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Las Colinas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Las Colinas is a developed area in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas. Due to its central location between Dallas and Fort Worth and its proximity to DFW Airport, Las Colinas has been a viable place in the Metroplex for corporate and business relocation. As a planned community, it is synonymous with corporation offices, luxury hotels, landmark office towers on shining lakes, private country clubs, gated executive enclaves and urban lofts.
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Las Colinas was founded in 1972 by cattle ranching millionaire Ben H. Carpenter. His vision of a secure, aesthetically-pleasing business and living center was realized after much private and public expenditure. He envisioned that Irving's sprawling Las Colinas community would be full of futuristic skyscrapers that rivaled downtown Dallas. It was one of the first master-planned developments in the United States and once the largest mixed-use development in the Southwest with a land area of more than 12,000 acres (49 km²).
Called El Ranchito de Las Colinas—the Little Ranch of the Hills—the river-bottom farmland was a weekend getaway for the Carpenter family, which owned one of the state's largest insurance companies. With construction of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport almost at their doorstep, the Carpenters decided the family farm was better suited for business than for bovines. Some of the country's top urban planners were consulted to lay out an entire town – an unprecedented undertaking that predated later projects in Plano, Allen and other suburbs. The Carpenters carved the prairie into office parks and hotel sites and built miles of roads, artificial lakes and country clubs. During the early years, commuters on State Highway 114 saw a surreal landscape of excavation and paving. During the 1980s building boom, Las Colinas became the favored location of relocating companies and office developers, attracted some of the world's most respected corporations — including the global headquarters of four Fortune 500 companies and offices of more than 30 others, such as Exxon Mobil Corporation, GTE Telephone (now Verizon), Kimberly Clark and Associates Corp. In 1985, the first sign of financial trouble appeared at Las Colinas due to a real estate market crash. Carpenter was evicted from Las Colinas after a lengthy legal battle.
Las Colinas made somewhat of a comeback. Another 6,500,000 square feet (604,000 m²) of office space were built in the most recent late 1990s boom. The residential real estate prices also rose steadily until September 2005. In late 2006, the average home prices leveled off dropping 2.2% from previous year to $220,000[1].
Today, Las Colinas is a prestigious location for business and personal addresses. It remains a planned community home to many corporations despite an increasing problem of debt. However, the area continues to thrive, with golf and country clubs nearby.
With 22,300,000 sq ft (2,070,000 m²) office space, Las Colinas is currently home to more than 2,000 companies include Fortune 500 global headquarters for Commercial Metals, ExxonMobil, Fluor Corp. and Kimberly-Clark. Other Las Colinas companies include AAA-Texas, AT&T, Citigroup, General Motors, Microsoft, NEC America, Nokia, Oracle, Verizon, Zales, and Flowserve.
Las Colinas also features three private country clubs and four championship golf courses surrounded by gated prestigious communities. The Four Seasons resort and country club at MacArthur Blvd is the only AAA Five-Diamond resort in Texas. The TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas Resort has hosted the EDS Byron Nelson Championship of PGA tour since it opened in 1986. It features tree-lined fairways, large and undulating greens and is further complicated by a number of creeks and ponds, making it difficult to overpower.
It also contains high-rise office towers, retail centers, upscale residences and apartment complexes, and leisure facilities. Notable attractions include the larger-than-life Mustangs at Las Colinas sculpture and fountain with nine mustangs appear to be splashing through a stream of water; Las Colinas Flower Clock with flowers that are planted eight times a year for picture-perfect color. The complex also features a River Walk-styled canal with electric gondolas, as well as the above-ground Las Colinas APT System. Las Colinas has over 22,300,000 square feet (2,072,000 m²) of office space, 1,300,000 square feet (121,000 m²) of retail and 3,400 single-family homes. Plans are currently in the works to connect the downtown community and the Las Colinas APT System with the DART light rail expansion.
The Las Colinas area is served by Irving Independent School District and Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District.
Las Colinas was briefly referenced as the setting for the movie Office Space by the character Lawrence. The film's writer and director Mike Judge for a time lived and worked in the Dallas area.
