Land Off Central Being Sold
By Steve Brown, Real Estate Editor

DALLAS MORNING NEWS
Published October 30, 2006

Dallas firm plans to redevelop 27-acre tract just south of High Five

A Dallas real estate investment and development company is buying one of the largest potential building sites along North Central Expressway.

Westmount Realty Capital is buying the 27-acre property at the northeast corner of Forest Lane and U.S. Highway 75.

The property - now occupied by automobile sales operations and restaurants - once was the location of the popular Gemini Drive-In movie theater.

"We think it's a terrific tract of land - one of the last large pieces to develop on North Central," said Westmount chief executive Cliff Booth. "With construction on the High Five interchange complete, it's even more attractive."

Westmount has contracted to buy the site from Tri-State Theaters, which has owned the land for more than 40 years.

Tri-State opened the drive-in on the property in 1965. It soon became one of the most successful such theaters in the country. But by the early 1980s, attendance at outdoor movies had faded as more multiscreen cinema complexes were built. The drive-in closed in 1984.

Plans to reuse the property for a high-rise office complex or regional shopping center never got off the ground.

Dallas real estate broker Newt Walker arranged the sale.

"Every piece of land along Central is owned by developers or in play," Mr. Walker said. "This is a great development site that's just 400 feet from the Forest Lane DART station."

Westmount is looking at several potential developments for the property, Mr. Booth said.

"The three logical uses are retail, multifamily housing and medical office," he said. "It's a piece of property that a lot of people have looked at for a long time. We plan to close our sale before the end of the year."

Westmount has invested in several downtown Dallas properties, most recently the SoCo Urban Lofts building on Jackson Street.

The company is also a partner in large land developments in the Austin area, Fort Worth and near Houston.

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