Well, Excuse Us! Upscale Apartments Target Irving’s Exxon Mobil Area Just as Oil Giant Splits

Talk about rotten timing.

Toll Brothers, a Pennsylvania-based builder, petitioned the city of Irving last year to approve a zoning change that would allow an upscale, multi-family complex next to Exxon Mobil Corp. corporate headquarters in Las Colinas.

Trouble is, the oil giant is leaving town in favor of Spring.

Well, that’s the outward appearance: You land a spot at the lunchroom table with the cool kids and they get up and leave for another table.

But more cool kids will need a spot to sit. The Irving site is prime territory for development. In addition, developers can’t keep up with the demand for people who want to move into a sector that includes Irving, the Las Colinas tech centers, Coppell, Grapevine, and D/FW International Airport.

Irving also had a 5.4 percent rent increase, one of the highest month-to-month jumps in the U.S., according to a report by Zumper, a rental listings website. Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment increased to $1,180. In the past year, rents in Irving had risen 9.3 percent.

Besides Irving, other North Texas suburbs saw significant increases over the past year. Euless was up 15.2 percent, Richardson 14.4, Garland 12.8, McKinney 10, Arlington 9.1, Frisco 7.8, and Lewisville 7.4.

The 364-unit, five-story building in Irving will be designed by GFF, a Dallas-based architecture firm. The building is expected to have two courtyards and enough amenity space to include a pool, an outdoor area, clubhouse, fitness center, and pet spa.

Toll Brothers, headquartered in Fort Washington, Pa., also has other Dallas-area apartment projects, including a 22-story residential high-rise in Oak Lawn.

The Irving project is expected to be completed in two years, according to filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. By then, the 356,829-square-foot Exxon campus will have an occupant.