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The end is in sight for the endless construction of the Mercer Crossing development on the west side of Farmers Branch.
American Centurion Vice President Sean Terry attended the Aug. 20 Farmers Branch City Council meeting to answer questions about the development.
City staff gave a presentation before Terry answered questions from the council.
The company has poured and completed sidewalk ramps at Wittington Place and Luna Road and finished a segment of sidewalk on the west side of Mercer Crossing and Luna Road.
“One (item) we are still working and tackling together with the developer is to bury the overhead lines on Luna Road, both west side and east side,” said Director of Public Works Ray Silva-Reyes. “We have made contact with FiberLight, and they are working with the developer to get payment and get the agreement executed. We’re looking at two to three months to get that portion finished.”
Progress also has been made on Mercer Park and the trail connecting Wittington Place to Chartwell Crest, said Robert Diaz, parks and recreation director for the city.
American Centurion has installed a 10-12-foot hike and bike trail, installed concreted pads and benches along the trail and in the park, finished final grading, connected water and power and received inspections by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, Diaz said.
“I feel like they are making positive steps forward to complete their portion, and we have just got to the ends of those items listed in the agreement,” Diaz said.
Two items are currently on pause.
The development agreement says the developer is responsible to install about 60 trees, but the city is responsible for irrigation. Those lines have not yet been installed.
In addition, a sculpture featuring a dove is indicated in the agreement, and the developer needs to know the city’s wishes before it makes a purchase, Diaz said.
“It doesn’t make sense to go put trees in when you can’t irrigate them, especially when it’s 107 degrees outside. We’re willing to escrow that money if we need to to, make sure you’re confident in that … or we have no problem coming back and doing that after the fact,” Terry said.
Terry also said the company is trying to work out cost-sharing agreement with other developers along Luna Road, but that they have not had success with that strategy.
“We did pay all the Oncor (costs), which was about a half a million dollars to do that. We haven’t had much luck (with) other property owners, and all it does is front our property. We’re going to take that burden on ourself,” he said.
He said the dove sculpture caught him by surprise, and he does not dispute that it is in the development agreement.
“Before we went out and just knee-jerked and bought something, we sent in some pictures to staff to see is this still something they still want to go with,” he said. It will take 60-90 days to receive the sculpture once it is ordered.
Councilmember David Reid, who lives in Mercer Crossing, said that when a resident brought to his attention a small piece of sidewalk missing on Friar Street, it took only a week to get it fixed once the city contacted the developer.
“I know it’s taken time to get some of this stuff done, but once you pulled the trigger, those ADA ramps … I saw the guys working on weekends getting it done.”
Terry said the company tries to move crews from projects all over the DFW Metroplex to get jobs done at Mercer Crossing.
“We want it nice. We want it to be something Farmers Branch can be proud of, because honestly, it’s our corporate campus,” he said. “We’re bringing people in from all over … to show them this is how we can do a development.”
Councilmember Omar Roman asked what was being done to put in a gate for the Coventry Neighborhood. He said homeowners there complain that residents of other areas routinely walk their pets, which defecate on property maintained by the homeowners association.
“I know we have it out to bid ourselves. That was something that wasn’t part of the scope of work or wasn’t part of the development agreement, but having that relationship with the city, give and take. We’re going to get it done,” Terry said. “We’ll make sure to follow up on that.”
Roman also asked for a timeline that Terry expects work to be completed in the development, as well as the transfer of Mercer Park to the city so it can be developed.
Terry said First Texas Homes, which is building the planned townhomes is waiting for the amendment to the developer agreement so they can start building.
“I have a feeling that will blow through very fast. They are on us to start pulling permits. I think as fast as we can get permits, they’ll be out of there as fast as they can build those homes because it is a sought-after area.”
Terry said he couldn’t give an exact timeline, but thought everything should be finished in the next six months.
“It sounds like we’re almost at the finish line,” Roman said.
Terry noted that the original developer agreement was signed in 2017.
“We didn’t really start moving dirt out there until the middle of 2018. We’re looking at five to six years on that development to do that much stuff. It’s pretty cool to see that, especially when you think about the Covid years and the struggles we had there,” Terry said. “I think we can see the end of the light, the end of the tunnel.”
