GARLAND, Texas, December 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Wood Partners, a leading national multifamily real estate developer, today announced the groundbreaking of its latest luxury residential community, Alta Firewheel, located in Garland, Texas. Currently under construction, Alta Firewheel is set to open in December 2023 with pre-leasing to begin in September 2023.

Alta Firewheel is the second Wood Partners project in the Garland submarket, following Alta Spring Creek that opened and sold in 2021. Located near the President George Bush Tollway, the community will offer an easy commute to major employment centers and high-density retail. Residents of Alta Firewheel will enjoy direct access to a myriad of dining, shopping, and entertainment options located at Firewheel Town Center, boasting more than one million square feet of retail space within walking distance of the community. Other major attractions include Lake Ray Hubbard, Firewheel Golf Park, Breckinridge Park and One Eleven Ranch Park.

"We are pleased to continue expanding our presence in the North Texas area with the groundbreaking of Alta Firewheel," said Ryan Miller, Managing Director for Wood Partners. "Alta Firewheel will serve as the perfect community for young professionals looking to put down roots in the neighborhood and explore all that Garland has to offer. We aim to provide a comfortable and convenient home for our residents while also making a positive impact on the City of Garland."

Once complete, Alta Firewheel will offer 250 luxury apartment homes comprised of one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans with many homes offering views of the natural landscape that runs adjacent to Rowlett Creek. Each home will be outfitted with top-of-the-line luxury interior finishes including granite countertops, stainless steel appliance packages, wood-style flooring and upgraded fixtures and pendant lighting. Additional luxury finishes include 42-inch cabinets with soft close drawers, programmable thermostats, private yards and in-unit washer and dryers.

Alta Firewheel will also provide its residents with best-in-class community amenities, including a resort style pool with tanning ledges, outdoor firepits, grilling areas, outdoor lawn spaces and an on-site dog park with a pet wash station. Inside the clubhouse, residents will be able to take advantage of a state-of-the-art fitness facility with advanced equipment and yoga capabilities, as well as ample lounge spaces for social gatherings and coworking.

In addition to the premiere retail and dining options located within minutes of the community, Alta Firewheel's prime location will also place residents in proximity to the city's two major employment hubs -- City Line and the Telecom Corridor. Top employers in the area include State Farm Insurance, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Texas, Genpact, GEICO, and Cisco Systems.

About Wood Partners Wood Partners is a national leader in the development, construction, and management of multifamily communities across the United States. The company has been involved in the acquisition and development of nearly 90,000 conventional multifamily homes with a combined capitalization of $17.3 billion. The company currently owns more than 70 properties across the United States representing over 20,000 homes. Headquartered in Atlanta, Wood Partners has offices in 22 major markets across 15 states nationwide. The company also operates Wood Residential, an award-winning, full-service property management group that proudly operates both properties developed by Wood Partners and communities owned by third parties. For three years running, Wood Residential has ranked No. 1 nationally for online reputation in the J Turner ORA™ Power Rankings (Division III). For more information, visit woodpartners.com.

Contact: Nailah Smith, BCWWoodPartners@bcw-global.com

SOURCE Wood Partners

This roundup of restaurant news around Dallas is topped by a mega-exciting opening for Garland, plus new dishes for spring and lots of fresh new beverages.

Here's what's happening in Dallas restaurant news:

Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar, the casual dining restaurant known for its innovative twists on American dishes served with small mountain-town hospitality, is opening a location in Garland. It'll be located at 5180 N. President George Bush Highway, and marks their sixth in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. According to a release, it'll open in spring 2024.

“We look forward to bringing our concept of delicious food, warm hospitality and small mountain-town vibes to Garland. Lazy Dog has been received with open arms as we’ve joined new neighborhoods, and we can’t wait to be part of this community,” says Chris Simms, Lazy Dog founder & CEO in a statement.

Influenced by the lifestyle of the Rocky Mountains, Lazy Dog Restaurant serves made-from-scratch American food and drink with seasonally inspired ingredients. Other DFW locations are in Addison, Allen, Arlington, Euless, and Plano.

