort Worth and Dallas. Hillwood has been successful at building office buildings, shopping centers and apartment communities throughout the Metroplex. In Dallas, those include Victory Park as well as The Perot Cos. headquarters under construction on Turtle Creek, the Perot Museum in Uptown and the American Airlines Center, among others.

Hillwood is leading the development of the 250-acre Frisco Station in Frisco, an urban-style project with corporate office towers, mid-rise apartments, medical facilities and shopping surrounding the Dallas Cowboy’s new headquarters.

“We’ve got a turnkey development company,” Berry said. “This group possesses the depth of experience and knowledge to build upon our track record of developing unique urban and suburban projects, managing and developing successful mixed-use legacy developments, and creating nationally recognized public-private partnerships.”

Hillwood has owned a 200-acre site on the east side of Interstate 35W at Risinger Road in south Fort Worth for a couple of decades, but Berry said it still plans to develop that with industrial projects.

In addition to the shopping center, Alliance Town Center has multifamily communities and other uses, including two hospitals, the new southwest headquarters for the Federal Aviation Administration and a multitenant office building.

Last year, AllianceTexas celebrated its 25th anniversary.

This story was originally published June 10, 2015 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Hillwood launches new division to focus on urban mixed-use projects."