Wilks Development’s Firefly Park in Frisco to Start Construction

Frisco’s development boom is picking up steam at Firefly Park, a megadevelopment that has been stuck in neutral.

Fort Worth–based Wilks Development received final signoff from Frisco’s Planning and Zoning Commission on Friday to proceed with vertical construction at the 217-acre mixed-use project near the Dallas North Tollway and U.S. Highway 380, the Dallas Business Journal reported.

The buildings approved include a 187-unit apartment complex, a 190-key Dream Hotel, 124,000 square feet of office space and a 4,800-square-foot wedding chapel and event center. Infrastructure work is slated to begin this month, and work on the multifamily building and event center is expected to start in the third quarter.

The commission asked Wilks to revise the site plan earlier this year. The approval clears the way for one of North Texas’ most ambitious developments to go vertical after the commission approved two site plans in October and another two in February.

Plans for the full buildout call for 3 million square feet of offices, 400,000 square feet of retail and entertainment, 1,200 hotel rooms, 230 townhomes and nearly 2,000 mid- and high-rise residential units.

The first phase is scheduled for delivery by 2027 and includes the multifamily units, hotel, 120,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and a 25,000-square-foot amphitheater.

The apartment project, dubbed The Noc, is budgeted at $46.3 million, or $248,000 per unit, while the Cana Chapel is expected to cost $1.2 million, or $250 per square foot, according to state filings. Two more phases are planned over the next decade.

Wilks purchased the land in 2015, when the project was known as Frisco North. Since then, it’s brought on a high-powered team including Kimley-Horn, Sasaki, BOKA Powell, Hord Coplan Macht, UNStudio and Michael Hsu Office of Architecture.

Firefly Park is part of a wave of development transforming Frisco into a North Texas powerhouse. Work recently began on JVP Management’s $3 billion mixed-use project known as The Mix and on the $2 billion Fields West development by Karahan Companies.

Meanwhile, Toyota Stadium, home of FC Dallas, is undergoing a $182 million renovation ahead of the 2026 World Cup, while Jerry Jones’ Blue Star Land is adding office, residential and hotel towers at The Star in Frisco, the headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys.

— Judah Duke