Salad and Go has four new drive-thru locations coming to DFW: 1102 W Main St, Lewisville April 1; 3401 Midway Rd, Plano April 3; 211 E. Euless Blvd, Euless April 16; and 3820 Belt Line Rd., Addison April 22.

Taco Bell opened a location at 12015 University Dr. in Frisco. This location utilizes Taco Bell's Endeavor model which is outfitted with the latest digital channels, free Wi-Fi, power outlets, and comfortable seating. The drive-thru features an easy-to-navigate menu board with an electronic ordering system.

A-T Bistro is the new name for Au Troisième, the Park Cities bistro that opened in Preston Center in 2022. A-T Bistro has been its nickname all along. Now they've decided to make it official. The restaurant is a nominee for Best New Restaurant in CultureMap's 2023 Tastemaker Awards and also madeTexas Monthly's "10 Best New Restaurants in 2023" list. In addition to the name change, A·T Bistro has also added a 600-square-foot outdoor dining space, 14-seat private dining room, 600-bottle wine cellar, Sunday brunch, daily lunch specials, and happy hour menu.

Boneless Butcher, the Dallas startup that makes vegan BBQ ribs and steaks, is now popping up at the Dallas Farmers Market every weekend with a small menu, three-to-four items including Korean BBQ burritos, a bulgogi steak sandwich, steak nachos, sloppy BBQ sliders, loaded steak nachos, and a banh mi.

La Madeleine has new limited-edition bakery items for spring: Blueberry & Lemon Individual Cheesecake topped with tart lemon whipped cream; Blueberry and Lemon Crepe with blueberry-cheesecake filling and fresh blueberries; and Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting. Three seasonal favorites are also returning: Lemon Blueberry Danish with blueberries and a lemon cream center; Lemon White Chocolate Chunk Cookie with tangy lemon glaze; and Lemon Poppyseed Muffin with a sweet lemon glaze drizzle.

Dog Haus has a new creation: the Pepperoni Pizza Sausage, a savory link with pork and fennel Italian sausage, pepperoni, mozzarella, tomato, and oregano. Guests can get it the Würst Way, served on King's Hawaiian rolls with spicy basil aioli and grated cheese; the Corn Dog Way dipped in Dog Haus’ root beer batter; and “Sliced Way” grilled and sliced with spicy basil aioli. A new item in the Absolute Würst Sausage Series arrives each month.

Cowboy Chicken, famous for its rotisserie chicken, has added chicken tenders to its menu, served with honey blaze, ranch, BBQ, and honey mustard sauces.

Genghis Grill has partnered with chef Robert Kabakoff on a trio of new Fried Rice bowls: Kimchi Fried Rice with spicy pickled cabbage, fried rice, scrambled egg, in spicy Korean chili sauce; Jambalaya with chicken, sausage, shrimp, onion, bell pepper, and dirty rice; Farmhouse with chicken, bacon, jalapeños, ranch seasoning, fried rice with carrots, bell pepper, onions, and a cream BBQ ranch sauce. They start at $8.49.

Dunkin' has new Breakfast Tacos with scrambled eggs, sharp white cheddar cheese, fire-roasted corn, and tangy lime crema in a soft flour tortilla, with or without bacon. What sets Breakfast Tacos apart is the fact that the fire-roasted corn takes center stage.

Cicis Pizza is collaborating with Mike’s Hot Honey to offer a Hot Honey pepperoni pizza, drizzled with the signature chili pepper-infused honey. Now through April 30, the Hot Honey Pizza will be in the third slot after Garlic Cheesy Bread and Pepperoni Pizza, or to-go, $10 for a medium, $12 for a large, or $15 for a giant.

Yogurtland, the self-serve frozen yogurt brand, has two new seasonal fro-yo flavors: Thai Tea and Boba Milk Tea, inspired by two classic tea experiences. Thai Tea frozen yogurt is new, with a bold black tea flavor and sweet cream notes. Boba Milk Tea is a returning flavor, with brown sugar notes. They also have a new limited-edition topping: rainbow mochi.

