- Las Colinas
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 withcorporation offices, luxury hotels, landmark office towers on shining lakes, private country clubs, gated executive enclaves and urban lofts.History
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 futuristicskyscrapers that rivaleddowntown Dallas . It was one of the firstmaster-planned developments in the United States and once the largest mixed-use development in the Southwest with a land area of more than convert|12000|acre|km2|0.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 ofDallas/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 fourFortune 500 companies and offices of more than 30 others, such asExxon Mobil Corporation , GTE Telephone (nowVerizon ),Kimberly Clark andAssociates 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 convert|6500000|sqft|m2|-3 of office space were built in the most recent late 1990s boom. The residential real estate prices also rose steadily.
Las Colinas today
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 convert|22300000|sqft|m2|abbr=on office space, Las Colinas is currently home to more than 2,000 companies including the Fortune 500 global headquarters for
Commercial Metals ,ExxonMobil ,Fluor Corp. andKimberly-Clark . Other Las Colinas companies includeAbbott Laboratories , AAA-Texas,AT&T ,Citigroup ,General Motors ,Microsoft , NEC America,Nokia , Oracle,Verizon ,Zales ,Westwood One andFlowserve .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 ofPGA 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, 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-groundLas Colinas APT System . Las Colinas has over convert|22300000|sqft|m2|-3 of office space, convert|1300000|sqft|m2|-3 of retail, and 3,400 single-family homes. A 40-acre tract in Las Colinas is also under development to become the home of theIrving Convention Center at Las Colinas , which is expected to be completed in November 2010. Plans are also currently in the works to connect the downtown community and theLas Colinas APT System with the DART light rail expansion.The Las Colinas area is served by
Irving Independent School District andCarrollton-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 directorMike Judge for a time lived and worked in the Dallas area.Attractions
Mustangs at Las Colinas Studios at Las Colinas Las Colinas Flower Clock [http://www.lascolinasequestrian.com/ Las Colinas Equestrian Center]
Lake Carolyn Mandalay Canal Las Colinas in Popular Culture
In the 1999 film
Office Space the main character's neighbor, Lawrence, complains of having to, "Wake my ass up at 6 am" for a job in Las Colinas that involves, "putting up thedrywall at the newMcDonald's ."Neighborhoods
* [http://www.cottonwoodvalley.com Cottonwood Valley]
* [http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/irving/mplace/ Mandalay Place]
* [http://www.hackberrycreek.com Hackberry Creek]
* [http://www.universityhills.net University Hills]
* [http://www.foxglen.org Fox Glen]
* [http://www.enclave-lascolinas.com/ The Enclave at Windsor Ridge]
*Windsor Ridge Village
*University Park Estates
*Fairway Vista
*Country Club Place
* [http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/irving/qrh/ Quail Run Condominiums]
* [http://www.lavillitalife.com La Villita]External links
* [http://www.irvingtexas.com Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau]
* [http://www.ci.irving.tx.us City of Irving, Texas]
* [http://www.irvingchamber.com/index.asp Irving - Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce]
* [http://www.lascolinasassn.com/map.html Map of Las Colinas]
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