The builders of a transit-oriented development in Carrollton have broken ground for a major apartment community

The Trinity Mills Station development is a 25-acre mixed-use project being built near the southeast corner of Interstate 35E and Bush Turnpike. It’s done in a partnership involving the city of Carrollton, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Koa Partners, Artemis Real Estate Partners and The Integral Group.

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Atlanta-based Integral Group is developing the 436-unit apartment portion of the project, being built just east of DART’s Green Line commuter station. The Eviva Trinity Mills apartments are scheduled to open in November 2025.

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“As the developer, The Integral Group is proud to spearhead Eviva Trinity Mills, a project that exemplifies our dedication to creating exceptional, sustainable communities,” Egbert Perry, chairman of The Integral Group, said in a statement. “Our extensive experience and expertise will guide us as we deliver another transformative development that integrates seamlessly into the fabric of the city of Carrollton, providing residents with a vibrant and inclusive living experience.”

Along with the five-story apartment community, Carrollton’s Trinity Mills Station will also include a public plaza, an office building and the option of a hotel building. JHP Architecture designed the apartment buildings.

Construction started on Trinity Mills Station in 2021, with the building of a 3-acre public esplanade through the project.

“Trinity Mills Station is the largest publicly owned transit-oriented development site in North Texas and the most connected,” Carrollton Mayor Steve Babick said in a statement. “It is also the only transfer hub in the D-FW Metroplex connecting the Denton County Transportation Authority A-Train commuter service to Denton and the DART Green Line light rail service to Dallas.”

A 125,000-square-foot, six-story office building and about 10,000 square feet of retail space are also planned in the initial phases of the project.

Irving-based Koa Partners is developing the office building.

“Together with our partners, we are dedicated to making this vision a reality and creating a lasting positive impact for years to come,” Koa Partners’ Harry Lake said.

Apartment builder Integral has been in business since 1993 and has built apartments in markets stretching from Baltimore to San Francisco.

For her 90th birthday, Ruth Dickerson got to go back to her roots.

CARROLLTON, Texas — Ruth Dickerson loves to bake. She spends pretty much every day in the kitchen, making cookies and other treats to share with others.

But what Dickerson really longs for is a taste of home.

“Oh, I love Iowa,” Dickerson said. “It’ll always be my number one state.”

Although Dickerson moved to Carrollton 27 years ago, her heart stayed in Iowa.

She was born there in 1933, married her husband there in 1952 and raised three kids among the fields and rolling hills.

For years, she’s wanted to go back to visit.

“Oh, I definitely wanted to, but I knew it was impossible,” she said. “I never thought I’d see Iowa again.”

With her 90th birthday coming up, Dickerson pretty much accepted the fact she’d never make it back to Iowa. However, little did she know her kids were planning a birthday surprise.

“We’ve gotta somehow make this happen,” said Dickerson’s daughter, Denise Dickerson.

“It was just real important for my sister and I to get mom up there one last time,” said Ruth's son Randy Dickerson.

They booked a flight and were greeted warmly by airport staff, who wished Dickerson a happy birthday. That started an avalanche of birthday wishes from everyone on the plane.

After they landed in Iowa, dozens of old friends and family were waiting to celebrate Dickerson’s birthday.

“I just cried,” Dickerson said. “I just really cried.”

“Tears were just streaming down her face and she looked at me with the biggest smile and said, ‘I am home,’” Denise recalled.

All the people and places she loved, Dickerson visited again.

She saw her sister for the first time in years and remembered her husband as she walked the aisle of the chapel where they married.

Although perhaps the most notable moment of the trip was reconnecting with classmates she hadn’t seen since graduation 72 years ago.

“At the end, when it was time for them to go, one of my mom’s friends grabbed her face and she said, ‘I’ll never see you again here on earth, but I’m glad we saw today,’” Denise said. “It was a sad moment and a joyful moment because we were able to give that to her.”

Knowing this time is the last time is never easy, but it is a good reminder to show appreciation every time you can.

