Cynthia Moore, Keesha Moore, Lorraine Love-Taylor, Valerie Ballard, Erica Pouncie, Sy Mitchell, and Joy Derrick (from left to right)
Members of the developer collective Women Breaking Ground are embarking on an ambitious project that would deliver live-work-learn-play opportunities to southern Dallas.
The group envisions multifamily, retail space, senior housing, a boutique hotel, a gourmet restaurant, and a variety of amenities and on-site programming at Airborne at University Hills, an 11-acre master-planned project just across the street from the University of North Texas at Dallas campus.
Preliminary rendering for Airborne at University Hills
It won’t just be another mixed-use development, though. In addition to putting up residential and commercial space, the project is meant to meet the needs of the surrounding community. Many of the women in the collective have backgrounds in social services, wellness coaching, and veteran support — so the idea of integrating self-improvement and educational programs into the development seemed like a perfect fit.
CandysDirt.com had the opportunity to sit down with several of Women Breaking Ground’s codevelopers on the project after touring the site at 7303 University Hills Blvd.
“We all had different visions that we collectively joined together here,” said Erica Pouncie, a veterans advocate and professor at UNT Dallas’ counseling program.
Veteran family housing and services were top of mind, but the site’s prime location next to the university opened the door to a wider vision. Women Breaking Ground wants to build 240 apartment units, with some 150 or so reserved for student housing. The intersection of higher education and military service, particularly at schools with underserved, sometimes vulnerable populations made the scope of the project a no-brainer.
“Part of the mission here is to pour back into our students, as well as the community,” said Keesha Moore, who lives in the area and serves as the president of African American Real Estate Professionals Dallas-Fort Worth. “I want to see my community flourish. Everything is always going north, and nothing like this ever seems to come south. So with this, I’m going to be part of that history.”
Women Breaking Ground is a Dallas-based, women-led development collective that brings together professionals across real estate, construction, and community services to both network and actually get projects off the ground.
Valerie Ballard, the nonprofit’s CEO, said the concept launched after women started reaching out to her asking about how to become a developer following local media coverage of her efforts to build a tiny home community for veterans in southern Dallas. She began getting them to engage with commercial real estate training offered by The Real Estate Council, stitching together the collective.
“I’ve been a real estate agent for 17 years, and that’s how I was introduced to Valerie,” said Lorraine Love-Taylor, who went through the TREC training. “That’s how I met all the young ladies here. I was very excited because I’ve always wanted to build.”
More attention also translated into institutional support, with Highland Park United Methodist Church offering to help support the next project. Ballard and her co-developers ended up buying the parcel across from UNT Dallas. For those who enjoy strolling outdoors, the land backs up into a wooded area and pond, separating it from the single-family neighborhood surrounding Rickett’s Branch Park.
Credit: Charles Grand for CandysDirt.com
Ballard said Women Breaking Ground will be taking a fundraising approach to getting Airborne at University Hills built.
“Inside of our team, we have a lot of talent,” she said. “Some of us have our own nonprofits and are doing our own individual fundraisers as we continue to build projects in different communities.”
With a goal of $130 million to fully realize the mixed-use development, she said they’ve already gotten verbal commitments for tens of millions of dollars in pro bono support. There’s also plenty of grant opportunities out there.
Capital and lending strategist Sy Mitchell said they have been talking with corporations that have foundations looking to partner with projects like theirs in which they can contribute to “social impact, high-touch opportunity in the community.”
Mitchell is also launching a Cajun-fusion restaurant with a social club to top the planned 33-room The Valor Hotel at the Airborne at University Hills. Her cousin Chef j.Black, an Oak Cliff native and culinary veteran of shows like Chopped and Cutthroat Kitchen, is coming in on it with her.
Preliminary rendering for The Valor Hotel
Leaning into the live-work-learn-play motif, Airborne at University Hills wants to leverage proximity to the university and the experience of its co-developers to establish a variety of programs for students and interested members of the community.
Pouncie said there is wellness and lifeskills programming that could be beneficial to residents, “where they’re able to acclimate to their new transition — whether you’re a new student or you’re transitioning out from college into a profession — we want those wrap-around services when it comes to that.”
And, of course, anyone interested in getting into commercial real estate or the nonprofit sector might find opportunities in the mixed-use development.
“Internships where they can actually be on-site for some of the non-profit ventures that are a part of the whole project, so they’re able to learn in an area they may also be living and working in,” said Cynthia Moore, a clinical social worker and CEO of the nonprofit Be Natural Music Therapy and Wellness.
While students, residents, and other community members might enjoy the benefits of Airborne at University Hills if it gets built, the project would also serve as more proof of concept for women in the developer space. Women of color, in particular, are drastically underrepresented in the industry.
“The seed I would like to plant into this development is just giving back to women, empowering women through the power of real estate and real estate investing,” said Realtor and house flipper Joy Derrick. “I want to be a part of that initiative.”
Next month, a two-day fundraising event will be held at the site. Hosted by Women Breaking Ground, Black Women Developers, and Developers Unplugged, the gathering will bring together women from across the real estate industry. The event will begin with a ceremonial groundbreaking and tree planting in recognition of National Arbor Day.