Chick-fil-A has brought back Watermelon Mint Lemonade after six years. It's available as Watermelon Mint Sunjoy, Watermelon Mint Iced Tea, and Watermelon Mint Frosted Lemonade, starting Monday, April 3. According to a release, the Watermelon Mint Lemonade has a devoted following. "Guests loved the Watermelon Mint Lemonade in 2017, so we are thrilled to bring it back to our menu and introduce new ways for guests to enjoy this flavor," a spokesperson says.

Gong Cha has a new Sparkling Series of bubbly beverages featuring combinations of fruit flavors, pearls, jelly, milk foam, and sparkling water: Sparkling Milk Foam Mango with Star Jelly, a bright, fruity and fizzy mango drink topped with milk foam and chewy, peach flavored jelly in star shapes; Sparkling Lychee with Mango Popping Pearls, a tropical fruit blend of lychee with bursts of mango in each pearl; and Sparkling Hibiscus with White Pearls — sweet & sour hibiscus drink with tart, floral flavor and chewy white pearls. The chain has seven locations in DFW.

Häagen-Dazs Shops has a new ice cream confection: Pineapple Coconut Shake, an alcohol-free ode to the classic piña colada, made from Häagen-Dazs Pineapple Coconut ice cream, topped with whipped cream and a slice of fresh pineapple, available April 1-June 14.

Milk Bar, the New York dessert company, has launched two new cookie types in grocery stores: bite-sized crunchy cookies (“crunchies”) and ready-to-bake cookie dough. Known for familiar-yet-unexpected items like their Compost Cookies, Milk Bar entered into the Grocery category in 2020. Crunchies will come in four flavors: Brown Butter Chocolate Chip, Cinnamon Toast, Pretzel-y Chocolate Chip, and Vanilla Butter Crunch, and sold at Whole Foods. The cookie dough comes in two flavors: Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow and Fruity Cereal, and is sold at Target and Kroger.

El Chico has two new cocktails featuring tropical flavors: Guava ‘Rita: with Monte Alban 100% Agave Silver Tequila, Gran Gala Orange Liqueur, Reàl Guava and margarita mix; and Sangria Swirl, a house frozen ‘Rita with El Toro Silver Tequila and red sangria swirl. Both are $7 and will be available April 3-July 3 at participating El Chico locations: 1549 S. Bowen Rd. Pantego; 7621 Baker Blvd., North Richland Hills; and 503 I-30, Rockwall.

Manhattan Project Beer is launching a blonde beer called Peacekeeper as a permanent offering. It's a blonde ale with a hint of guava and a crisp finish, and will be available in cans, and on tap at some bars, still TBA.

The Mexican is offering tequila flights, led by their in-house certified tequila sommelier. Flights include three tastings of various tequila or mezcal, and are available to add to any dining experience during regular hours, or to enjoy alongside a true tequila education at the tequila table Thursday-Sunday. Prices range from $65 - $250, call 972-768-3470 to book the tequila table.

WES Brands, the Dallas-based company launched after the $610 million sale to Diageo of Aviation American Gin, has a slate of executive hires: Shawn Thurman as CEO, Sean Penn to President & COO, Kyle Stein as President, Lauren Ryan-Kiyak as Senior VP of Marketing, and Chris Jebbia as Senior VP of Finance. The company is focused on the growth of its existing brands — Mark Wahlberg's Flecha Azul Tequila and Jamie Foxx’s BSB Flavored Whiskey — and soon-to-launch spirits brands.

Chili’s is no longer using children’s activity placemats that promote keeping parrots and monkeys as pets, after a complaint was lodged in Nebraska. The North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance collaborated with PETA to discourage use of the placemats.

When it comes to food destinations in Texas, Garland isn’t often part of the discussion, but the North Texas city is trying to change that. A burgeoning Vietnamese population — one of the largest in the country — has yielded a vibrant food scene the city wants to bolster.