The City of Carrollton and its partners have broken ground on Eviva Trinity Mills, a mixed-use project going up at Trinity Mills Station, the train station that serves DART Light Rail's Green Line as well as Denton County's A-train commuter rail line.

Eviva will be a five-story mixed-use blend of residential, retail, and restaurant spaces, with more than 430 multi-family units and live/work spaces.

According to a release, it's part of the Trinity Mills Transit District, a 25-acre Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) made possible through a public/private partnership between the City of Carrollton, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), The Integral Group developers, and Koa Partners.

In a statement, Carrollton Urban Development Director Ravi Shah calls it a monumental milestone.

"The first milestone was the approval in April 2020 for a 125,000-square foot, six-story class A office structure to serve as the marquee building within the new development," Shah says. "The second was the three-acre green park esplanade."

That esplanade is now complete. It runs the length of the property and creates an area between the office buildings on the north side of the development, and Eviva, which will be located to the south.

Eviva is part of a plan by Carrollton and DART to create a sustainable mixed-use district with residential, office, and retail, along with a central public space that features pedestrian amenities and supports transit ridership.

They expect that it will eventually grow from Phase 1 - which is a 25-acre TOD - to a 300-acre hub.

Carrollton mayor Steve Babick calls Trinity Mills Station "the largest publicly owned transit-oriented development site in North Texas and the most connected."

"It is also the only transfer hub connecting the Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) A-Train commuter service to Denton and the DART Green Line light rail service to Dallas," Babick says.

Babick says that its location - at the southeast quadrant of the President George Bush Turnpike and IH-35E interchange - could make it a gateway to Carrollton for not only the east-west traffic from PGBT, but also north-south commuters from IH-35E.

Highway and rail connections to Dallas Love Field and DFW International Airports can be made within 20 minutes, and DART’s Silver Line Regional Rail will be one stop away when completed in late 2025 to mid-2026.

Pharmaceutical giant AmerisourceBergen is seeking to offload its four-story office campus in Carrollton as the amount of sublease space in the North Texas market grows.

The 300,000-square-foot office building is in the Austin Ranch development on Plano Parkway west of the Dallas North Tollway. The address is 5025 Plano Parkway.

It’s one of the largest buildings to be put on the growing North Texas sublease market.

The building and 16-acre campus will be available in February 2024 and the lease expiration is Dec. 31, 2031, according to a marketing brochure for the property. The lease rate is negotiable, as is the furniture in the building, according to the brochure.

The sublease is dual-listed by commercial real estate firms JLL and Stream Realty.

The addition of the building to the Dallas-Fort Worth sublease market adds to an existing surplus of office space, said Steve Triolet, senior vice president of Partners Real Estate. Triolet tracks real estate movements, space availability and office market trends across the state.

The current aggregate amount of office sublease space in DFW is 10.8 million square feet, Triolet said. That’s more than five times the total amount of space in the 72-story Bank of America Plaza, the tallest skyscraper in Dallas, which weighs roughly 1.9 million square feet.

The amount of sublease space in DFW is down slightly from early in 2023 when the level hit 11.2 million square feet, but still roughly double pre-Covid levels, Triolet said.

“Sublease space in DFW has been volatile over recent months with some companies withdrawing their space and others adding to the market on a weekly basis,” Triolet said.

The 4-year-old AmerisourceBergen campus in Carrollton has 75,000 square feet of leasable space on each its four floors.

Pennsylvanio-based AmerisourceBergen opened the Carrollton campus in 2019 with plans to accommodate almost 2,000 employees there. The giant drug distributor has laid off hundreds of U.S. workers since the start of this year, plus many of its employees have switched to working from home since the start of the pandemic.

The Carrollton building is the second largest amount of space on the DFW sublease market, Triolet said.

The largest block is roughly 308,000 square feet at 2500 Pacific Ave. in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas. That space was put on the market by ride-hailing company Uber, which built a new office tower for a regional office but never moved into the space.

“This (AmerisourceBergen building) is the second largest sublease currently on the market,” Triolet said. “So this is not inconsequential.”

