Sam Mahrouq Secures Incentives For Arlington Mixed-Use District

Arlington is doubling down on Sam Mahrouq’s bid to reimagine one of the city’s most tired commercial corridors.

City council signed off on a $3.8 million Chapter 380 grant Nov. 18 to help his firm Mahrouq Enterprises International assemble the last parcels needed for a sweeping mixed-use redevelopment along East Division Street, a key connector between downtown, UT Arlington and the city’s stadium-packed Entertainment District, the Dallas Business Journal reported.

The grant is for two land purchases: 806 East Division Street, a 0.3-acre plot that’s currently home to a tire shop, and 632 East Front Street, a 0.6-acre vacant tract. The incentives are meant to unlock what staff describe as a “catalytic” project that could feature a food hall, multifamily, retail, restaurants and structured parking.

Mahrouq has started construction on Caravan Court, a 145-key upscale hotel at 205 North Collins Street, after receiving $8 million in incentives last year.

Mahrouq has emerged as the city’s most influential player on Division Street. He previously received a $7 million grant for keeping his company Ikon Technologies in Arlington while helping the city chart a redevelopment strategy for the corridor. Mahrouq has said he intends for Caravan Court to be the spark that helps shift Division Street’s identity away from its long-standing cluster of auto dealerships — many of which he owns — and toward something closer to Dallas’ transformed former industrial strips.

City officials appear to agree. Economic development director Gus Garcia called Division Street a crucial link tying together the city’s marquee districts and said the partnership with Mahrouq is part of a coordinated push to revive a corridor Arlington has been trying to reinvent for more than two decades.

The new agreement lays out a staged timeline: a conceptual brief within 18 months, construction drawings within 36, financing secured by month 54 and vertical construction underway within 60. Arlington will also enter a long-term parking lease on the property, which Mahrouq’s group can later buy out if the full project proceeds.

— Eric Weilbacher