As a means of reintroducing Garland to Dallas-Fort Worth and the state at large, the city’s visitors bureau organized a food trail. But instead of tacos or margaritas, Garland’s is centered on a linchpin of Vietnamese cuisine and its own identity — pho.

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286 Noodle House, at the corner of Jupiter Road and Walnut Street next to the bustling Hiep Thai market, is one of 19 restaurants on the Garland Pho Real Trail, which is designed to be a self-guided road map of some of the city’s many Vietnamese restaurants. All of the participating restaurants are in three main clusters within a 3-mile radius.

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Nick Nguyen opened 286 Noodle House in May 2022 as a son’s promise fulfilled. He watched his mother work long days at a restaurant to provide for her family after emigrating from Vietnam in the 1990s, and vowed to open her a restaurant where she could work for herself. Years stacked up into decades, but Nguyen made good on his promise, even though it took far longer than he planned.

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His mother is elderly now and no longer works, but she and 286 Noodle House are inextricably linked. Every recipe is hers; each one is a version of a dish she once prepared for her family, including the pho. Before the restaurant opened, Nguyen’s mother taught the kitchen staff how to make pho the way she did in Vietnam — a 20-hour labor of love.

Beef bones are first boiled in water for 15 minutes to clean blood and other impurities from them. The bones are rinsed and put into a 150-liter pot of fresh water to simmer and burble for 16 hours. The top of the liquid is skimmed periodically to produce a clear, pure broth. Brisket and beef flank are then put in the broth to cook for three hours, after which the meat is removed and star anise, sea salt, cinnamon, and other spices go in. About five to 10 minutes later, the air is perfumed with a symphonic aroma that reminds Nguyen of his childhood.

“You feel the love in pho,” he said.

Rice noodles and meat are ladled into bowls of the broth when ordered, and served with chile oil, hoisin, bean sprouts, onion, lime and cilantro. The dish, which is exceedingly customizable and surprisingly light considering its substance, is a vessel of nostalgic warmth.

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The story of 286 Noodle House is the story of many of Garland’s Vietnamese restaurants. They are keepers of tradition and memory, and bastions of generational culinary credenda. They are equally important public educators of the nuances and depth of Vietnamese cuisine and culture, which is what the city of Garland is aiming to capture.

Veronica Maldonado, communications manager for the Garland Convention and Visitors Bureau, came up with the idea of a pho trail after taking the job and being tasked with finding a way to draw people to the city. Several people wished her luck when she took the role, hinting that she had her work cut out for her up against other cities like Frisco and Rockwall, where new development springs up with fervent frequency.

But conversations with the community and its leaders pointed to something Garland has that many other cities in Texas do not — a booming and deeply rooted Vietnamese food scene. A pho trail seemed like an obvious focal point because Vietnamese restaurants, and the people behind them, are a major part of Garland’s identity and have been for some time.

When Hiep Tran moved to Garland nearly 38 years ago, the Vietnamese community was small but growing. The Refugee Act of 1980 had recently been signed into law, which tripled the number of refugees allowed into the country annually and created a systematic structure for their resettlement. Garland’s cost of living and job prospects made it a desirable destination for refugees fleeing political unrest.

By the mid-’80s, the growth of Garland’s Vietnamese population was steady enough that the idea of creating an organization designed to support and connect Vietnamese immigrants in the area easily took root. Tran pitched in $50 for the founding of the Vietnamese-American Community of Greater Dallas, the same organization where he now serves as vice president of external affairs.

“We try to keep the tradition and the culture alive here,” he said of the organization. “We help new people get settled down.”

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The city now has the 14th-largest Vietnamese population in the country, and Vietnamese is the third-most-spoken language in the Garland school district. This population growth is reflected in the scope and breadth of Garland’s Vietnamese restaurants, and the markets like Hiep Thai and Cali Saigon Mall that fuel them.

Tran says he wants more people outside of Garland to experience the city’s Vietnamese community, and he hopes the pho trail will facilitate that.

“I would love for people to come to Garland to see how the Vietnamese community comes together. We came a long way to be here and now we have a big community here. I’d love for people to come see it,” he said.