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Jonathan Scheu is passionate about public service and building community, making him a perfect fit as the Library Director for the City of Carrollton. He has worked for the city for 12 years and dedicates his time to empowering his staff and making sure the libraries have the resources they need to be successful. In his free time, Scheu enjoys spending time outdoors with his family.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I’ve worked for the City of Carrollton for over 12 years now, nearly six of those with the library. I was born and raised in the metroplex and have lived here most of my life. After a brief stint at Baylor University, I transferred to the University of Texas at Dallas and completed my undergraduate and graduate work in Public Administration. My wife and I moved to Carrollton five years ago and have loved watching our two daughters, five and three years old, grow and thrive in this vibrant community.

What do you do in your role as Library Director for the City of Carrollton?

In my role as Library Director, I strive to empower our amazing staff and ensure that our Carrollton Public Libraries have the resources and direction necessary to succeed. I coordinate with our city council, library board, city staff, and everyday patron feedback to form executable policies, procedures, and goals. Ultimately, it is my privilege to lead a team of dedicated professionals who share a passion for providing quality information and resources to our community.

What is your favorite part about your job?

I love hearing how a library resource has positively impacted someone’s life. From early literacy to job resources to connectivity of information and resources, libraries have a lot to offer. On a personal level, I draw a lot of satisfaction from watching my own kids discover new library offerings. Seeing them get excited as they learn to read and think creatively is something I believe every parent enjoys and getting to help provide those resources to their community is a nice bonus.

Where is your favorite place to spend time in Carrollton?

My family and I love exploring all of the diverse restaurants and unique stores along Old Denton Road and Trinity Mills Road. There’s always something delicious and intriguing to discover. The area has been a favorite destination for me and my wife even before we had kids and moved to Carrollton. Now that we’re here, having access to old favorites and new finds alike right in our local backyard is almost too convenient!

What are some of your favorite books or authors?

I’m honestly not sure I could narrow it down to individual titles. My favorite genres tend to be fantasy and science fiction. I particularly enjoy a story that can challenge traditional perspectives and make the reader consider something in a new way. I have an admitted soft spot for authors who incorporate a heavy dose of satire and humor in their writing, notably Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, and Iain M. Banks.

What are you passionate about?

I am passionate about public service and building community. Despite the headlines, I believe there is so much more that unites us than divides us. I earnestly believe that when people come together for a common cause, there’s no problem too big to be solved.

Who or what inspires you?

I am very fortunate to have found an occupation and employer that attracts inspirational figures. As such, I find inspiration all around me, in my coworkers (at the Carrollton Public Library and throughout the city), in our elected and appointed officials, in our dedicated partners and volunteers, and especially in our enthusiastic patrons and library cheerleaders. All of whom exhibit the values of public service and giving back in one fashion or another.

What are some things that the Carrollton libraries offer that most people aren't aware of?

Libraries are SO much more than books! In addition to physical materials, we offer over 200,000 eBooks, eAudiobooks, digital magazines and newspapers — all available remotely from the comfort of your home on your personal device. We also provide internet connectivity via public PCs and mobile hotspots, community spaces for meetings and collaborations, programs and classes for audiences of all ages and interests, and workforce and social resources for those in transition.

What do you like to do in your free time?

Just about anything outdoors. My kids are playground aficionados and have a fine appreciation for the plethora of parks Carrollton has to offer. We also enjoy Carrollton’s extensive trail system and love biking up and down the Blue Trail as a family. After a busy weekend, a lazy Sunday afternoon at 3 Nations Brewing is our ideal wind down.

Please share anything else that you would like our readers to know.

If you don’t already have a Carrollton Public Library card, get one! They’re free for all Carrollton residents and open up entire worlds of entertainment, self-improvement, continuing education, and access to information, both digital and physical. If you’re already a Carrollton library user and want to help support the library or just get involved, consider volunteering or contributing to our Friends of the Carrollton Public Library group. We couldn’t do what we do without our friends!

Arianna Morrison is a reporter for Star Local Media, covering the communities of The Colony, Little Elm, Carrollton, Lewisville, Flower Mound and Coppell. Email her with story ideas and more at amorrison@starlocalmedia.com.