An international real estate investor is queued up to become the new owner of Toyota Music Factory in Las Colinas.
Real estate sources confirm that Irving’s 17-acre mixed-use development—which includes the 50,000-square-foot event plaza, several restaurants (Yard House, Bar Louie, Gloria’s Latin Cuisine), bar Mamma Tried, an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, and the 8,000-person capacity open-air pavilion where acts such as the Barenaked Ladies, Third Eye Blind, and the Backstreet Boys are scheduled to perform this summer—will be purchased by global real estate company Brookfield Partners in a deal that reportedly closes on Friday.
The transaction is said to also include the AvidXChange Music Factory in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to multiple sources close to the transaction.
Noah Lazes, president of The ARK Group and developer of the property, declined to comment on the impending sale due to a confidentiality agreement.
The Irving City Council unanimously approved the sale of the Toyota Music Factory at its May 17 meeting, according to a city spokesperson. The transaction first appeared on a May 5 executive session agenda. A public information request uncovered that Brookfield met with Irving’s mayor Rick Stopfer on April 4 and again over dinner on May 4 at Gloria’s in Toyota Music Factory.
The Toyota Music Factory was developed as a public-private partnership by Charlotte, North Carolina-based The ARK Group, which signed a master agreement with the City of Irving in summer 2013. In the agreement, Irving owns the land and buildings but granted Lazes and The ARK Group a 99-year deal to operate, lease, and promote the facility. The ARK Group connected with Live Nation to operate and book the music venue.
After several delays, including a lengthy legal battle with the original developer Billy Barnett (formerly of Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth) and a series of earthquakes in mid-2015 that delayed construction on the venue and forced the City of Irving to buy earthquake insurance, the Toyota Music Factory officially opened its doors in September 2017, hosting ZZ Top as its first act.
The city of Irving and the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce declined to comment until the close of the deal on Friday. E-mails, phone calls, and voicemails to Brookfield seeking comment were not returned.
Global asset management company Brookfield has $725 billion in assets under management across the globe. Its real estate subsidiary, New York-based Brookfield Properties, owns several logistics, retail, and multifamily properties around the metro, including Stonebriar Centre in Frisco and Dallas’ The Wilson, The Merc, and The Element.
According to a presentation deck presented to Irving’s city council on May 7, Brookfield owns and manages similar mixed-used developments in New York City, Los Angeles, and London. The company also touted its public-private partnerships of Pier 70 in San Francisco, Cornell Tech in New York, and The Yards in Washington DC.
Details of the new public-private partnership between Brookfield and the city of Irving were not immediately available as minutes from the May 17 meeting were not yet approved, according to a city official. D CEO will update this story when those details become available.
This story was updated on May 26 with additional information from D CEO‘s public information request.
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