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Nguyen joined the pho trail because he’s constantly surprised by the number of people he meets who have never heard of pho, something so integral to his daily life and so elemental for tens of thousands of people who live in North Texas.

“I just really want people to know pho,” he said.

He’s doing what he can to introduce as many people to pho as possible because to him, it’s the perfect food.

To follow the Garland Pho Real Trail and see participating restaurants, visit visitgarlandtx.com. There is also a Visit Garland Texas app where people can participate in the Pho Trail challenge and track their progress of restaurants visited.

The district says the cost to the average Garland homeowner would work out to be less than $15 each month.

GARLAND, Texas — Garland ISD is an aging district, more than 100 years old and with a number of its buildings built before WWII.

So, district leaders are asking voters to approve a nearly $1.3 billion bond package -- the largest in district history -- to upgrade security, technology and buildings.

“When communities invest in their school district, their communities thrive,” Superintendent Ricardo López said on Inside Texas Politics. “And when communities thrive, cities just go through the roof. We see that across the DFW area.”

There are three propositions making up the package before voters, and residents from across the district helped select the improvements.

Proposition A is easily the largest, $1.1 Billion, and focuses on building and security enhancements -- including adding ballistic film on glass. This security feature has taken on new significance after surveillance footage revealed the killer in a recent school massacre in Nashville entered the building after shooting through glass doors and walking through.

“What we want to do is buy time, keep our kids safe and put a film on there that makes that glass not shatter as easily. It gets responders there with enough time to be able to mitigate any threat that we have,” López told us.

Other security improvements include new cameras, lighting and perimeter fencing around many exposed playgrounds.

And López says parents are also excited about getting rid of portable classrooms.

“We have 47 elementary schools and those that have portables with students are now going to have wings which provides a nice, safe and secure environment for our kids,” he said.

Part of the money would also be used to consolidate eight elementary schools into four larger campuses. Otherwise, it has become too much to keep those older campuses afloat.

“So, we’re looking at eight buildings to consolidate into four and create updated learning environments that are fiscally responsible, energy efficient and great places to learn for teaching and our students as well,” said the Superintendent.

Proposition B would build multi-program activity centers at all high school campuses that could, for instance, be used by a marching band during bad weather.

Proposition C involves technology improvements -- including new devices for students and teachers.

If all three propositions are passed, it’s estimated homeowners and businesses would see a 6.6 cent increase to their property tax rate. The district says that amounts to less than $15 per month for the average homeowner.

Early voting begins Monday, April 24.

Garland, Texas is set for a significant boost in its data center infrastructure as NTT Data unveils its ambitious $50 million expansion plan. The construction is projected to be completed by 2024.

Dallas Business Journal recently reported that the forthcoming expansion is poised to take place along Lookout Drive. The endeavor comprises two distinct tenant improvement projects, with each project carrying an estimated price tag of $25 million.

The scope of both projects involves refurbishment and enhancement of existing buildings to accommodate the new tenant. This will encompass additional office spaces and the installation of advanced equipment within the data vaults. Collectively, the combined square footage of the buildings is about 279,000 square feet.

The Dallas Business Journal reported the projects seem to be associated with NTT Data as evidenced by the facility names registered as NTT TX2-Data Center and NTT TX3-Data Center, but the exact nature and extent of NTT Data’s involvement in these ventures remain unverified.

Back in 2017, RagingWire Data Centers, which is owned by NTT Communications, inaugurated its initial data center within a sprawling one-million-square-foot campus located in Garland. This marked the company’s first foray into the area, leaving space for the potential establishment of four more data centers in the future. NTT Data’s presence in Garland positions its data center footprint as one of the most expansive in the North Texas region.

The Dallas Morning News reported that the company also owns a data center in Plano on Plano Parkway near Custer Road and an additional office in Plano’s Legacy business park. The company as has five other centers in Japan, Italy, Germany, China and India.

According to NTT Data, the company focuses on initial advising and long-term project management. The company also invests billions of dollars in R&D, to acquire and collaborate with deep technology and industry acumen.