Homes close to a sports arena did not lose value at any of the comparison sites a consultant studied, except during a market-wide crash, but only one site showed a clear premium for being nearby. That was the message of a presentation to Plano's Willow Bend Redevelopment Advisory Committee on Thursday, Oct. 8.
The 10-member committee, made up of residents from neighborhoods near The Shops at Willow Bend, was appointed by the City Council to review traffic, parking, public safety and neighborhood issues tied to the proposed Dallas Stars arena there.
What the study looked at
Robert Hanna of ZacTax presented the second part of a venue-proximity property value study. It compares home values around Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, The Battery in suburban Atlanta, Levi's Stadium, loanDepot Park and the Intuit Dome. AT&T Stadium was dropped at the committee's request and replaced with Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena, whose data is still being gathered.
Among the findings in the slides:
- Only at The Battery did homes within a mile clearly outgain those farther out. The study notes that site sits in a mixed-use district with about 15.8 million square feet of office space and 3.1 million of retail within a mile, and calls it one example rather than a rule.
- At the Miami site, values fell everywhere during a period that spans the 2008 housing crash, which the consultant reads as timing rather than a venue effect.
- Lower-value homes posted the biggest percentage gains, while pricier homes gained more in dollars.
For the area around Willow Bend, the study lists a median market value of $949,830 for the 3,003 residential properties within a mile of the site, and $765,103 within three miles. It found that 0.6% of homes in that inner mile have land worth more than half the property's total value, a marker it uses for teardown potential.
Its summary advises planning for steady appreciation "rather than a windfall."
Fire and police
Fire Chief Chris Biggerstaff's slides counted 343 incidents within half a mile of the proposed site from Jan. 1 through Aug. 31, about 1.4% of the department's 23,743 calls. The average response there was 6 minutes, 15 seconds, against 5:44 citywide. The department plans to staff the area without pulling from its normal resources, the slides say.
Police Chief Ed Drain's slides pointed to the unit that patrols the Legacy business districts, with a sergeant, nine officers and two public safety officers, plus satellite stations and drones launched on 911 calls. They did not give a separate staffing figure for an arena district.
